Page 68 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

34 DA V lO G. CHANlltEil
incitemem. Large numbers of rroops (peaking ar 15 200 horse and foot in 1602)
were chus tied down chroughour che reigo by che needs of whar roday would be
termed "coumer-insurgeocy" in rhe Emecald lsle. The Spanish seìzure of Kinsale
(160 1) w i rh 3 700 men absorbed 7000 croops in che subsequent siege and barcle
against Tyrone.
Neverthelcss, the English comriburion tQ che CQntinemal srruggle was by no
means minima.! or ineffective. From 1685 tQ che end Qf the reign a levy of 5000
men pet year for mainly overseas service was che avetage. The English roles ar Tum·
hour (24 January 1597) a od Nieuporr (2 July 1600) were of grear significance, che
former seeing che scauering of che Counr ofVaras·s army wirh 2500 casualties by
Maurice of Nassau; che l:mer rhe desrrucrion of Archduke Albrechr's army wich
che [QSS of some 4000 men - aga in by Pcince Maurice. There had been setbac.ks
ton - che barcle of Zurphen (22 Seprember 1586) seeing leicester's failure co p re-
vene the Spanish relief of rbe besieged rown. Bue rhe heroic tale of che dying Sir
Ph.ilip Sidney (Leicester's oephew) insisting on bis warer-borrle being given to a
parched wounded pikemao - che \•era ci t}' of which has recendy peen queried by
che la test biographer of che courtier-poer-soldier of che Elizabcchan jeunme t/Qrée-
lost nochiog in rhe celling, wherher esseoriaUy crue or false. Tbe popularicy of che
English rroops witb che Durcb was nored by an Iralian diplomar as beiog · ... [tbc]
besr beloved by che natives: brave patienc vecerans'. [r is refreshing co noce char
che 'lager-lout' repurarioo of the Englishman abroad did oor exir io che l580s and
90s. Whilsr i t would be going coo far ro daim a cruly viraJ role in che land srruggle
for che English contingenrs - wbicb neve.r seem ro have comiled more tbao some
12 000 mena t any ooe time- che psycbological value of cheir presence alongside
rheir Dutch co-religionaries was of grear imponaoce, and cheir materia! effecc on
che foe equally significant, making all-in-all a respecrable cootribution t.o che ulti·
mare cdumpb of che Unired Provinces achieved in !609. And, as Napoleon was
to remark rwo cenruries later, 'lo war, che moral is co che physical as chree is co one'.
The Elizabechan CounciJ-of-Scate did nor invariably succeed in mainraining
a steady line in srraregic policy. Severa! 'maritime' mistakes were commiued. To
aid che Huguenocs in France, for example, wasreful and ulcimately uosuccessful
operations were launched wirh che aid of che fleer imo Britcany and Normaody
in 1590. The latn'r was shorr-lived, the Earl ofEssex's 3600 men rapidly being reduced
by fever ro a mere 800 men; rhe fo.rmer dragged ioconclusively on for three ye-.trs.
Similacly che gl'eat expedicion co Porrugal in 1589 proved a rocal failure, and che
amphibious arrack on Cadiz in 1596 (iovolving some 6000 rroops} - alrhough it
capmred che grear o.aval arsenal for rwo weeks - was only a cemporary acbieve·
meot. There were also ser-backs at sca: Sir Richard GrenviUe's poecically irnruorra·
lised by l ord Tènnyson fighe ro che dearh acFiores io che Azores (1591) should ~ot
obscure rhe strategie error char picched jusr 16 Englisb ships against 140 Spanjsh