Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, or simply Gonzalo de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515), (Italian: Gonsalvo or Consalvo Ernandes di Cordova), Duke of Terranova and Santangelo, Andria, Montalto and Sessa, was a Spanish general who fought in the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. He reorganized the emerging Spanish army and its tactics, and was regarded as the "father of trench warfare". He was also called "The Great Captain" (Spanish: El Gran Capitán). Many influential men fought under him (including Francisco Pizarro's father), and he was admired by the generation of conquistadors which followed.

Cordoba assumed military leadership between 1482 and 1492. He contributed to the initiative that eventually ousted the Moors from his country and ended Muslim occupation of Spain. These early years in Cordoba's career familiarized him with various military strategies and increased his understanding of possible tactics. Cordoba was recognized for his personal bravery during this time. In one battle, the siege of Montefrio, he penetrated the Moors' defenses using ladders to scale the opponents' walls. In 1492, Cordoba captured the city of Granada from the Moors, bringing an end to the war against the kingdom of Granada. To achieve this victory he staged small skirmishes, creating confusion and deliberately capturing small villages. Cordoba emerged from this experience with an understanding of how to integrate mobile military initiatives with technical tools, such as siege craft and explosives.

Cordoba's successful initiatives against the Moors attracted the favorable attention of the Spanish queen, Isabella of Castile, and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon. In 1495, Isabella ordered Cordoba to lead an army of more than 2,000 soldiers into Italy. He was to assist the Italians in recapturing Naples from the French. Coordination efforts between the Italian and Spanish forces proved to be ineffective, and Cordoba's forces lacked the necessary training to prevail. Spain was defeated by the French at the Battle of Seminara.

Cordoba was inspired by the outcome of Seminara. He retreated temporarily in order to train his troops and rethink his strategy in dealing with the French occupation of Italian territory. Because Italian forces were much larger than Cordoba's forces, he employed effective guerrilla tactics to disrupt the movement of supplies to the French. Using such tactics, Cordoba was able to avoid large-scale battles that would have demolished his forces and to successfully disrupt French military operations in Italy. Cordoba used these tactics to gain a foothold in the country, and then move toward the French-occupied Italian cities. In less than a year, Cordoba had stopped the French initiative and captured Atella, taken the French commander (Montspensier) as prisoner, and recovered the Roman port of Ostia. He returned the captured territories to the Italians by 1498. The pope recognized Cordoba and expressed gratitude for his victory in Italy.

Córdoba was a pioneer of modern warfare. As a field commander, like Napoleon three centuries later his goal was the destruction of the enemy army. Córdoba systematically pursued defeated armies after a victory to minimize future resistance. He helped found the first modern standing army (the nearly-invincible Spanish infantry which dominated European battlefields for most of the 16th and 17th centuries). The best generals of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Philip II of Spain were Córdoba's pupils or were trained by them. Córdoba directed the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms (the Battle of Cerignola). At the end of the battle, he issued a call to prayer (toque de oracion, adopted later for all Western armies);[citation needed] when Córdoba saw the fields full of French bodies, he ordered the playing of three long tones and prayers for the fallen.