Ive been studying history fairly intently over the last 5 years (in spurts, because it gets heavy).
Starting with Sumer, through Akkadians, the Babylonian empire, which fell to the Persains, which fell to the Greeks, which fell to the Romans, which fell, but then re-emerged in a sort of hidden conglomeration of shifting European powers (where we are now). Add in the Olmec, to Mayan, to Aztec history, and what you start to see is a continual divergence of peaceful people, and an evil that always winds up in the same place… screwing kids, slavery, engaging in forms of human sacrifice, and then collapsing. It transcends all cultures, empires, religious leanings, and “sides”. 
Its the darkness we want to be free from.