The battle of Kadesh: a compromised victory

General information

This battle was between the ancient Egyptians under the leadership of King Ramses II and the Hittites under the leadership of King Muwattali II along with his brother and commander in charge Murshilli. This battle dates to nearly 1275B.C. It took place in present day Syria. This battle is, by far, the most well documented in the history of the Middle East. 

Causes

Hittite expansion into Syria coincided with the revive of the Egyptian interests in the same area. Both of them wanted the wealth of natural sources in Syria, its strategical location and the control of trade routes. 

Why clash in Kadesh specifically?

Kaddish was the border line and a critical point between Egypt and the Hittite empire so the battle naturally took place there.As usual the Egyptian army was divided into its traditional four divisions (Amun, Seth, Re, Hours). The Hittites surpassed the Egyptian army and Muwatalli was very cunning to drag Egypt to a foxy trap. He sent a spy to the Egyptian army telling lies, wrong information about the location of the Hittites. The Egyptian army marched right into this trap and this tactical fault of Ramses II led to a disaster. Thirsty for a quick victory, Ramses II did not wait for his army divisions to assemble and marched to Kadesh missing entire three divisions. Meanwhile, Muwatalli attacked the Amun division led by Ramses II. Ramses II had the difficult task of holding the remains of his army in place by his sheer strenght of character. After many losses the Egyptian Naeem troops saved Ramses and restored balance to the battle. Ramesses proclaimed victory although one can argue he was defeated.

A disputed victory for Ramses II

The continuation of the Hittite control over the area indicates the Hittite victory, and 99% of the scholars believed that Muwatalli subdued Ramses. The outcomes of the battle are not certain until now. Ramses returned back to Egypt and Muwatalli returned back to his capital, each of them announced their victory. Also, the peace treaty between the two countries wasn't under Muwatalli reign, but it was in his brother's reign Hattushili III.

The Battle of Kadesh
Patrick Gray, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons




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