Squad and techniques
Thirds marching in formation during the Battle of Nieuport in 1600.
From left to right: Alabardero, Alferez and arquebusiers.
The frame of the Tercio had three classes of fighters: boobies, arquebusiers and musketeers. Also available artillery, and occasional cavalry (eg.: Battle of Cerinola).
The birds used the pike, between 3 and 6 m in length, and also wore a belt tied to his sword. According to his defensive weaponry fell into “picas dry ‘and’ spades armadas (coseletes boobies or heavy). The first half wore armor cap or sometimes morrion. The latter were protected with morrion or helmet, breastplate, back and thighs escarcelas covering attached to the breastplate. The sword was his great asset in any melee, management and the Spanish had a reputation acreditadisima. Was usually double-edged and not used to measure more than one meters to become lighter and more transportable.
The Musketeers took a team very similar to the arquebusiers, but differed in that instead of harquebus, using a musket, or a wider scope and size, which also required the support of shooting with a fork mounted on the floor and instead of morrion, chambergo hat. Allowed them to leave their scope of training in the shelter closed and after firing squad. It was an extraordinary innovation in its time thanks to the intelligence of the Duke of Alba, who decided to make muskets in thirds in 1567, where previously only served in the defense of walled places, especially in Barbary prisons in northern africa.
The Spaniards kept military hegemony in the sixteenth century and much of the seventeenth century, although his enemies were inspired by their own coping techniques. Hosts increased their strength and began to suffer massive casualties. The generals of the time then chose not to plant large battles, but a concentrated effort to engage the sockets of major cities to force a treaty that would lead to the end of the war, this is temporary or long term. An aphorism of lansquenetes of those times quite rightly said: “God of a hundred years of war and not a single day batalla .
Large formations of the thirds were using the baptized by the Spaniards as “art squad, and treaties of the time are full of formulas and tables to make squads of up to 8000 men. By then they had disappeared completely individual exploits in the Middle Ages enjoyed so much fame and prestige for the soldier because the infantry was based entirely on anonymous. The officers and soldiers had a distinguished horse for the gear, but all fighting foot to ground, embedded in large square or rectangular formation with a strictly imposed discipline alignment movements and maneuvers. During the journey, the troops used to always travel in column, but then fought grouped into geometric blocks.
These blocks easily rejected the cavalry and fought skillfully combined with the rest of the infantry, but should avoid to the extent of the fees, since that could suffer serious damage and casualties. The threat of enemy artillery in a battle was made clear to all armies of the time especially after the battle of Marignane, in which the French artillery pounding the tables Swiss. All the generals were present then this factor, although in fact the pieces of artillery were slight and very difficult to move on steep terrain or muddy, such as in the fields of Flanders. It should be noted, however, that the infantry was the only one who could best move in the narrow spaces left canals, dams, bridges or walls in Flanders.
The Third used to be like the typical training squad named clubs. The remaining troops’ cavalry and arquebusiers’ debian support their action on their sleeves or sides to prevent the enemy is involved, but sometimes also formed small tables at the corners. This tactic was used in more open country, passing through the orders of a sergeant major of the company sergeants and their captains, who moved to the troops. All movements were performed in complete silence, so that only at the time of the crash was allowed to scream Santiago! or Spain! .
The doctrine of the time established clubs to raise horses, face and boobies arcabuceria to launch arquebusiers cavalry on the enemy, and that these, after the first shot, they were very vulnerable until they loaded the gun again.
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