Definition of Battle of Kadesh

Pharaonic ancient Egypt had moments of great splendor, also on the battlefield, against enemies who were as powerful as itself. country of the pyramids. One of those moments was the Battle of Kadesh.

The Battle of Kadesh was a confrontation that occurred in 1274 BC in the homonymous city, located east of present-day Syria, between Egyptian and Hittite forces for control of the region.

The Egyptian pharaoh was Ramses II, known as "Ramses the great" because his reign was a golden age for Egypt in many aspects, in addition to the fact that he reigned during the not inconsiderable figure of 66 years, passing away at the age of 87 (when the hope of life did not go much beyond the 40 ...), whereas the Hittite sovereign was Muwatalli II.

Kadesh also has the virtue of having been the first battle documented by ancient sources, although the first battle as such that is known is that of Megiddo. Egyptian propaganda was responsible for presenting Kadesh as a great triumph of Ramses, thanks to which we have abundant sources.

The battle took place as a result of the skirmishes caused by the Hittites in the border area, and the rise of Egypt as a military power.

Ramses was a warrior pharaoh, who defeated the Shardana pirates in a naval battle in the Nile Delta, and who carried out successful expeditions against the southern Nubian territories. Muwatalli feared that one day, the Egyptian power would turn against Hatti to reconquer the area of ​​the current coast from Syria, traditionally an Egyptian possession that the Hittites had conquered during the troubled reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten.

That is why they began to test their traditional enemies through small raids and skirmishes.

Ramses understood that he had a problem that would get worse in the future if he did nothing to stop it, so he decided to undertake a punitive military expedition that would allow him, in addition, to recover the territories lost a few generations ago, and even to penetrate on territory Hittite to expand their dominions.

Ramses led four divisions into combat, each named after one of the gods of the Egyptian pantheon (Amun, Ra, Set, and Ptah), totaling 20,000 infantry and 2,000 chariots. The Hittites practically doubled that number: 40,000 infantry and 3,700 chariots.

The chariots of the time, drawn by one or two horses, caused as much fear in enemy soldiers as a tank does today.

Two or three soldiers generally rode in these chariots; one of them took care of the horses, while the other or the other two used a bow and arrows or spears to attack the enemies.

Those who were not hit by the projectiles, could succumb by the onslaught of the chariots, either trampled by the horses, or hit by the structure of the chariot itself.

Ramses's goal was to seize the strategic city of Kadesh, which Muwatalli knew perfectly well.

So the Hittite decided to face the Egyptian in the same border so as not to give him an inch of his territory, showing strength.

Ramses decided to command an outpost made up of one of the four divisions, of about 5,000 soldiers to camp in the surroundings of the city of Kadesh and start preparing the campaign, seeing directly the field of what should be his first battle.

Pharaoh performed this movement Against the will of his generals and his vizier, who preferred to march with the entire army together, without dividing the troops.

Ramses was probably hoping to catch Muwatalli by surprise, but ...

Egyptian troops captured Hittite explorers who, after suffering the rigorous torture of the time, confessed the location of the Hittite forces, hidden behind the city of Kadesh.

Realizing his mistake, Ramses had the other three army corps warned to speed up their march; If the Hittites caught the Egyptians with such a difference in numbers and succeeded in killing or capturing the pharaoh, the disaster for the kingdom of the pyramids would be of epic dimensions.

Muwatalli, well informed by his scouts about the situation, then decided to make a master move: instead of attacking the Ramses's camp, where all eyes should be on the alert, he decided to launch himself on the divisions that were accelerating their march toward the North.

The Hittite king had to be aware that their only concern would be to arrive as soon as possible and, therefore, he could catch them off guard as well as more disorganized, due to the haste of the March.

The Hittite chariots launched after the Ra division, from which they massacred the infantry, although the chariots Egyptians from this unit managed to flee by accelerating the pace towards the camp of the Amon division commanded by Ramses.

The Hittite chariots turned north with the intention of pursuing them and, in passing, razing the royal camp of Ramses.

However, the Hittite army was so vast that Muwatalli could not pay the soldiers, so he had promised them that they would be able to keep much of it. booty obtained from the Egyptians, so many Hittite chariot crews ignored the battle when they reached the Egyptian camp, and pillage.

Ramses, who was a military man from race formed from its most tender childhood, he led a counterattack that proved devastating, knowing how to inspire his troops who put the Hittite chariots to flight and decimated them.

Muwatalli then launched the rest of his chariots onto the Egyptian camp. These were fresh, and he hoped that way he could finish off Pharaoh's troops before the other two Egyptian units appeared on the horizon.

Unfortunately for Hittite interests, the two remaining divisions of the Egyptian army appeared and did battle.

It was at this point that the battle ended by mutual agreement between the two contenders.

The Battle of Kadesh technically ended in a draw, although Ramses II turned it, internally, into a tremendous victory for Egypt, magnifying his role (which, no doubt, had been very important) and turning it into a terrifying Hittite defeat and a display of his magnanimity towards the enemies.

The Egyptian stelae show him practically facing the Hittite troops alone, and leading large groups of prisoners from Muwatalli's army.

In reality, and although the confrontation liquidated the Hittite aspirations to advance more territory along the coastal area of ​​present-day Syria, also prevented the Egyptians from recovering these territories.

The treaty of peace later between Ramses and Muwatalli is also the first of which there is evidence in history.

Photo: Fotolia - Erica Guilane-Nachez

Themes in Battle of Kadesh