The modern usage of the word conservative doesn't align very well with historical political terms and I think it's best understood completely separately. When people talk about "conservatives" today, at least in North America, they are referring to people who want a strongman leader enforcing social hierarchies and protecting the ability of an arbitrary elite to dominate the less fortunate.

Historically this described nearly all political entities regardless of their other beliefs. Basically people have been absolutely horrible for most of recorded history.