The battle of Kadesh 1274 bc:
Battle of Kadesh: a battle between the armies of Ramses II, the young pharaoh of Egypt, and Muwatal II, king of the Hittites Empire, plus the latter’s allies; When was the battle of Kadesh?
it was fought around 1274 BC, around the town of Kadesh, near the Orontes River, in what is now Syria.
Summary of Battle of Kadesh
In order to know the details of this Kadesh battle, historians and archaeologists have based the facts on the reliefs found in the structures of the ancient Egyptian temples, where Pharaoh Ramses II narrated through the drawing of the reliefs the development of the war, making this fact the main theme of his reign. However, archaeologists have also found several such accounts of the battle drawn in the temples located in Hattusa, the Hittites capital.
The Battle of Kadesh has the interesting characteristic of being the first battle documented in ancient sources, which makes it the object of a detailed study by all fans and researchers of military science, analysts, historians, Egyptologists and military men from all over the world.
The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Kadesh It is also the first to generate a documented peace treaty. Moreover, Kadesh has the added importance of being the last great battle in history fought entirely with the Bronze Age
Why did the battle of Kadesh happen?
The rivalry between the two great powers of the time became even stronger when the Hittites army dominated several Syrian cities that belonged to Ancient Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Seti I, father of Ramses. Muwatalli II is best known as the Hittite ruler to conquer the city of Qadesh, to make it an important point for the Hittite’s military plans in Syria. But it was not until 1274 B.C. that this battle was fought by the military forces of the newly appointed Pharaoh Ramses II and Muwatalli, who was still in power.
For this Battle, Egypt had 20,000 men distributed in four military divisions called Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seth, representing gods. These divisions were composed of chariots, archers and Lancer. For its part, the Hittite nation formed an army of 27,000 troops after an alliance made with twenty states of Syria and Anatolia and thus be able to cope with the military force of Egypt
Ramses ii battle of Kadesh 1274 bc
Ramses entered Syria with four divisions called Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Seth, composed of Egyptian battalions, some fierce black warriors recruited in Nubia, and a large contingent of Amorites who deeply detested the Hittites. He thus reached Kadesh and flanked the city from the west to the north, unaware that the Hittites had done the same, flanking the city from the east to the south (along the eastern bank of the Orontes river).
Muwatalli, the Hittite king, showed great cunning in sending soldiers to be captured, thus informing the Egyptians that the Hittites were farther north. The impetuous Rameses had confidently advanced with the divisions Amun and Ra, without waiting for the rest of his army, disregarding the wise advice of his officers.
By the time Rameses discovered the truth, it was too late. Nervously, he ordered the defenses prepared, while he tried to send messages to the Ptah and Seth divisions to speed up the march.
The Hittites, who unlike the Egyptians were very well organized and developed a plan on firm and concrete steps, crossed the Orontes River from east to west, through southern Kadesh, and launched a fierce attack. The Egyptians, hungry and tired from the march, barely managed to defend themselves. The Ra division was attacked.
This second attack seemed logical to tilt the battle in favor of the Hittites because the bodies of the Egyptian army of Ptah and Seth still not arrived, the division Ra, was virtually destroyed, except for a portion of their chariots, so King Muwatalli mobilizes a large number of chariots to the camp where Ramses II and his division Amun are reorganizing.
This second attack seemed logical to tilt the battle in favor of the Hittites because the Soldiers of the Egyptian army of Ptah and Seth still not arrived, the division Ra, was virtually destroyed, except for a portion of their chariots, so King Muwatalli mobilizes a large number of chariots to the camp where Ramses II and his division Amun are reorganizing.
When the Hittite attack on the camp begins, it is reinforced with remnants of chariots and shields, leaving virtually an unobstructed alleyway to enter the camp, and there are the Egyptian infantry and archers resisting. Just at that time comes a body of chariots called Ne’arin that is not sure if it was part of the division Seth or was the amorous kingdoms of the Egyptians who had been called by Ramses II. The truth is that they surprised the Hittite chariots on the flank and tilted the battle towards the Egyptians, but finally this battle ended in a truce, the famous treaty of Kadesh and a peace that lasted for a year
The defense of the infantry and the attack of the skilled Egyptian archers managed to stop the exhausted Hittite horses and soldiers and put them on the run, which ended in a massacre. Although the Hittites lost the first fight and the surprise factor, there was still a battle ahead, they had only used part of their powerful chariots and the infantry had not participated and finally virtually no participation, in those times even the cavalry did not appear as a body of the army.
Consequences the Battle of Kadesh
In this way, some 5,000 Egyptians perished (both armies had about 20,000 men, which gives an idea of the tragedy). The Amun division, for its part, was desperately struggling. The divisions Ptah and Seth continued to advance, even ignorant of the danger they were about to fall.
Also, territories devastated by the action of war, settlements or small towns that were completely eliminated from the map (due to the voracious advance of the military troops that razed them all to the ground) and so on. But most importantly, a treaty; the treaty of Kadesh.
Ramses’ retreat in the battle of Kadesh
After the battle, Rameses retreated south to Damascus, from where he was forced to return to Egypt without any victory to his credit, and even with great material losses. However, this did not prevent him from writing a glorious epic poem to order ( The Poem of Pentaur ), in which he describes the battle as a glorious victory of his own (which is false, as can be seen in the Hittite chronicles).
However, Muwatal chose not to continue the war and sent an offer of peace to Rameses. The subsequent peace treaty, after some subsequent hostilities, would be the basis for a later, more permanent agreement, the Treaty of Kadesh, which would be signed not by Muwatal but by his successor Hattusili III
The Battle of Kadesh was the last major contest between the Egyptians and the Hittites, who would no longer each invade the other’s sphere of influence.
Treaty of Kadesh
The Treaty of Kadesh was the peace agreement formalized by Egypt and the Hittites Empire that marked an important event in history, as it was the first documented peace treaty between the two nations. This event took place 16 years after the battle, when Hattusili III, Muwatalli II brother, was crowned as King of Hittites after Muwatalli’s death. This agreement was intended to establish the demarcation of new borders between the two nations, the commitment of their leaders not to war with each other again and the arrangement of an agreement that would maintain the succession to the throne of both kingdoms.
With this Treaty, Egypt renounced to the dominion of the city of Kadesh and the rest of the states of the Litani Valley, and to seal the agreement in a definitive way of both parts, it was established that time after the signing of the peace treaty, the king Ramses II married a princess of the Hittite people, in this case, that she was the daughter of Hattusili III
Other copies written on more vile materials, containing the same text, have also come down to us, such as the set of clay tablets preserved at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, corresponding to the Hittite version of the treatise.
