In 1503 the Imperial Spanish Army launched one of the greatest military campaigns in history. Using guerrilla style tactics and pitched battles, the outnumbered Spanish and Sicilians out maneuvered and defeated the much larger French invaders of Italy. In their 1503 for control of Naples, the Spanish Army, led by the Great Captain Hernando Gonzales de Cordoba, were to introduce the use of small arms to the world. This campaign would alter world history.
Background:
The backdrop to this war begins in the late 1400’s. Italy was experiencing the Renaissance and was the wealthiest part of Europe. Learning and the arts had reached levels not seen since the times of the Romans. However, Italy was not united. It was divided into various republics, kingdoms and duchies.
The Italians fought each other rather than unite and form a great nation. This was due to the rivalry of the Medicis, the Sforzas, the Popes and the Venetians. They would have rather fought with each other than look out for the greater good of Italy. The French, who at the time were an impoverished feudal nation, began gazing towards their divided neighbor. In 1495 at the invitation of Ludovico Sforza, who was the Duke of Milan, the French King Charles VIII invaded and overran most of Italy. Powerless to stop the invaders the various Italian states surrendered and accepted French hegemony. When the invaders sacked Naples, the Italians began to resist. Under normal circumstances, they would have been crushed. Luckily, across the Mediterranean events were transpiring that would save the Italian nation.
In the Iberian peninsula the Crowns of Aragon and Castile had united to form the Kingdom of Spain. Under the monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, they had finally driven out the Arab Islamic invaders from their last stronghold of Granada in 1492.
In that campaign the Spanish utilized Roman style infantry tactics to achieve their final victory. These tactics were employed by one of the commanders of the final liberation, Hernando Gonzales de Cordoba. A student of Roman warfare, he favored Guerrilla style infantry tactics. After the war he continued to train and improve the Spanish Army and modeled it on the legions of their Roman ancestors.
King Ferdinand now began to gaze toward Naples since it was under the control or influence of Aragon for over 150 years. Although a separate Kingdom, the ruling family was related to the Aragonese and then Spanish King. Italian traders began telling tales of French atrocities. This angered the Spanish who viewed Italy as their cultural homeland and Italians as their Latin cousins. This anger and the interests of Spain led the King to intervene and take on the French invaders.
The 1503 Campaign:
The Spanish controlled Sicily and it would be from that island that the Liberation of Italy would begin. The Spanish and their Sicilian subjects arrived in Naples in small units. Since Spanish and Italian are close linguistically, the Italians viewed the Spanish as liberators from what they deemed the barbaric French and their Swiss mercenaries. Catching the French and Swiss in isolated engagement, they began to seize territory and demoralize the invaders.
This clip shows the style of warfare preferred by the Spanish. Although this video shows them fighting the Dutch 120 years later, the tactics and night attack would have been of the same mold.
Finally reinforced with up to 8,000 men (6,000 Spanish and 2,000 Sicilians), Gonzales de Cordoba decided to gamble on a battle. He was extremely confident in his men. They were the first professional army since the Roman Legions who they were modeled after and claimed decent from. He also knew that the Spaniard Army had an technological advantage over the French. The Spanish had the Arquebus, which was an early rifle. The French had a limited amount of these arms and still used Crossbows. The Spanish also used smaller cannons which were easier to reload than the larger cannons the French used. Speed and mobility was the concept of the Spanish Army.
On April 28th, 1503, the Spanish dug a trench near the Town of Cerignola in lower Italy. The French, under the command of the Duke of Nemours, had 32,000 men and they totally underestimated the Spanish. They looked down at the Spaniards as drunkards and weak. This would cost them. Seeing the small numbers of Spanish the French and Swiss began their attack.
Despite being outnumbered 4:1, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, called “El Gran Capitán” (The Great Captain), had many strategic advantages: he had occupied the heights of Cerignola, and entrenched his soldiers with walls, trenches and stakes, and his artillery was better placed than French one. Most of his forces were infantry troopers, which he had formed into new units called “Coronelías”, that were the seed of the later Tercios, armed with a mix of pikes, arquebuses and swords. This type of formation had revolutionized the Spanish army, which like the French, had also centred upon cavalry during the 10th to 15th centuries, in the battles of the Reconquista against the Muslims in Spain.
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The battle began with two charges by the French cavalry, against the centre of the Spanish army, but was disbanded by heavy artillery fire on both occasions. The next assault tried to force the right flank, but it was broken by a storm of fire from the Spanish arquebusiers, which killed the Duke of Nemours. With the Swiss commander, Chandieu, taking charge, the Swiss infantry attacked along with the cavalry, but this attempt was again driven back by the arquebusiers, during which Chandieu also died. This forced the French army to retire in disorder, the moment in which Spanish infantry countered. The result was a total French defeat.
It is considered the first battle in history won by firearms.
The Spaniards and the Sicilians had shocked the world. They introduced small arms as a way to win a battle. Also, it was one of the few times that Infantry had defeated Calvary. The Spanish had defeated what was at the time considered the best Christian Army in the world. However, this was a Feudal Army made up of conscripts and mercenaries. The Spanish were professional and looked forward to dying in battle.
The Spanish then began to advance up the Italian Peninsula. They continued their guerrilla style attacks on French outposts and he French began to retreat. As they advanced, reinforcements arrived from Spain. Gonzales de Cordoba began to recruit native Italians to augment his numbers. The natives flocked to the Spanish banners. They detested the French and viewed the Spanish as cousins and were grateful for their liberation. Now the final showdown was in sight near the city of Gaeta.
The French by this time were demoralized. The Feudal levies were not used to campaigning in the winter. The Spanish were a year round army and now had up to 15,000 men composed of Spaniards, Sicilians and newly recruited Italians. Hernando Gonzales de Cordoba reached the Garigliano river. He saw the 23,000 French were entrenched and expecting a Spanish attack. Having full faith in his men, he gave them their wish and changed the course of history.
In the mid-November 1503, the French and Spanish armies were separated by the Garigliano river, some 60 km north to Naples. Both armies camped in a marshy and unhealthy area. The Spanish had tried several times to cross the river using a makeshift bridge, but always in vain. The French, based at the rivers’ mouth near the ruins of Minturnae (Traetto), enjoyed the advantage of an accessible supply-base in the nearby port of Gaeta.
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During the night between 27 and 28 December, the Spanish brought the bridging materials to a place near the castle of Suio, in a position invisible to the French, some six kilometers north to the latter’s camp. D’Alviano, commander of the Spanish vanguard, had the construction begin at dawn. By 10 AM some 4,000 Spaniards had crossed the Garigliano.
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Informed about the French retreat, Gonzalo decided to continue the advance. Colonna and his horsemen made contact with the French at Scauri, but a courageous defence of a bridge by Bernardo Adorno allowed the French a safe retreat. After a series of minor clashes, the French took position near a bridge in Mola where they were able to push back Colonna’s attempt to surround them. However, the arrival of the rest of the Spanish forced the Marquis of Saluzzo to order another retreat.
After some days of siege in Gaeta, the French surrendered. Spain had therefore gained a total supremacy over the Kingdom of Naples that would last several centuries.
Spain was victorious. In less than eight months the Spanish had taken apart a much larger French Army. With the liberation of the Kingdom of Naples, they were now masters of 1/2 of the Italian Peninsula.
Aftermath:
Henando Gonzeles de Cordoba would bear the name- the Great Captain. He was rewarded with being made Viceroy of Naples for the King of Spain. In later campaigns, Spain eventually kicked out the French invaders. They gained direct control over the Duchy of Milan. Genoa, the Tuscan duchies and even the Papal States were to become Spanish vassals or under their influence. Only The Venetian Republic and the Kingdom of Savoy would not come under Spanish hegemony. For the first time since the Roman Empire the Latin people of Spain and Italy would be united.
Italians, under the Spanish, were treated as equals and brothers. They would man the Spanish armies, serve as diplomats and Viceroys for Spain’s Americas colonies. The greatest Commander of the Spanish Empire, the Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese, was Italian. Many Spanish settled in Italy, thus many Italians have last names as Castellano (Castilian) and Catalano (Catalan). These names indicted their Spanish roots. To this day, Spaniards and Latin Americans view Italians as their cousins. After all, it was an Italian people named the Romans who gave birth to the Latin people.
The Spanish Empire and it’s Army was the heir of the Romans. For 150 years after this battle, The Spanish had their boots around the rest of humanity. To their enemies, they were the bad guys. To Hispanics and Italians, they were heroes. The Spanish Army called itself the sword of Rome in tribute to their ancestors. They were men who didn’t fear death and viewed it as a liberation from this existence.
This was the hymn of the Imperial Army.
Tags: Hernando Gonzales de Cordoba, Italian Wars, Itlay, Spanish Empire, Spanish Tercios
