Did aggressive warmongering bent on conquest countries of the past ever see themselves as such?

Question

or did they see themselves as the victims? For example, did nazi germany see themselves as the evil conquering invader or did they see themselves as defending their country from a world full of hostiles who had it coming to them for daring making them feel threatened and vulnerable?

Answer 1

??

Answer 2

Yes. Rome never saw itself as a victim, for instance, but as a mighty empire with the right to rule anyone they could conquer. I doubt Napoleon saw himself as defending the borders of France when he invaded Russia, for that matter.

Early in the movement, the Nazi's did use some rhetoric about re-conquering the 'greater germany' (that never existed), though. Much like you hear rhetoric about Aztlan, today. Similarly, Iraq made spurious historical claims on Kuwait to justify it's invasion.

While people rarely see themselves as evil, they are often entirely willing to see themselves as superior to other people, and thus entitled to kill them and take thier land.

Answer 3

Most conquest were started due to a "manifest destiny" to do so. A powerful nation saw itself as deserving of conquest and the benefits it implied.

Sounds familiar, don't it,,,

You will also note that many conquesting nations site the success or failure of previous conquest as their justification.

Rome used Alexander as an example, the French and Germans both used Rome as an example, and modern leaders always reference Hitler when they wish to vilify someone!