Battle of Rocroi 1643, The

The Battle of Rocroi (19 May 1643) is famous for the French victory over the Spanish Tercios. The Duc d’Enghien, only 21 years old, defeated a Spanish army commanded by Francisco de Melo. The victory has traditionally been attributed to the military genius of the young Duke, to the superiority of the French cavalry and to the decline of Spanish tactics: the Tercios were no longer invincible. Thus, the date of 1643 established a historical milestone, a paradigm shift in military history: the end of Spanish hegemony and the beginning of the rise of France - the Grand Siècle of Louis XIV.

But, beyond the military defeat of the Spanish army, the question posed in this book is to assess whether, in fact, the battle of Rocroi was the beginning of the decline of the Spanish hegemony, and of its military tactics and formations; the Tercios, who had fought and been victorious in Europe for more than a century.