Gaston de Foix

Biography

Louis XII's nephew was twenty-one when he was given command in Italy and twenty-two when he died, and in the six months between he ran one of the most brilliant campaigns in military history. Contemporaries called him the Thunderbolt of Italy. Facing the Holy League on three sides, he relieved Bologna by a forced march through snow, turned and destroyed a Venetian army at Brescia within days, stormed the city, and then marched south to force a battle at Ravenna. At Ravenna he did something new. Unable to attack the Spanish entrenchments frontally after Cerignola's lesson, he manoeuvred his guns to fire along the length of the trenches — enfilade — until the Spanish had to come out and fight in the open, where he broke them. It was the bloodiest day Italy had ever seen: 12,000 dead. Then he saw Spanish infantry retreating in good order, charged them with a handful of companions to make the victory complete, and was killed. He was twenty-two. France lost Italy within months, because the victory at Ravenna was worth nothing without the man who had won it — the campaign was him, and no one else could carry it.

Key Battles