Conquistadors

"In subjugating primitive worlds, they only imposed on them, with the force of cannons, their own confusion and their own alienation." --Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert, writing about the conquistadors.

That might explain a lot of wars. The author was trying to explain the Spanish wandering around in what later became the American Southwest. In all their metal armor. In a foreign landscape, so harsh and inhospitable to the likes of them. After weeks and months, I can only imagine they wanted what was their version of the Golden Arches.