Complex sentence: This took ruthlessness and arms (and Msiri had what would be called in the west "superior military technology"), but also a strategic eye, and the guile and persuasion required to form alliances with hundred of other tribes, rulers and traders.
Split into simpler sentences: This took ruthlessness and arms (and Msiri had what would be called in the west "superior military technology"). But it also took a strategic eye, and the guile and persuasion required to form alliances with hundred of other tribes, rulers and traders.