Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC) | Pharaohs and Hittites

In the 2000s BC there were Hittites in Anatolia, Babylonian and Assyrian states in Mesopotamia and ancient Egyptian dynasties in Egypt. These countries were connected to each other by natural roads created by geographical conditions. The only road connecting the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean was the Euphrates River. Anatolia was connected to Egypt by the Syria-Palestine Strip Road. The all comings and goings between these three countries, which constituted the whole world of that time, had to pass through northern Syria. The economic interests of the states converged on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where the eastern and western worlds of this period were eyeing each other. At the beginning of the 16th century BC the lands of ancient Asia Minor were subjected to a new migration of tribes. These were the Mitanni of Indo-Arish origin. Upon the Mitanni invasion, some of the Hurri tribes, who were the indigenous people of northern Mesopotamia, especially in the region of the Fertile Crescent, were forced to migrate towards Anatolia and some towards Egypt. The state founded by the Mitanni was among the great states of that period. In the following years, the Mitanni and Babylonian states were in the grip of an economic crisis. So much so that the Babylonian kings, whose letters are found in the Amarna Archive, presented Babylonian princesses to the pharaohs and asked for gold from Egypt in return. When the Hittite king Shubal-Uluma ascended the throne, political conditions in Asia Minor were in favor of Egypt. Meanwhile, the city kingdoms within the borders of Egypt were sending letters to the pharaohs, informing them about the policies of the Hittite king and constantly asking for Egyptian help. However, the Hittite king was particularly careful not to encroach on the Egyptian borders and took the necessary measures to prevent the Hittite armies from having to fight in the two frontiers. Amenaphis IV, sitting on the Egyptian throne, was not in a position to hear the requests for help. He had adopted the monotheistic religion and devoted himself to it. The Hittite king Shubal-Uluma declared war against the Mitanni state, though not against Egypt. He had conquered all the countries belonging to this kingdom and garrisoned some cities and put his sons in charge of some of them. While he was besieging the city of Carchemish, he received a letter from Egypt with which he had good relations. This letter was from Nefertiti, the queen of Egypt. Her husband Amenaphis had recently died and she had become a widow. In her letter the queen wrote, My husband is dead and I have no son. They say you have many sons. If you give me one of your sons, he can be my husband. Under no circumstances would I want to take a slave and make him my husband, I am afraid. In the text, The Heroes of Shubal-Uluma, written by Moshili II, it is described as follows. When my father heard about this, he called the elders to a meeting and said, Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my life. So my father sent Hatushaziti, the cabinet minister, to Egypt with these words. Go, you bring me the truth. Maybe they are deceiving me. Maybe their master has a son. When the messenger returned from Egypt, the messenger of Egypt came with him. In the second letter the queen said, Why did you say that? If I had a son, would I want me and my country to shrink, and would I write to another country? You did not believe me, and you told me so. I have not written to any other country, only to you. They say that you have many sons. Give me one of your sons and he will be king of Egypt. Finally, the Hittite king agreed to send his son named Zananza to Egypt to marry the queen. But while this correspondence was going on, the queen's enemies were also on the move. The Egyptian Grand Vizier Horemheb, who did not want to see a Hittite prince in charge, ordered the prince to be killed secretly. Prince Zananza was killed before reaching Egypt. Upon hearing the news of his son's death, the Hittite king Shubal-Uluma was very angry. The Egyptian Hittite peace that had lasted for years was thus broken. The king gathered his army and marched to the Ankar region, which was under Egyptian control. Then he crossed the Euphrates and captured the cities of Aleppo, Mukish, and Ugarit. He entered the lands between the Euphrates and Aleppo, called Nuhasseh, and extended the Hittite borders to the mountains of Lebanon and Abina, near Damascus, by taking the cities of Kadesh and Qatna, which were among the Hurri principalities. Meanwhile, Egypt was forcing the people, who had accepted the monotheistic religion after the death of Amenhotep IV, to continue with their old traditions and beliefs, and was trying to maintain political order. In addition, the Hittites could not digest the progress of the Hittites in Syria, and a clash between the two countries was becoming inevitable. Around 1295 BC, Seti the One, the ruler of Egypt, had started his campaign in Syria. Meanwhile, Murshali the Ser was at the head of the Hittites. Murshali was busy annexing the lands of the Arzawa state, which was causing trouble in western Anatolia. In northern Syria, the people revolted and rebellions started. After securing western Anatolia, he set out to suppress the rebellions in Syria. As a result of this expedition, Muhashe and Kadesh were brought back under his subordination, and an agreement was signed with the city of Aleppo. Upon the death of Murshali II, his eldest son Muatali took the throne. Meanwhile, the Assyrian state in the east was growing and increasing its pressure. The Hittites, who maintained their sovereignty in Anatolia, began preparations for war. The next target was Egyptian territory. In 1279 BC, Ramesses II succeeded his father Seti the Verne to the throne of Egypt. In the fifth year of his reign, Ramesses gathered an army and set out from the capital to regain control of Syria. This army consisted of infantry in four divisions of 5,000 men each and about 2,000 chariots. The divisions were named Amun, Ra, Pat and Set after their gods. At that time, the Hittites had finished their preparations and took up positions around Kadesh with 17,000 infantry and 4,500 chariots from Anatolia and the allies. However, the Egyptian army came within 16 kilometers of Kadesh, but they could not get any intelligence from the Hittites. The army reached Shabtuna and captured two Hittite spies while trying to cross the Orantis river. The Hittite spies said that they had escaped from the Hittite army and wanted to join the Egyptian army. They tried to deceive the Egyptians by telling that the Hittite army was in the city of Aleppo and that Muwatalli was afraid to go lower. Ramesses II, who believed these false reports of the spies, became more confident. He broke his headquarters, crossed the river with the Amun corps and marched to Kadesh. The corps of Ra, Pat and Set were following Pharaoh's army from afar. Muwatalli immediately moved his army to the east of the river. While Ramesses marched in a northerly direction west of Kadesh, the Hittite armies marched south from the east of the city. While the Amun troops were camping, Egyptian soldiers sent to Reconnoitre the area had captured two Hittite spies and learned the position of the Hittite troops when the Hittites attacked the Ra troops coming from behind with their fast chariots. The Ra's troops were unable to take position in this unexpected attack and began to retreat, suffering many casualties. Ramesses was unaware of this until the fleeing soldiers quickly retreated to the camp. As the Hittite chariots followed the fleeing soldiers, they attacked the camp, thinking they had won a victory. Meanwhile, the Egyptian army had informed Aptar and Sethkura, which were coming from behind. The Amun troops in the camp recovered quickly and managed to repel the Hittite soldiers. The Hittite king Muwatalli, who was informed of the situation, ordered his army to attack the camp with all their might. As the battle continued, the arms of Path and Seth, who were left behind, came to Egypt's rescue. The Hittite army, encircled, was forced to retreat. The Hittite army was pushed to the Assi river and many Hittite soldiers who were trapped in the river were killed. At the end of the war, both sides suffered heavy military losses, but there was no real winner in the war. According to Pharaoh's account, Muwatalli begged Pharaoh for peace, to which Ramses replied, Peace is good. We do not know the accuracy of this as the primary source from that period was Rameses. The conditions in Syria and Palestine changed and at the end of the war, the Hittites prevented Egypt from taking over Syria. Syria was divided between the Hittites and the Egyptians. In the east, the Assyrian kingdom, taking advantage of the Egyptian-Hittite conflicts, was expanding. If this expansion was not stopped, it was inevitable that it would spread towards Syria and threaten Egypt and the Hittites. Seeing this, the Hittite king of the time, Hatushili III, was forced to sign an agreement with Ramses. According to the Kadesh treaty, the first written agreement in history, which ended 17 years of wars, the Hittites and Egyptians would not fight each other and if one of these two countries went to war, the other would send reinforcements. Thus, a common consensus was reached against the Assyrian threat from the east.