SPANISH TERTIA, THIRTY YEARS WAR (48 FIGS)

Tercios (other terms: tercio or tercio espanol) is a mixed Spanish infantry formation used on a large scale by the Spanish Habsburgs in the 16th and first half of the 17th century. It is assumed that the formation was established at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, and its rapid development took place during the Italian wars (1494-1559). The basic Tercios formation on the battlefield was a company of 250-300 men (depending on the period) composed of pikemen, arquebusers (later musketeers), but also soldiers with one and a half and two-handed swords. The percentage of the latter significantly decreased with the end of the 16th century. There is also a small "staff" composed of, inter alia, the captain, his deputy, but also the chaplain and musicians. Companies were often formed into superior units of up to 3,000 men, which would be equivalent to today's brigades. The Tercios were considered one of the best infantry formations of Western Europe in the 16th and early 17th centuries. They became famous in many battles during the Italian wars, especially at Pavia in 1525, but also during the war in the Netherlands for the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). In the latter, the hegemony of this formation symbolically ended at the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, when Tercios lost to the French troops.