5. Creating Battlefield Tactics for the Age of Gunpowder
Cordoba fixed firearms’ weakness at the Battle of Cerignola in 1503 via liberal use of arquebuses and arquebusiers. In that engagement, El Gran Capitan led an army of 6300 men, including 1000 arquebusiers and 20 cannons. They faced a French army of 9000 men, mostly heavy cavalry and elite Swiss pikemen, supported by 40 cannons. Cordoba deployed his arquebusiers behind a ditch and field fortifications. From that shelter, they won an upset victory by shooting the attackers to pieces. Battlefields were dominated by firearms-bearing infantry from then on. Cordoba furthered that revolution by creating formations that allowed infantry equipped with firearms to operate without the benefit of fortifications. The result was the Tercio, a formation that combined pikemen with arquebusiers, allowing the latter to shelter behind the pikes of the former while reloading. Spanish infantry in Tercio formations went on to dominate European battlefields for the next century.
