Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, called "The Great Captain", was a soldier in the service of the Catholic Monarchs (15th and 16th centuries). His tactical innovations made him the most prominent military chief of the Castilian-Aragonese monarchy from a young age. He demonstrated his military ingenuity during the "Guerra de Granada" (1842) military campaign where the Spanish tried to expel Boabdil from the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula. The successes of the Campaign in Italy earned him the nickname of Great Captain. The death of Queen Isabella the Catholic in 1504 marked the beginning of the fall from grace of the Great Captain and his confrontation with Ferdinand the Catholic who demanded that the Great Captain render accounts of his management in the Treaty of Blois (1505).
The man from Córdoba never ceased to be an officer close to his men, with a sense of honor towards his opponent, stoic and, above all, a loyal subject towards the Catholic Monarchs.
The legacy of the "Great Captain" revolutionized the way of fighting worldwide: troop formation in companies under the command of a captain, and the expert handling of individual firearms by the foot combatant. He introduces great reforms in the "art of war": from medieval heaviness (heavy cavalry) he gave priority to modern agility (infantry) and trained his men through rigorous discipline and formed their morale, awakening in them pride of body , personal dignity, sense of national honor and religious interest.
He made of the Spanish infantry that formidable army of which the French said after having fought against him, that "they had not fought with men but with devils."