A famous Spanish general who was called "The Great Captain". Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the "Great Captain" of Spain, stands as the herald of the gunpowder age and a pioneer of Europe's military revolution. He first shone in 1492 during the War of Granada, where his siege engines sealed the Reconquista's triumphant finale. Recognizing the power of new weapons, he resolved to lift Spain from the margins to the forefront of European warfare. In the Second Italian War he faced French heavy cavalry's steel tide. Rather than clash head-on, he blended arquebusiers, pikemen, and light horse into the prototype Spanish tercio, shattering the French and the myth of invincible knights. It was history's first major victory won chiefly with firearms. Before gunpowder ruled the battlefield, Gonzalo fused it with bold strategy and noble honor, laying the cornerstone of the empire Spain would soon become.