I'm pretty sure defiant children were not a 'thing' when it was still socially acceptable to use corporal punishment.

And I don't mean parents being sadists for the sake of it, but using it judiciously.

The lesson that resorting to violence results in even more violence thrown back at you and therefore violence is not something to start is a useful one.

Of course, this only works on people or animals with the mental faculties to understand this, so probably it's useless on children less than 6 years old.