Originally posted by Blademaster
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No, that can not be said. If you are hinting at stray cases of rape I would agree. Even modern day armies experience such stray cases. There have been even allegations on Indian soldiers involved in such stray cases in Kashmir. But that can not be a line of reasoning for the whole army. In case of Nadir Shah, just hit the search button and you will find piles of his barbaric exploits. Caesar and Alexander belong to an age and time where battles were wholesomely bloody, the question is about the personalities involved and their individual characters.
By the way, Nadir Shah's military exploits should be studied on the same level as Alexander and Julius Caesar, but they are not because he is not a westerner.
Why do you think so? Answer me one thing. Can Ashok and Nadir be equated? No they can not, inspite of the fact that even Ashok has a lot of blood on his hands. Its not a matter of who killed how many. It is a question about who has contributed what and how much to civilization and mankind through his military exploits. Ashok is the king who is responsible for the spread of Buddhisim and even Indian spirituality through the same to a third of mankind. He is the symbol of our very indentity through his Lion Capitol. The Bamian Buddha, Saarnath, Nalanda, Taxila etc are all entwined with him and the Mauryans. Alexandar through his military exploits had the entire ME and Asia under his influence and that age is termed as the Hellenic Age, together with widespread influence of Greek Art/Culture/Literature/Medicine/Military etc etc. Same applies for Julius Caesar and the spread of Roman culture/governance etc etc. Now compare this with what Nadir Shah has contributed through his military exploits. Ancient Rulers waged war, captured land, enslaved people, killed people. All have done that. Greatness of the rulers come into play with what they or their empire have contributed towards progression of civilization and mankind. Nadir Shah and likes are dud. So once again, One can not equate bandits like Changez Khan, Nadir Shah, Mohammad Ghauri, Taimur Lang, irrespective of their warfighting skills with say, Sher Shah Suri, Ashok, Chandragupt, Guptas, Akbar, Humayun, Quing and to that effect Alexandar, Caesar and Napoleon.
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