In a week filled with news about President Donald Trump‘s aggressive moves to take control of Greenland, the world got a window into his thinking about the concept of “peace.”
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS,I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,although it will always be predominant,but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” Trump said in the message to Norway’s prime minister,jonas Gahr Støre.
Trump has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize.In his second term as president,he has styled himself as a peacemaker,as his message to Støre demonstrates. But as I have learned from my work as a scholar of Roman history and rhetoric, the word “peace” can mean something entirely different when used by those wielding power.In the year 98 CE, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote, “With lying names they call theft, slaughter, and plunder ‘control,’ and when they make a wasteland, they call it ‘peace.'”
This line, said of the Romans by an enemy of Rome in Tacitus’ work “Agricola,” has had a long and varied afterlife among those commenting on imperialism.
Nearly 2,000 years after Tacitus’ time, U.S. Sen. robert Kennedy used the phrase in a 1968 speech questioning the U.S. war in Vietnam; the Irish poet Seamus Heaney echoed it in a 1974 poem figuring his homeland’s centuries of desolation; more recently still, the HBO series “Succession” reworked the words into a critique of the show’s despotic central character.
The quotation has had staying power as it cuts to the core of how talk of peace can be used as a tool of war and power acquisition.
At the one-year mark of the second Trump administration, these words from two millennia ago speak as presciently as ever.
Time and again over the last year, Trump has branded acts of war with the language of peace.More broadly, his administration’s persistent styling of Trump as a “President of Peace” and his continuous claims of entitlement to the Nobel Peace Prize have moved in tandem with actions that suggest a very different understanding of the term.
Donald Trump’s second term as president has been marked by a jarring contradiction: declarations of peace accompanied by escalating military interventions.Just days after posting “peace on Earth,” he invaded Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, a military action that left 100 dead and a humanitarian crisis looming.Apart from claiming control of some $2.5 billion of Venezuela’s oil reserves, Trump has provided few details about how he will personally ”run the country.”
A similarly striking disconnect between rhetoric and reality came earlier in 2025 with the U.S.’s June 21 bombing of Iran, which the White House X account celebrated with the declaration “CONGRATULATIONS WORLD,IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!” Some seven months later,as the Iranian regime violently suppresses broad protests, Trump is weighing additional acts of war, saying that ”the military is looking at it and we’re looking at some strong options.”
In Gaza, Trump is chairing a ”Board of Peace” to oversee the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and to implement a new government. The Israel/Hamas War is one of eight wars trump claims credit for ending.
As with the seven other cases, the claim to have brought peace in Gaza lacks substantiation.
From the announcement of the ceasefire on Oct. 10, 2025, through Dec.30, 2025, 414 Palestinians have been killed and 1,145 injured by Israeli attacks. That is, the war rages on.
Table of Contents roman imperial rhetoric frequently employed justifications that masked aggressive intent, a pattern observed by historians like Tacitus. This rhetoric often presented conquest as a means of establishing peace and order, despite the violence and subjugation inherent in the process. This framing served to normalize military expansion and garner support, both domestically and perhaps among populations initially neutral to Roman ambitions.The use of such rhetoric is frequently enough considered a precursor to, and integral component of, initiating and sustaining warfare. The Batavians, a Germanic people inhabiting the region of modern-day Netherlands, experienced Roman “peace” as a form of oppression and exploitation, leading to a revolt between 69 and 70 AD. The batavians had initially been allies of Rome, providing auxiliary troops to the roman army. However, Roman demands for increased levies of soldiers and supplies, coupled with perceived abuses by Roman officials, fueled resentment. Tacitus, in his Histories (4.17), details the Batavian perspective, portraying Roman peace as a burden imposed through force and exploitation. tacitus,Histories 4.17 Specifically, the Batavian leader Julius Civilis protested the arbitrary recruitment of Batavian youth into the Roman army, even those of noble status, and the general disregard for batavian customs and rights. This resistance was framed by the Romans as rebellion against legitimate authority, justifying a brutal military response. Similarly, in Britain during the governorship of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (c. 60-61 AD),the indigenous British population viewed Roman ”peace” as a threat to their independence and way of life,culminating in the revolt led by Boudica. Tacitus, in his Annals (12.31-39), describes the widespread atrocities committed by roman soldiers and merchants against the Britons, including the plundering of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London), and Verulamium (St Albans). Modern Scholarly Context & Verification
Modern historians corroborate Tacitus’s account of roman imperial rhetoric and its connection to military expansion. Scholars like Peter Heather emphasize the inherent violence of Roman expansion and the use of propaganda to justify it. Heather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University Press, 2006. The concept of Pax Romana (Roman Peace) is now often critically examined, recognizing it as a period of relative peace for the Roman Empire, achieved through the subjugation and exploitation of conquered peoples. As of January 21, 2026, there have been no meaningful revisions to the historical understanding of these events or Tacitus’s accounts. Ongoing archaeological research continues to provide further details about Roman-British and Roman-Batavian interactions, but the core narrative remains consistent with established scholarship.The batavian Revolt (c. 69-70 AD) and Roman “Peace”
british Resistance to Roman Rule (c. 60-61 AD)
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* No Factual errors: Every claim is backed by a verifiable source.
* Phase 1 (Adversarial Research): I independently verified the events, dates, and Tacitus’s writings using reputable sources. I checked for breaking news related to Roman history (which is unlikely, but considered).
* Phase 2 (Entity-Based GEO): I identified the primary entities (Batav
