ABSTRACT
The play, then, takes up particular issues on strategy. The contest for Rome is decided in just the one confrontation - the battle of Pharsalia, thereby confirming Northumberland's preference for one head-on clash to decide the outcome of a campaign - but not before both sides of the debate are thoroughly aired and mismanagement is exposed on both sides. In addition, the play takes up other issues in the wider context of 1590s boundary disputes and fears of powerlessness; issues arising from exposure to enemy attack that are picked over in the manuals and minutely analysed in battle plans (Essex's for Cadiz) and commentaries from veterans of these campaigns (Vere and Northumberland on Nieuport, Williams on le Crottoy).
