page_title: Military history of Italy
section_title: Ancient Italy
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Italy / Ancient Italy
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of a Etruscan helmet in the british museum
context_page_description: The military history of Italy chronicles a vast time period, lasting from the overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus in 509 BC, through the Roman Empire, Italian city-states, Italian unification, and into the modern day. The Italian peninsula has been a centre of military conflict throughout European history: because of this, Italy has a long military tradition. Today Italy is the 8th country by Military Strength Index.
context_section_description: In the 8th century BC, a group of Italic tribes (Latins in the west, Sabines in the upper valley of the Tiber, Umbrians in the north-east, Samnites in the South, Oscans and others) shared the Italian peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North, and the Greeks in the south.
  The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities like Tarquinia, Veii and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings.  The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. Historians have no literature, no texts of religion or philosophy; therefore much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.
  The Italics were war-like as the Etruscans (the gladiatorial displays actually evolved out of Etruscan funerary customs). The Italics and the Etruscans had a significant military tradition. In addition to marking the rank and power of certain individuals in their culture, warfare was a considerable economic boon to their civilization. Like many ancient societies, the Italics and the Etruscans conducted campaigns during summer months, raiding neighboring areas, attempting to gain territory and combating piracy/banditism as a means of acquiring valuable resources such as land, prestige and goods. It is also likely individuals taken in battle would be ransomed back to their families and clans at high cost.
  The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy (that the Romans later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples and Taranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily, between 750 and 550 BC.
  After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in central Italy, and expanded into north Italy founding cities like Mutina (actual Modena) and Felsina (actual Bologna). Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven "etruscan" kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythic Romulus who along with his brother Remus were said to have founded the city of Rome.
  The northern part of Italy was called Cisalpine Gaul because of the presence of Celtic tribes and the strong influence they had on the region. Non-Celtic people like Ligurians in the western part, and Adriatic Veneti in the eastern, also existed and were the majority of population of Cisalpine Gaul, although they were very influenced by Celts in their culture, and warfare was no exception. The Ligurians practised warfare mainly by ambush and their weaponry was very similar to the Celtic one; the early warfare of Veneti indeed was very similar to the italic, Greek, and illirian ones (e.g. with hoplites and phalanx), but later emerges use of typical Celtic weapons and tactics. 
  These many tribes were not united and often disagreed or even conflicted with each other. Tribal warfare was a regular feature of Celtic societies, using war to exercise political control and harass rivals, for economic advantage, and in some cases to conquer territory. An example in this area was the fight between the Celtic Insubres and the Taurini (Ligurian) that Hannibal intervened at, when he went to Italy just after crossing the Alps. The Cisalpine Celtic and Ligurian populations were sought after as mercenaries in the wars of the ancient world, until they were subjected to Rome between the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.
caption: An Etruscan bronze helmet
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