Ambrogio Spinola - TV Tropes
- ️Tue Nov 01 2022
Ambrogio Spinola, Marquis of Los Balbases and Duke of Sesto (1569 – 25 September 1630) was a Genoese general and proconsul of the Spanish Empire during the 17th century. One in the long tradition of Italian noblemen serving the House of Habsburg, he stood out as a brilliant strategist in the middle phase of The Eighty Years' War, where he might have achieved the feat of actually achieving anything for Spain had he not been essentially the Only Sane Man among the thinking heads of his side. He is held as possibly the ablest general of his age and one of the greatest of the Hispanic Monarchy.
Born in a family of bankers from the Merchant City of Genoa, the young Ambrogio didn't seem to be cut for military life, as he was more interested in sciences and maths than fighting; it was his brother Federico, who went to serve under Alexander Farnese as a privateer, the one who appeared to be an admiral in making. However, after getting the shorter end of the stick in a political rivalry with the Doria family (chieftained by Giovanni Andrea Doria, great-nephew to Andrea Doria and one of the heroes of the Battle of Lepanto), Ambrogio decided to try luck himself in the mud of the war. His brother Federico had been recently allowed by King Philip III to organize an ambitious, private naval invasion of England, so the brothers reunited in Genoa, assembled an army off their own pocket like the Italian condottieros of yore, and marched to the Netherlands with enterprising goals in mind. However, the governors of the Netherlands, Archdukes Albert and Isabella Clara Eugenia, considered the plan a serious case of Awesome, but Impractical, and the sudden death of Federico in a naval exchange ultimately buried it before it could start. note Ambrogio suffered a Heroic BSoD and thought about returning home, but he eventually recovered and put himself in the governors' service.
Despite starting at 34 and with zero military experience, Ambrogio was a great acquisition for the Habsburg army, as not only he was a Non-Idle Rich who could economically help the war effort when necessary, he also turned out to be an Instant Expert in the art of war, one who soon could rival the genius of the Dutch ringleader Maurice of Nassau (as well as surpass him, as Maurice had greatly capitalized on the lack of serious competition during his own rise). When the crown realized, impressed by his early success and interested on his new plans, they put Spinola in charge of the whole theater, with the militarily challenged Albert yielding command to him.note Where previous generals had tried and failed to wage a defensive war of attrition spiced with random assaults, Spinola was an aggressive investor more in the vein of Farnese himself, favoring the approach of actively taking the war to their enemies' homes and feeding on their own land resources, as Cato the Elder had postulated many centuries ago. His relentless but deceptively calculated offensive soon reaped the benefit, managing to wrest a long list of cities away from Maurice's hands and forcing the rebels to negotiate a truce much needed by both sides (although this approach also had its downsides, namely that Spinola bankrupted himself in the process to be able to keep the pace).
Spinola spent the truce as a diplomat in France and the Netherlands, after which he and the Archduke Albert proposed to negotiate a long-lasting peace, knowing well the costs of continuing the war and predicting that they would likely not receive enough money to execute the strategies Spinola had planned in the meanwhile. Just as thought, King Philip III and his recent successor Philip IV just told Spinola to continue warring and stop talking about money, and the negotiations for any form of peace went off the same window. Resigned, Ambrogio went all out and managed to improbably nail a big, decisive-looking victory by capturing the city of Breda (immortalized in a famous painting by Velázquez), during which Maurice of Nassau died of illness and his successors sued for peace, marking the point in which the Genoese went officially Beyond the Impossible with his military miracles. However, the court's incompetence, added to the personal enmity of the new royal head honcho, the Count-Duke of Olivares, who was jealous of Spinola's success, prevented Spain from capitalizing on the chance, and it was ultimately All for Nothing. At this moment, supremely fed with his judgement being ignored, Spinola basically snapped and quit, returning to Spain and refusing to deploy again unless they were willing to do things properly.
He couldn't escape , and he passed his last years in Milan fighting in the War of the Mantuan Succession, a conflict he had repeatedly warned to be a strategic mistake. The affair had been previously handled by a former understudy of Spinola, the eponymous descendant of the legendary Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, who informed the whole thing was unmanageable with the little resources they had, and Spinola found this assessment to be quite true, even if he characteristically did fine with what little he received. Then, in the peak of the disfavor brought by the Count-Duke of Olivares, Spinola fell ill and died, mistreated for the last time. His descendants would continue serving the Spanish Empire for several generations, although none of them with the same fame.
Tropes associatied with him in media
- Action Hero: His definitely tongue-in-cheek portrayal in Ministry of Time has Spínola as a sort of 17th century version of John McLane, being even played by by Ramón Langa, the official Spanish voice actor for Bruce Willis. For extra irony, as said above, the real Spinola had almost no military training and was basically just an incredibly successful Armchair Military commander.
- The Cameo:
- In the first Alatriste book, the title character is explained to have served as a sergeant under Spinola, to the point of saving his life when German mercenaries mutinied. Ambrogio finally makes a cameo in the third book, where he's portrayed as a charismatic, faithful and skilled general, although also as a bit of a fop and a weak-willed man whom the title character intimidates with his usual Death Glare.
- The Alatriste comic book adaptation adds a cameo of him in a flashback in the first book. The film adaptation adapts out his talk with Alatriste during the third book's events, but shows him from afar played by an extra during Breda's surrender.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: His Ministry version, although heroic, supports killing a Muslim on sight and is a misogynist extreme even by the time's standards (one could say even for the Theme Park Version of the 17th century the series is depicting). In real life, Spinola was raised by a single mother and eventually became Isabella Clara Eugenia's Corporate Samurai, and as a Mediterranean merchant he was probably accustomed to trade with people of all available religions, which makes his characterization in the series feel more than a bit jarring.
- In Name Only: The makers of The Ministry seemingly only knew that Spinola was a badass general, and decided to run with it. As a consequence, the character barely has anything in common with the real life person.
- Manly Facial Hair: His stylish beard is present in all portrayals.
- Non-Action Guy: Although an amazing strategist, Spinola wasn't even a trained soldier, so he avoided personally leading armies and instead left this task to more experienced lieutenants. The first and only time he personally led an army into battle, when Archduke Albert forced him to try to relieve Sluis (against Ambrogio's best advice, as usual), Spinola was beaten back and had to retreat. Alatriste has the title character remembering how Spinola had to even take refuge in his square formation during the brawl.
In fiction
- An Alternate History version of Spinola appears in the manga Issak, set during the Thirty Years' War - because he's shot dead in the first chapter, a decade before the man actually died of illness.
- The Alatriste movie features him, played by an unnamed extra, in a blink and you'll miss it scene inspired by Velázquez's painting La Rendición de Breda.
- Spinola plays somewhat of a Big Good role at the background of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste.
- Spinola is a recurrent character in The Ministry of Time, where he doubles as head of security of the title ministry. His portrayal is rather In Name Only, being a sort of rude, uncouth lifelong soldier, but it became quite memetic nonetheless.