The Mediterranean Bronze Age is undeniably
one of the most interesting periods in all of human history. The era owes part of its
allure to a vague similarity to our own time. From the Mycenaean and Minoan Greeks in the
west, to the ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria in the east, the Bronze Age
saw the development of a complex multipolar system of highly organised states. Although rivals
for influence and power, these kingdoms also depended on one another for the crucial trade
resources needed to keep civilization going. Two of the heavyweight monarchies during the
later Bronze Age were Egypt’s New Kingdom and the Hittite Empire. As the 13th century
BC began, these two military powerhouses fought for hegemony over the rich lands
of Syria. This clash of titans eventually culminated in the first battle in all history
to be recorded in detail - the Battle of Kadesh. We don’t know if the Egyptian pharaohs used
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order. That’s K-E-E-P-S dot com slash kings. Syria during the late bronze age served as
the overflowing entrepôt of the interconnected ancient near-eastern world. Trading vessels from
across the Aegean docked at thriving port cities such as Ugarit, swelling their markets with
wares including ivory, textiles, food, timber, as well as the two components of bronze itself
- tin and copper. Land trade routes snaked throughout the middle-east and distributed these
wares, returning with exotic eastern materials such as the mystical lapis lazuli. Complementing
a flourishing commerce, the region was itself blessed with a great agricultural fertility
and wealth of natural resources. This bounty, together with Syria’s vast array of squabbling
city-states and small kingdoms, rendered the region vulnerable to surrounding powers. In the
fifteenth-century BC, the two major predators fighting for control over the resources of Syria
were Egypt’s militaristic New Kingdom and the Kingdom of Mitanni. Having only recently cast off
the yoke of the Asiatic Hyksos, Egypt’s new rulers sought to create a strategic buffer of vassals to
prevent such an occupation from happening again. After generations of internecine warfare, Mitanni,
under threat from a dynamic new force in Anatolia, and this new Egyptian Empire finally
concluded a lasting peace in around 1420BC1. This era of tranquility and brotherhood between
great powers marked the apex of the late bronze age, especially for the Pharaonic empire. Vast
tribute from Egypt’s Canaanite vassal states poured into Memphis’ coffers
and flooded the kingdom in gold, while trade routes functioned unimpeded by
warfare. Such prosperity, however, was not to last. A few generations after the concordat,
in roughly 1344, the growing threat on Mitanni’s northwestern frontier finally made its move. Led
by the warlike usurper-king Suppiluliuma I, this budding Hittite Empire burst forth from its rough
Anatolian heartland astride great war chariots and launched two lightning wars of conquest against
Mitanni. These conflicts culminated in the sack of the Mitanni capital and the kingdom’s
final destruction. Crucially, the Hittites intruded in Syria as part of their attacks,
usurping the strategically vital city of Kadesh and pushing Egypt’s control south. This external
threat came at a particularly inopportune time for the dominion of the Pharaohs. The contentious
reign of the so-called heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, followed by the weakness of his son Tutankhamun
and the subsequent fall of the eighteenth dynasty2 ensured Egypt was distracted at home for many
years. All the while, the Hittites consolidated power in Syria and flipped the Nile realm’s
vassals to their allegiance. That status quo soon changed once more with the advent of
yet another new line of Nilotic monarchs. Seti I of the nineteenth dynasty personally led
Egyptian armies into Asia for the first time in decades, asserting Pharaonic imperial authority,
recapturing the traitorous vassals of Kadesh and Amurru, and even defeating a Hittite force.
Unfortunately for Seti, however, he proved unable to maintain tight control over territories
so distant from the center of his authority3 and eventually concluded peace. By the time of
Seti’s death in 1279BC, both Amurru and Kadesh had once more fallen under the Hittite aegis. Seti
was succeeded by his prodigious son - Ramesses II. Egypt’s new monarch first dealt with Sherdan
pirates and nomads on his western frontier before turning his attention to Canaan.
Understanding the unsuitability of Thebes as a royal seat when conducting military expeditions in
Asia, Ramesses II built an entirely new capital on the eastern Nile delta which he, ever so humbly,
renamed Pi-Ramesses - the House of Ramesses. The new capital served as a clear statement that he
fully intended to reassert the authority of the twin crown4 on Canaan. The sequence of events that
triggered Egypt’s direct intervention in Syria is obscure in our records. However, it is likely
that Amurru, playing the dangerous game of vassal politics, again changed sides and swore allegiance
to Egypt. In the fourth year of his reign - 1275, Ramesses II marched his army north to secure
the subject state and make a bold statement of intent to the ‘vile’ Hatti. The Pharaoh
returned to Pi-Ramesses at the conclusion of the relatively quiet campaigning season, ready
for a climactic conflict in the next year. The Hittites had been fighting
internecine skirmishes in the north, east and west of their realm for years,
and that had weakened their response. Matters, however, had calmed by the mid 1270s.
So, in the winter of 1275, King Muwatalli II5 levied warriors from across the territories he
controlled and hired mercenaries, and in doing so assembled the greatest army in the history of the
Hittite Empire… In 1274, Muwatalli and Ramesses both led their armies into Syria, where they
encountered one another near the city of Kadesh. Before we detail the fascinating clash
of these late bronze age heavyweights, we must first detail the armies with which they
went to battle. In contrast to the classical and Medieval eras of history, in which infantry,
cavalry and iron weapons were the norm in warfare, bronze age warfare was very different.
It was marked by two standout features. Firstly - bronze itself, an alloy of tin
and copper used to forge the tools, weapons, and armour of the era. Secondly - horse-drawn
chariots, the elite mounted force of the age. The Pharaonic army of Ramesses II utilised
incredibly versatile chariots whose deadliest attributes were speed and maneuverability.
These vehicles appeared lightweight and even fragile at first glance but were in reality
reliable and robust. Much like the later forces of light cavalry horse archers employed
by civilisations such as the Huns and Mongols, Egyptian chariots were similarly designed to turn,
wheel, and loose rains of deadly arrows into the enemy ranks while avoiding a grueling melee. When
we look at the raw numbers for any given battle, it is common to split the armies into
different troop types - infantry and cavalry, for example. However, this disguises the tactical
flexibility of Ramesses’ chariot corps. Rather than serving in one large block, the aristocratic
charioteers of the New Kingdom’s great empire were instead divided among the infantry regiments
to create a combined-arms military force. Overall, it is likely that the Pharaoh mustered
around 2,000 chariots, manned by 4,000 men, for the campaign of 1274BC. While the dashing
superstars of the age were these charioteers, the true workhorses of Egypt’s well-oiled military
remained its ever-reliable infantry formations. During Ramesses’ Kadesh campaign,
the army’s 16,000 foot troops, raised with the aid of Egypt’s
famously stringent bureaucracy, were arrayed in divisions raised locally and
named after a local god. These were Amun6, Ra7, Ptah8, and Set9, each possessing 4,00010
infantry and an accompanying 500 chariots. Critics both ancient and modern have criticised
Ramesses for dividing his army in such a way, but the value of being able to march without depleting
the land of supplies and pursuing many tactical objectives simultaneously made it worth the
risk. As for the infantry themselves, experienced professionals known as menfyt would form the front
ranks, while raw recruits or nefru made up the rear and reserves. Foreigners or mercenaries
including Canaanites, Libyans, Sherdens, and particularly Nubian archers also served in
Pharaoh’s army. We know far less about Muwatalli’s army than we do about that of Ramesses, but
there are cogent details we can piece together. Most notable were the brutal Hittite chariots.
In contrast to the vehicles of their Egyptian enemies, these vehicles were far heavier, clearly
built for weight and power on the charge. With a centrally balanced axle and a three-man crew
wielding large thrusting spears, Hittite chariots focused on smashing into masses of enemy infantry
and breaking them apart by force. In addition to the heartland forces raised from Hatti itself,
Muwatalli marched to war at the head of troops from 18 allied and vassal states. They included
the previously mentioned city-state of Ugarit, Carchemish, subjugated Mitanni, and Arzawa - a
land on the faraway Aegean coast of Asia Minor. This Hittite army seems to have slightly
outnumbered its southern foe, counting around 15,000 infantry and 10,000 charioteers. Again
in contrast to Egypt, Muwatalli’s forces were indeed focused on the shock chariot assault
as their primary tool for achieving victory. On the ‘ninth day of the third month’ of
1274’s summer season - sometime in late May, Pharaoh Ramesses was encamped with his vanguard
Amun division in hill country one day’s march south of Kadesh. Half a day behind Amun marched
the Ra division, followed by Ptah and Set half a day each further south still. Shortly after
daybreak, Ramesses broke camp and marched north along the east bank of the Orontes before fording
the river near Ribla. This took several hours, and it was at this point that the army captured
two Shasu Bedouin nomads and brought them into the Pharaoh’s august presence. According to
Egyptian sources, when pressed for information, these seemingly innocuous cattle-herders told
Ramesses that ‘the Fallen one of Hatti is in the land of Khaleb, to the north of Tunip.’ For the
Egyptians, this news was very welcome. They had apparently arrived at Kadesh first and therefore
had complete control over the battlefield, while the Hittites languished in fear days away.
However, it is likely that these informants were in fact sent by the cunning Muwatalli to
mislead the Pharaoh. As unknown to him, the Hittites were in fact very close at hand11. As
yet unaware of his dire peril, Ramesses pushed the Amun division onto Kadesh, where it constructed
a camp equipped with a defensive perimeter and embankments with soldiers’ shields placed
around the top for additional protection. The very center of the camp contained a shrine
to the god Amun and Pharaoh’s royal pavilion. Scouts were dispatched to reconnoiter the
surrounding land late in the day and one of them swiftly returned with something curious. Two prisoners had been lurking suspiciously near
the Egyptian encampment. Initially, these men refused to respond to the Pharaoh’s questions.
However, after being given a sound beating, they gave up information that was both invaluable
and terrifying in equal measure. Apparently, in confusion, Ramesses asked “What are you?”,
attempting to ascertain who had sent them. They admitted to being sent by Muwatalli.
Ramesses’ heart would’ve dropped. In truth, the Hittites were shrouded behind a nearby mound
to the northeast at Old Kadesh, ‘furnished with their infantry and their chariotry carrying their
weapons of warfare, and are more numerous than the sand of the river banks.’ To Ramesses’ credit,
his reaction seems to have not been one of panic or over-hasty, but efficiency and eagerness to
remedy his own mistake in a comprehensive manner. He also seems to have owned that mistake, as the
Egyptian sources do not attempt to conceal it. Regardless, the Pharaoh immediately sent senior
officials south in order to hurry the other three divisions of Ra, Ptah and Set12 to Kadesh at top
speed. Another speculative messenger was also sent north to summon a fifth division of foreign troops
who might’ve been able to help - the Ne’arin. South of Ramesses’ camp, Ra crossed the Orontes
and began trudging towards their lord’s camp, about 7 miles north, in haste. At the same time,
by Old Kadesh, Muwatalli received reports that an Egyptian army of some size had closed in. He
was, however, as of yet unsure where exactly the Pharaoh was, or the true size of his enemy’s
forces. Based on what happened next, it is assumed that the Hittite monarch sent a 500-strong chariot
contingent south as a reconnaissance in force, instructed to gather as much information as
possible. While the 5,000 troops of Ra made for Ramesses’ camp, Muwatalli’s substantial chariot
scouting force skirted the hill on which Kadesh was built and then crossed the Orontes, emerging
to the right of Ra’s desperately exposed marching column. Unable to re-cross the river, the heavy
Hittite chariots improvised and, now with little other option, launched a direct charge at the
Egyptian reinforcement division. Utterly taken aback, the Egyptian chariots screening Ra’s right
flank were swept away. The unprotected infantry failed to assume formation and immediately
broke apart. Rather than staying to destroy Ra which, given a concerted Hittite attempt, almost
certainly could have been done, the assaulting chariots simply carved through the column and
emerged from the other side. Egyptian warriors, probably a greater portion of the untested nefru,
fled to all points of the compass, but it is clear that the chariots and some menfyt veterans made
an orderly withdrawal in Ramesses’ direction. Thus ensued a race against time - swift Egyptian
chariots seeking to warn their Pharaoh of the danger versus lumbering Hittite vehicles on the
attack. Fresh from their near destruction of the unfortunate Ra division just minutes earlier,
the Hittites swept north in an arc and beelined directly at the western side of the Pharaoh’s
camp. The camp itself, having received the withdrawing chariots and able to see the incoming
dust cloud, was abuzz with panicked activity. Amun division soldiers and Ramesses’ guard
armed themselves and rushed to the defence. Pharaoh’s family members hurried
to the other side of the camp. Then, the Hittites struck, smashing straight
through the shield wall and beginning a melee. Although more Egyptian soldiers panicked, ran,
or died where they stood, the obstructive tents, vast wealth stores, and other camp distractions
were slowing and disorienting the Hittite assault. Many charioteers, no doubt
believing victory had been achieved, turned to looting, and their momentum died.
In turn, the Egyptian infantry turned about and advanced slowly, pulling Hittite chariot crews
out of their now-impotent vehicles and dispatching them with the famously arced Khopesh blade.
Every advantage of a chariot charge was gone. Within the royal pavilion and bedecked in a
long coat of armour, Ramesses II donned the Khepresh war crown of the Pharaohs and mounted the
royal chariot pulled by his own personal steeds ‘Victory-in-Thebes’ and ‘Beloved-of-Amun’. With
a command to Menna - his own chariot driver, the Pharaoh gathered whatever of the Amun and
Ra chariotry remained and led it out of camp by the eastern approach. With Ramesses at their
head, the Egyptians swept northwest and prepared to confront the Hittites chariot for chariot. At
their divine king’s signal, the Egyptian chariots swooped down upon the numerically greater enemy
throng at rapid speed, unleashing arrow volleys and wheeling about to do so again and again.
All the while, the Hittites failed to react. As a Rameside source known as the Bulletin tells
us: “Then His Majesty entered into the host of the Hatti enemies, His majesty being like Set
the great of strength and like Sahkmet13 at the moment of her raging, and his majesty killed the
entire host of the wretched fallen one of Hatti.” The disordered Hittite formation shattered just
as the Ra division had, Hatti warriors fleeing desperately just as Ramesses pressed
the counterattack with greater force. A greater portion of the Anatolian empire’s
500 chariots lay broken on the field along with their riders, and Egyptian infantry followed
up to finish the job with clinical brutality. Muwatalli, observing this disaster from a vantage
near Kadesh, was accompanied only by his elite charioteers and vassal rulers. But realising he
had to act now, the Hittite king formed them up and prepared to make his own attack. Muwatalli had
his vassals cross the Orontes and launch an attack against the eastern part of the now-almost
undefended Egyptian camp. Ramesses and his chariots were elsewhere, and it seemed that the
Hittites were about to flip the battle once more. However, at the moment of catastrophe and
the possible capture of Pharaoh’s family, the Ne’arin division arrived from the north
like agents of the Egyptian gods themselves, and engaged the newly arrived Hittite force. As a grateful Ramesses would later have
inscribed on his mortuary temple at Thebes: “The Ne’arin broke into the host of the wretched
Fallen one of Hatti as they were entering the camp of Pharaoh, and the servants of His Majesty killed
them…’ Muwatalli’s chariot force also routed back across the Orontes, leaving behind many destroyed
vehicles as they went. Ramesses drew back into the ruin of his camp to rest. Later that day,
the Ptah division arrived from the south, together with a number of shamed Ra and Amun
troops who had fled during the fighting. The next day, Ramesses lined up those troops of
Amun and Ra whose bravery had been found wanting, on the plains outside Kadesh. The
Pharaoh had them all executed as punishment for their transgression, almost
certainly in full view of Muwatalli. The psychological impact of this fearful
display and the extensive losses in men and morale among the Hittite king’s chariot forces
led him to propose a truce to the Egyptians. Ramesses, who had also taken substantial losses
in the inconclusive battle, accepted. Pharaonic sources attempted to magnify Ramesses’ tactical
triumphs during the Battle of the Kadesh, but it cannot be said to be anything other
than a strategic disaster for the New Kingdom. Weakened as his army had been by the clash
with the Hittites, the Pharaoh was forced to withdraw back to Egypt. In his wake came
Muwatalli, who, tailing Ramesses, occupied the province of Upe. Worse still, the perceived
failure of Egypt’s campaign sparked a great anti-Egyptian revolt throughout Canaan. Ramesses
II, later to be known as Ramesses the Great, fought a number of further campaigns in Canaan
and Syria during the subsequent years of his reign with the aim of recovering territories lost in the
post-Kadesh revolts. However, the crucial vassals of Kadesh and Amurru would remain in Hittite hands
permanently. Sixteen years after the Battle of Kadesh, Ramesses concluded the world’s earliest
surviving peace treaty with Muwatalli’s successor Mursili III. The two allied kingdoms remained at
peace until the notorious Bronze Age Collapse, when the entire civilisation of the near-east
came to a chaotic end. We will talk more about the Bronze Age in our future videos, so make sure you
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