When East Fought West

It is one thing to conquer a country. It is quite another to stay there and try to force-feed your ideas to a part of the world that has its own traditions. It is when empires strive to impose their ideals onto the conquered at bayonet point that even the most powerful occupying armies find themselves provoking violent resistance.

After the tough time the U.S. has had trying to maintain its garrisons in Afghanistan and Iraq, this lesson may seem very contemporary. But it is one that has been learned before, notably by the British in India exactly...