The Armenian defense Fund Blood Money
Posted on August. 15. 2020
“It is an unfortunate fact
that we can secure peace
only by preparing for war”.
John F. Kennedy
Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian
According to a popularized legend, the great city of Rome was founded by the twin brothers called Romulus and Remus, who were given birth by a princess in Italy. The twins’ uncle was a king who feared the boys would someday overthrow him. So, the king ordered the babies to be thrown into the Tiber River. The gods took pity on the boys and brought them safely to shore. The orphans were found and fed milk by a female wolf, and later a shepherd found the brothers and adopted them. The two brothers grew up, killed their selfish uncle, and created the city of Rome.
Time and again, this legend is told by the Italian historians to hide the fact that one of their highly enlightened neighbors, the Etruscans (the people of Etruria in central Italy), in fact, had founded the city and they gave the Romans the idea of how to build an empire based on their culture and principles of warfare.
From its humble origins as a village nearly 3,000 years ago, Rome grew into a mega city. Despite their small population, the Romans conquered many other peoples, first the Etruscans in Italy and then went abroad. The Roman army created an empire that stretched around the Mediterranean Sea and reached as far as Britain. At its height, the Roman Empire had geographic stake in 48 modern-day countries, including the Palestinian territories and Armenian Highlands.
The inimitable Roman soldiers built cities all over the Mediterranean world, bridges, theaters, and thousands of miles of straight roads throughout their empire. The cities had a constant supply of fresh water, carried to them along aquadeducts from the hills. What enabled the Romans to accomplish all of these monumental successes? Let us together explore and learn a lesson for our own threatened Homeland Armenia, the land island surrounded by imperialist land sharks, namely Turkey and Azerbaijan.
It is true that “Rome was not built in a day” as the saying goes, but it was not built by the Romans, either. Unlike the legend of Romulus and Remus, Rome, this powerful ancient metropolis, was built by the Etruscans. As Turkey tries to deny the existence of Armenians in the so-called Eastern Anatolia (i.e., The Western Armenia), the Italian historians have been hesitant to credit the phenomenal Roman progress to the wisdom, diligence, and advanced civilization of the Etruscans.
The Etruscans lived mainly in a region called Etruria in the center of present-day Tuscany of Italy, which gave birth to one of the first civilizations in Europe. The origin of the Etruscan civilization is an ongoing scientific debate among scholars of different
disciplines across the globe. A recent study on the biological origins of the Etruscans, however, has revealed a migration event from the Armenian Highlands into Tuscany around 850 B.C.
According to historians, about 600 B.C., a group of people called the Etruscans, took power in Rome. They spoke a language unlike any other in Italy. Although we have many examples of their writing, we can only decipher very little of it. Where had they come from? For various reasons and evidence, a number of scholars and scientists believe that the Etruscans have emigrated from Armenia. This contention has been lately backed by DNA evidence. For a time, Etruscan kings ruled Rome. Later, the Romans revolted and drove the Etruscans from power.
Although the Romans defeated the Etruscans, they adopted Etruscan ideas. For example, many of the Roman gods were originally Etruscan. The Romans even borrowed the Greek alphabet that the Etruscans used. The Roman garment called the “toga” also came from the Etruscans. Other cultural influences include engineering and building skills, architectural style, and the victory procession which would become the Roman Triumph march. Most importantly, Etruscans had many ideas about warfare and the Romans learned about them especially the idea of hiring mercenary soldiers when there was lack of native young men. Undoubtedly, the Etruscans paved the way for the Romans to become a major power in Italy and in the Mediterranean world.
The seeds of Roman greatness were planted by Julius Caesar. He was a great Roman general in the last years before the first emperor. He had an open mind toward adopting ideas from the Etruscans and Greeks. As you know, he was stabbed to death in 44 B.C. He left a great legacy of forming a formidable army consisting of centurions who were officers in the Roman army based on Etruscan ideas. Each one commanded about a hundred soldiers, who made up a century.
In many ways, the Roman army was very well trained, adequately equipped, and extremely powerful. The first emperor of the Roman Empire was Augustus. He became emperor in 27 B.C. This great leader set the style for later emperors. All of their successes can be attributed to the vibrant culture of the Etruscans, which was adopted by the Roman leaders over the years.
The fateful minting of coinage from the 5th century B.C. indicates that mercenaries were used by Etruscans in warfare. The Romans readily adopted this idea and began to recruit men from surrounding countries to serve in their army. And the rest is history: the greatest empire the world had ever known.
In time, as the Roman Empire planned to conquer more territories, the Romans run out of native soldiers to govern and protect the vanquished countries. So, based on the Etruscan ideas, they recruited and trained young men from other countries. They paid them “solidus”, a gold coin of ancient Rome (introduced by Constantine and continued in the Byzantine Empire) for their service. Hence, we have now the word “soldier”, mainly
derived from the name of the gold coin “solidus”, which was given to mercenaries for their services.
Arguably, history shows us the path to the future. So, what are the implications of all this to Armenians of modern day? While the Diaspora and Armenia are proud of the Armenian soldiers, we are pitted against an enemy which has superior numbers with sophisticated modern weaponry.
Armed with modern weapons purchased for multi billion dollars from Belarus, Israel, –and from our loyal friend Russia –Azerbaijan attacked Karabakh villages in 2016. These events have served as confidence building for Azerbaijan’s army. Endowed with petro dollars, they have built a force to reckon with as was proven during the April 2-5, 2016 sneak-attack war. Just on July 13, 2020, Azerbaijan launched an attack on the Tavush province of Armenia with greater force than their last attack in 2016.
Instead of rushes, delays, we should have yearly fund raising event.
We would be ahead of our enemies if we were to practice management by objectives rather than management by crisis. Therefore, establishing an Armenian defense fund is crucial.
The Romans copied ideas freely first from the Etruscans, then from the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians (i.e., The Armenians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Sumerians). Of all the enviable characteristics, the Romans were highly adaptive and ready to learn from the ideas and practices of others to get ahead. That trait made them the lord of the ancient world. It behooves the Armenians to learn something from the Etruscans and the Romans.
In case you wonder as to why I had to write about the Etruscans and the Romans. I could have simply said: The Etruscans educated the primitive Romans and the Romans built an Empire on the use of slavery and blood money (i.e., a fee paid hired mercenaries for their service in the army) learned from the Etruscans. But when I am faced with a situation to ask you to accept and hopefully act upon an idea I propose, I should first of all convince you of the importance of the proposed idea and show you how it worked well in the past for certain people of limited size population such as the Romans had been before they had embarked on an epic empire-building with blood money.
The proposed fund is to be exclusively dedicated to blood money, veteran assistance, and acquisition of arms. In the event of an emergency of war, Armenia would need a viable military force; and so defense money would be essential to cover salaries of soldiers (such as blood money for mercenaries), training, health care, purchases of arms, ammunition, equipment, and facilities.
Boston Dynamics is constantly working on machines designed for supporting or taking an active role in the military. With the elasticity of our imagination, we could see a near future where robots are deployed to fight our battles, in place of men and women. It has been argued that these expendable machines are more likely to accomplish their mission without fear, injury or problems with PTSD (Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder)
or follow up care if they get hurt. Those nations that have the defense money would be the first ones to add the robot soldiers to their arsenals of lethal weapons just as Azerbaijan has been purchasing drones from Israel.
Like any other “Armenian Fund” we would organize events for fund
raising purposes and with the magic of television, have community leading individuals speak for the necessity of contributing toward the defense fund in order to be in control of Armenia and Artsakh’s destiny. The details of it are beyond the scope of this article.
Let us not forget, winning a war requires advance preparedness just like surviving an earthquake necessitates certain preparedness. Preparing way in advance of facing national challenges is not only confidence builder, it also gives us the precious peace of mind to enjoy our daily lives.
Ideas have changed the world. Ideas can also help Armenians. Thank you for reading this article on a crucial idea. Now, it is your turn to share this idea with others and even write your opinions about it and send it to Mr. Appo Jabarian, the Executive Publisher and the Managing Editor of the USA Armenian Life Magazine to publish it in one of his issues. He happens to be one of the champions of the Armenian Cause and a watchdog of the Armenian community for the protection of its rights and interests. It is vital that we hear your voice. Without a shadow of a doubt, your voice counts toward safeguarding our millennia-old Homeland, Hayastan. And yes –one person makes a difference. So, write a letter to the editor to show your support.
UK Express, October 12th, 2017, Russian Mercenaries Fighting in Syria, Image Courtesy of Getty. Note: The banner reads “Soldier of Fortune” instead of using the cliché word mercenary. Blood Money is very attractive incentive for men to join any army that pays
them. Most of them do it for money and not for the principle. Armenia must be financially prepared to hire mercenaries when the crucial time comes to face the barbarian enemy.