Editing Philip Sidney (section)

===Military activity===
Sidney played a brilliant part in the military/literary/courtly life common to the young nobles of the time. Both his family heritage and his personal experience (he was in Walsingham's house in Paris during the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre|Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre]]), confirmed him as a keenly militant Protestant. {{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In the 1570s, he persuaded [[Johann Casimir of Simmern|John Casimir]] to consider proposals for a united Protestant effort against the Catholic Church and Spain. In the winter of 1575-76 he fought in Ireland while his father was Lord Deputy there.<ref name=hop/> In the early 1580s, he argued fruitlessly for an assault on Spain itself. Promoted General of Horse in 1583,<ref name=hop/> his enthusiasm for the Protestant struggle was given free rein when he was appointed governor of [[Vlissingen|Flushing]] in the Netherlands in 1585. Whilst in the Netherlands, he consistently urged boldness on his superior, his uncle the [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Earl of Leicester]]. He carried out a successful raid on Spanish forces near [[Axel, Netherlands|Axel]] in July 1586.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}