The prisoners revealed that the entire Hittite army and the Muwatalli were actually close at hand: An Egyptian scout then arrived at the camp bringing two Hittite prisoners. This was, state the Egyptian texts, a false report ordered by the Hittites "with the aim of preventing the army of His Majesty from drawing up to combat with the foe of Hatti". As Ramesses and the Egyptian advance guard were about 11 kilometers from Kadesh, south of Shabtuna, he met two Shasu nomads who told him that the Hittite king was "in the land of Aleppo, on the north of Tunip" 200 kilometers away, where, the Shasu said, he was "(too much) afraid of Pharaoh, L.P.H., to come south". Egyptian side, meanwhile, formed four divisions named after the well-known Egyptian gods: Re division, Set division, Ptah division and Amun division. Muwatalli had positioned his troops behind "Old Kadesh", but Ramesses was misled by two spies whom the Egyptians had captured to think that the Hittite forces were still far off, at Aleppo, and ordered his forces to set up camp. At the age of 29, Ramesses II is preparing a confrontation campaign against Muwatalli II at city of Kadesh. OTL: Egypt and Hittites are having its hostility feelings, possibly due to numerous moments that changed the time. The army moved beyond the fortress of Tjel and along the coast leading to Gaza. In the spring of the fifth year of his reign, in May 1274 BC, Ramesses II launched a campaign from his capital Pi-Ramesses (modern Qantir). In the fourth year of his reign, he marched north into Syria, either to recapture Amurru or, as a probing effort, to confirm his vassals' loyalty and explore the terrain of possible battles. The immediate antecedents to the Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II into Canaan. 1292 BC), the last ruler of this dynasty, campaigned in this region, finally beginning to turn Egyptian interest back to the area. The Egyptians showed flagging interest here until almost the end of the dynasty. During the late Eighteenth Dynasty, the Amarna letters tell the story of the decline of Egyptian influence in the region. The reigns of Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III were undistinguished, except that Egypt continued to lose territory to the Mitanni in northern Syria. 14 BC reflect the general destabilization of the Djahy region (southern Canaan). It is believed to have been the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving between 5,000 and 6,000 chariots in total.Īs a result of discovery of multiple Kadesh inscriptions and the Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, it is the best documented battle in all of ancient history.īackground: Many of the Egyptian campaign accounts between c. The battle is generally dated to 1274 BC from the Egyptian chronology, and is the earliest pitched battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known. Use the tag for posts where you're asking how something could have happened different rather than what if it happened differently.Įxplanatory: The Battle of Kadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the modern Lebanon–Syria border. Use the tag to signify double blind what-ifs. Use the tag to indicate points of divergence based on different landscapes. and no personal politics, conspiracism, snark, etc. It also means no image macros, no bots, no joke-only posts, etc. No low-effort posts, which means answers should be more than single-sentence replies. Don't insult people, don't correct spelling or grammar, and don't feed trolls - report them instead. Questions should be set in the past, so no current events (6 years is a nice limit), and they should not require magic or time-travel to occur. If there's a way to read the question that allows an interesting answer, go for it. "Yes, And!" Please read questions charitably. Posting and Commenting Rules (more details are here):
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