the first part of your comment made my day hahahaha
if I was half serious about college as this manga, my life would be much easier
concerning the other part, yeah history is written by the winner, so real history does probably not exist
Eldians are oppressed, the poorest people in the land, and made into slaves. With kids brainwashed, they may be taught that if they succeed in wiping out people at the Island, they can free their people, the Eldians, from slavery and poverty. They were probably taught that as long as the threat of the people from the Island attacking the Mainland (Marley) exists, GOOD Eldians would continue to suffer. Not enough explanation, I don't know what kind of lie they told the kids but since the Revolutionists were eliminated, no one knows about the truth anymore.
History: I think the history on how Ymir Fritz became a Titan and who attacked who first can only be found in the memories of the Original Titan inside a Royal Blood. But obviously, that can't happen or else we'd get a coward King or Queen.
I'm even thinking that the Beast-making-Ymir-Titan fact has a twist. Since the core of humans is cruelty or something, I'm thinking Ymir was sacrificed (because humans are forever dicks) to this Horned-Titan god and for being a nice person, she was given that power, she used that power to start industrialization of the land and the people became greedy, and the cycle goes on, different versions of the history were passed down. I'm siding with the Titan race, aren't I?
I think even if the Royal Blood unlocks those memories, that person still wouldn't say anything and choose not to disclose the truth, unless tortured? Maybe or not. But the 145th Fritz King wouldn't think to fear and/or eliminate humanity if Ymir F. was not betrayed by humans to feed or sacrifice to that Horned-Titan, in the first place. Just a speculation. I could be wrong.
They have been brain washed indeed.
We have Zeek as proof.
He even turned against his parents.
This manga actually pretty complicated that I started thinking harder for this than for the sake of my degree (￣∇￣")
I actually wonder why those young Eldians wants to fights for Marley. I mean, they are fighting against their own kind(?). But when I read back again in Eren's (Grisha's?) memory, Marley recruit children of Eldians to become their soldier and kind of brainwashed them, so they also can become a "warrior".
I think it's a very smart and sly move on Marley's side, beside recruiting childrens for the sake of Titan's shifter's time limit, it's also pretty crucial to build some concept to children, like it will die hard on some sides. I'm thinking of this when I read the page about Gabi's obsession to become a warrior, like it's something she's proud about, and she's still young? I also wonder what Marleys said to those young Eldians that makes them really want to become a warrior.
The most thing that I really wanna know the answer is their real history. I mean, both Marley and Eldian have their own version of why the world became like this. And both saying that they are the victim of the other. With this we can't really tell which side is the good one. Though, in the real world we also can't really tell which one is the most right because people have their own reasoning.