Where did the most famous battle of the ancient world take place and when was it? The choice is not easy, because at that time there were a lot of them, and, nevertheless, the answer seems to be the following: this is the Battle of Kadesh! why? Yes, simply because it is not only ancient texts that tell about this battle, but also giant bas-reliefs carved on the walls of temples, which people have been looking at for millennia. Well, and the result of the war, in which it occupied a central place, was perhaps the most ancient peace treaty known to us, the text of which has survived to this day!
In 1317 BC, after the death of his father, Pharaoh Ramses II, who was then 22 years old, entered the throne of the Egyptian kingdom. From his first steps, he showed himself to be a strong-willed and purposeful person. He got a power that was on the way to a new upsurge, and he saw it and decided to take advantage of it. The successful military campaigns of Seti I partially restored Egypt's influence in Asia and strengthened its military power. And Ramses II considered that the time had come for the beginning of new conquests. Moreover, he wanted not only to restore the Egyptian state within its former borders, but also to move further north. But for this it was necessary, first of all, to defeat the Hittite state, which at that time became the main center of attraction for all secret and obvious enemies of Egypt.
Ramses II attacks the Hittites. Drawing by J. Rava.
And Ramses II began to prepare for war, steadily building up Egyptian military power. To facilitate the advance of his land armies along the coast of the sea, Ramses II built a number of fortified strongholds on the coastal strip of conquered Phenicia. They were located up to the city of Byblos and were supplied with supplies for the army and accordingly fortified. The army was actively recruiting mercenaries.
Bas-relief depicting Pharaoh Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh. Ramesseum, Egypt.
According to Egyptologists, the total number of Egyptian troops who opposed the Hittites reached 20,000, a figure that was simply unprecedented for those times. By tradition, the entire army was divided into four large detachments, which were named after the main gods of Egypt - Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set.
Figures of warriors from the tomb of nomarch Mesekhti. Middle Kingdom. Cairo Museum.
However, the Hittites did not waste their time either. Their king Muwatalli II managed to put together a military alliance, which included the kings of Naharina, Arvad, Karchemish, Kadesh, Ugarit, Aleppo, Asia Minor, and also numerous mercenaries whom he recruited among the Mediterranean peoples. The total number of troops of the anti-Egyptian alliance exceeded 20,000 people. At the same time, the main striking force of this army consisted of Hittite war chariots.
Wall bas-relief in the temple in Abu Simbel. Upper Egypt.
In the spring of 1312 BC. The Egyptian army set out on a campaign from the border town of Charu and further along the beaten path of all Egyptian conquerors headed north. Having reached the territory of Lebanon, the troops of Ramses II were on the Phoenician coast, where the supply bases were located in advance, and already on the 29th day of the campaign were at the northern ridges of the Lebanese mountains. Below their eyes opened the valley of the Orontes River, and the city of Kadesh was only one day's march away.
Order "Gold of Courage" in the form of three golden flies.
Ramses II crossed Orontes near the village of Shab-tun, and, without waiting for the approach of the entire army, rushed to the city of Kadesh with a detachment of Amon. It is important to note that the units (or armies) of Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set moved in such a way that there was a large interval between them. Ramses II with the detachment of Amon was in the vanguard, behind him, at a distance of about two kilometers, the army of Ra moved, then the army of Ptah was seven kilometers away, and the army of Set closed the movement.
Ax of Akhotep. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The scouts reported to the pharaoh that the area was free from the enemy, so that you can move calmly. And then two defectors from among the Asiatic nomads assured the pharaoh that the Hittites, frightened by the Egyptians, retreated from Kadesh far to the north. Thus, Ramses II received the opportunity to capture the city on the move, and he decided to act immediately.
Dagger. New Kingdom (circa 1550 - 1050 BC).
But in reality everything was, alas, not at all the way it seemed to him! As it turned out later, these defectors were specially sent by the Hittites to mislead the Egyptians, and they succeeded. “The word that these nomads said, they told His Majesty falsely, for the defeated prince of the Hittite country sent them to spy out where His Majesty was and to prevent His Majesty's troops from preparing for battle …” - this is how the ancient story of the Battle of Kadesh says and this cunning of the Hittites was completely successful in relation to the Egyptians. Believing the defectors, Pharaoh fell into a trap set up for him.
Another dagger from that time.
When Rameses II, already triumphant in victory, approached Kadesh with a small vanguard, while Muwatalli, meanwhile, managed to quietly relocate his entire army to the eastern bank of the Orontes, went to the rear of the Egyptians and began to prepare for a surprise attack on them from the flank.
So Ramses II and his entire army of Amun were trapped in a death trap. And if they could still count on the approach of the army of Ra, then the rest of the armies, far behind the vanguard, would hardly have time to free their master from trouble.
Well, and Ramses II himself was at that time to the north-west of Kadesh, and did not even suspect that he was standing in the same place where the Hittite troops had recently been located, and that his sworn enemy Muwatalli was closely following his every step … The truth, as is often the case, was discovered by chance, when the Egyptian troops had already settled down to rest, unharnessed the bulls and horses, and the tired soldiers stretched out to rest on the ground. They caught the enemy spies, and when they began to beat them with sticks, they said that Muwatalli with all his army was literally at the side of the Egyptians, and was about to attack them.
It is possible that this is exactly what the chariot of Pharaoh Ramses II looked like. In any case, the creators of the film "Pharaoh" (1966) presented it this way, perhaps the most reliable historical film on the history of Ancient Egypt.
Pharaoh urgently convened a council of war, at which it was decided to immediately send messengers for the lagging armies, and quickly bring them to where the pharaoh's troops were. The situation seemed so serious that the king's high dignitary himself left with this commission.
However, time was lost. While the council of war was deciding what to do, 2,500 Hittite chariots crossed to the western bank of the Orontes and attacked the army of Ra, which at that time was on the march and simply did not have time to prepare for battle.
They managed to kill most of the Egyptians. But many nevertheless survived and in panic ran forward to the camp of Ramses II, throwing weapons and equipment along the way. The fact that one of his armies was destroyed, the pharaoh learned only when its remnants approached Kadesh. Among the fugitives were the two sons of Pharaoh, and he was glad that at least they were saved in this massacre.
Reconstruction of the Egyptian war chariot. Remer-Pelizaeus Museum. Lower Saxony, Hildesheim. Germany.
However, Hittite chariots were already rushing on the heels of the fleeing, and it was necessary to immediately take up the defense! However, what could be done here when everything was confused in the camp of the Egyptians? Only the smallest part of the soldiers from the Tsar's personal guard remained combat-ready, and all the rest rushed about in panic like sheep. Meanwhile, the Hittite chariots had already burst into the camp of the army of Amun, which only increased the panic that reigned there. It was possible to escape from death only by escaping from the enemy ring.
Pharaoh Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh. Drawing by J. Rava.
And fortunately for his soldiers, and for himself, Ramses II did not lose his head, but jumped on his war chariot and, together with his bodyguards and Sherdan mercenaries, began to make his way to the south. The attempt failed, since it was there that the enemies turned out to be the most. And then the pharaoh, together with the soldiers, turned to the Orontes River, finding here the enemy's most vulnerable spot.
Sherdan mercenaries in the battle of Kadesh. Drawing by Giuseppe Rava.
The Egyptians fought with the courage of despair. The force of their blow, which the Hittites clearly did not expect, was so great that in one place they managed to throw the Hittite soldiers into the river. Of course, this success could not have had any special significance. He only slightly delayed the death of the Egyptians, which seemed inevitable. However, something happened that more than once decided the fate of many battles. The Hittites found rich booty in the Egyptian camp. And they got off their chariots and … began hastily to collect trophies, instead of finishing off the Egyptians! It is clear that they were afraid that others would be ahead of them later. So the Egyptians got some respite, and the Hittites' fighting impulse began to fade away.
The Hittites attack the Egyptians. Drawing by J. Rava. It should be noted that, judging by the images that have come down to us, the Hittites had three warriors on their chariots, and not two, like the Egyptians. Accordingly, their tactics should have been different. The Egyptians used chariots as mobile platforms for archers. First they fired when they were rushing forward at the enemy, then they made a right turn and fired at him, rushing past from the left side of the chariot. The Hittites also fought with long spears. And it was not always convenient.
And then a happy accident came to the aid of the pharaoh, which dramatically changed the picture of the battle. It turned out that a detachment of Egyptian recruits was moving at that time and not at all in a hurry to join the army of Ramses II from the side of the sea coast. They approached the site of the battle, saw what a difficult situation the army of Amun was in, and together struck the Hittites, who did not pay attention to anything, but continued to plunder the Egyptian camp.
The army of the Egyptians is going to break through. A still from the movie "Pharaoh". That's exactly how it was then!
The half-crushed army of Amun immediately perked up. The fugitives also began to return, hiding in the bushes and ravines. All this gave Ramses the hope that he would be able to hold out until the evening, when, in any case, the army of Ptah would have to come to his aid.
Realizing that victory was slipping from his hands, King Muwatalli sent 1000 more chariots to help his soldiers. But even these forces were no longer enough to finally break the resistance of the Egyptians.
Egyptian chariots on the move. A still from the movie "Pharaoh".
In addition, the accumulation of such a large number of chariots in a relatively small area did not allow them to be used as they should, constrained their mobility, and made it difficult to maneuver. The chariots clung to each other with their wheels and only prevented each other from fighting. And for some reason, Muwatalli continued to keep his infantry in reserve and did not enter the battle.
The battle went on until the evening, when the long-awaited army of Ptah finally approached the Egyptians. Here the Hittites were forced to go on the defensive and, with the onset of night, take refuge behind the walls of Kadesh. Well, the result of the battle was the mutual depletion of forces. Both warring sides suffered heavy casualties and were severely exhausted. Of course, Ramses II did not take Kadesh, but the Hittites, too, could not achieve a decisive victory over him.
Returning to Egypt, the pharaoh began to prepare for new battles and campaigns, taking into account the sad experience of the Battle of Kadesh. True, in all official documents this battle was depicted as a great victory for the Egyptians, and was sung by the court poets and depicted by artists on the walls of temples, he well understood that the real victory over the Hittites was still very, very far away. And indeed it turned out to be so! Only after fifteen years of hard war did he manage to conquer North Syria, expel the Hittites from the Orontes valley, take the ill-fated Kadesh and even establish his rule over part of Naharina.
Hittites on chariots. Temple of Ramses II at Abydos.
Now Ramses II was wise with bitter experience and acted very prudently. Well, the Hittites had to wage war on several fronts at once. From the south, the Egyptians attacked them, but from the north, the warlike mountain tribes of Kesh-Kesh rushed over them. Military assistance was also needed by the Hittite ally - the state of Mitanni, which at that time was at war with Assyria. And in the Hittite state itself, it was not very calm. Mutiny broke out even among the Hittite troops, who were exhausted by the incessant fighting. Therefore, hardly only King Muwatalli in 1296 BC. on the throne was replaced by Khattushil, as Ramses II was immediately followed by a proposal for peace. And it was immediately accepted, because the power of Egypt was also running out.
This is how the oldest international peace treaties that have survived to this day were signed. It was written in hieroglyphs for the Egyptians and in Babylonian cuneiform for the Hittites. Clay tiles with a part of the contract are now kept in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Mummy of Ramses II. Cairo, Egyptian Museum
This document, consisting of 18 paragraphs, is called "a good pact of peace and brotherhood, establishing peace forever." The obligations of both parties under this treaty - not to fight, to resolve all disputes peacefully, to help each other in the event of an attack from the outside, and in the event of uprisings of conquered peoples, as well as to betray fugitives to each other - sound quite modern.
Well, in order to give the treaty even more force, Hattushil subsequently became related to Ramses II, who was now called the Great, having married his daughter to him.
