 destroyers were not like Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. They were men of education. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle. Scipio Melianus had Polybius set aside the great Roman historian when he destroyed the city. Mehmed had the largest library in the Islamic world. Cortes was a man of letters. And so they didn't realize that they had thought deeply about how to destroy. They didn't just come in, kill, rape women, and leave.