Why Were Lysander and Demetrius Preparing for Battle? Against the Amazons, Not Each Other

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lysander and Demetrius are not preparing to fight each other. Under Oberon's love-potion chaos, both temporarily pursue Helena, but their conflict is verbal/comic, not martial.

The actual battle preparation in the play involves:

• Theseus, Duke of Athens, preparing for his wedding to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
• Hippolyta was defeated in battle by Theseus ("I wooed thee with my sword / And won thy love doing thee injuries" — 1.1.16–17).
• The play opens with Theseus anticipating the nuptials, not a battle.

Possible Confusion

• In some myths, Theseus fights Amazons (Attic War).
• Demetrius and Lysander do nearly duel in the forest (3.2) over Helena, but are stopped by Puck/Oberon.

So: They don't prepare for battle; they're lovers caught in fairy mischief. The Amazon battle is backstory for Theseus/Hippolyta.