History of the United Netherlands, 1586c

The narrative examines military operations in the late sixteenth-century Netherlands, mapping the strategic importance of five great rivers and the fortified towns controlling them, then traces campaigns conducted to secure river-lines. It follows Alexander Farnese's efforts to wrest key Meuse and Rhine strongholds from the insurgents, describes the contested Electorate of Cologne and the rival claims of Gebhard Truchsess and Ernest of Bavaria, and records sieges, relief attempts, and pitched engagements involving English and Dutch forces. Interwoven are portraits of commanders, the devastation inflicted by marauding bands, and the effects of arbitrary exactions on civilian populations.