Arms and Armour

Etruscan military history

Like their contemporaries in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the Etruscans had a persistent military tradition. Warfare served as a marker of status in Etruscan culture and greatly aided the Etruscan economy with new lands, resources, and enslaved workers. The Etruscans organized their military around the power of aristocratic clans, or gens, whose enslaved dependents made up the bulk of their fighting force. They adapted Greek military technology to fit their own needs along with developing their own equipment and tactics using their extensive natural resources. The Etruscans fought mainly as disconnected cities and clans, vying for power with other local governments and occasionally working together to fight larger local nations like Rome. As their military adapted through the years, it slowly became more Romanized until, after several defeats, they were fully conquered by the Romans around the middle of the 3rd century BC. These individual units would often work together to defeat a common enemy, but there was also infighting between Etruscan clans. Warfare primarily acted as a way to acquire land, prestige goods, prisoners, and to settle feuds within Etruscan society and with other nations.

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See also

• ▸Bayonet
• ▸1645
• ▸Bulletproof vest

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