Spanish Infantry 16 Centry. Set 1 1/72 Scale Plastic Model Kit Red Box 72096

Tercia is a tactical unit of the Spanish Empire during the era of Habsburg dominance in European plantations in the 16th century and in the first half of the 17th century.
The following types of troops were represented in the third - pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers and / or musketeers. In theory, 3,000 soldiers were supposed to be part of the third, although in practice it was often less than half this number. The Spanish tercios were the first tactical units in Europe where the personnel were represented by well-trained professional volunteers with excellent combat discipline, instead of the mercenaries that made up the majority of European armies of that time. Sometimes the third was called the Spanish caret. Before the Battle of Rocroix, the tercio was considered invincible.
Despite the fact that other countries adopted the formation of troops in the form of thirds from the Spaniards, they were nowhere near as strong as the Spaniards. The Spaniards had a reputation for being invincible. The core of their army was made up of professional Spanish soldiers. This was precisely the advantage of the Spaniards in comparison with other countries. At that time, the armies of all European states consisted mainly of mercenaries, although the Spaniards also used mercenaries from different countries, in particular, from the German lands (landsknechts), the Italian states, the Walloon lands and from the Spanish Netherlands. However, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the backbone of the Spanish army was formed from native Spaniards. A distinctive feature of the Spanish army was unity, high combat discipline and professionalism.