The Battle of Kadesh: Important to the History of World
Throughout history, the act of war has been a reoccurring theme. Possibly a theme that is doomed to occur throughout all of time. Wars have been fought for many reasons and each war obviously had their own everlasting impact on humanity. There has been a countless amount of wars since the start of time, some historians know about and some that have possibly not been uncovered. However, the Battle of Kadesh of 1274 B.C.E. is the most important war because of it being the largest chariot battle, the earliest record of military tactics and formations, and the first peace treaty known to man.
First, is the historical context of the Battle of Kadesh. The Battle of Kadesh occurred in 1274 B.C.E. …show more content…
The battle occurred on the Orontes river, in what is today Syria. The war occurred because Ramses II wanted to reclaim the city of Kadesh that was under the Hittite control. Ramses II most likely wanted Kadesh because Kadesh was located on the river, which is a source of water for agriculture and a route for trading. The Hittites fought to retain the city of Kadesh probably for the same reasons. This was all caused because the Hittites had been making trips into Egypt and causing problems for Tutmoses III. Rameses II wanted to fix this, which was the start of his campaign. According to Robert Collins Suhr, “Ramses opened his campaign in the summer of 1296 B.C. by seizing a port in southern Lebanon. A small Hittite army under Muwutallis advanced on the town, but Ramses drove it off.” (Suhr paragraph 24) Both of the armies were roughly the same size having around 30,000 men on both sides of various units; the Hittites having more chariots than the Egyptians did. Muwutallis had led Ramses to a trap by sending spies ahead and lying to Ramses causing him to have a false sense of security and get too far ahead of his army. However, Ramses countered this by allowing his army to be spread out. Since …show more content…
The development of chariots in general had a huge impact on wars throughout the early history until better methods were developed. In general, if one side had chariots while the other did not, the latter would most likely lose. The fact that both sides had chariots mostly left the battle to be decided on how the chariots would be used through military tactics and formations. This showed other developing civilizations the importance of chariots in their
Throughout history, the act of war has been a reoccurring theme. Possibly a theme that is doomed to occur throughout all of time. Wars have been fought for many reasons and each war obviously had their own everlasting impact on humanity. There has been a countless amount of wars since the start of time, some historians know about and some that have possibly not been uncovered. However, the Battle of Kadesh of 1274 B.C.E. is the most important war because of it being the largest chariot battle, the earliest record of military tactics and formations, and the first peace treaty known to man.
First, is the historical context of the Battle of Kadesh. The Battle of Kadesh occurred in 1274 B.C.E. …show more content…
The battle occurred on the Orontes river, in what is today Syria. The war occurred because Ramses II wanted to reclaim the city of Kadesh that was under the Hittite control. Ramses II most likely wanted Kadesh because Kadesh was located on the river, which is a source of water for agriculture and a route for trading. The Hittites fought to retain the city of Kadesh probably for the same reasons. This was all caused because the Hittites had been making trips into Egypt and causing problems for Tutmoses III. Rameses II wanted to fix this, which was the start of his campaign. According to Robert Collins Suhr, “Ramses opened his campaign in the summer of 1296 B.C. by seizing a port in southern Lebanon. A small Hittite army under Muwutallis advanced on the town, but Ramses drove it off.” (Suhr paragraph 24) Both of the armies were roughly the same size having around 30,000 men on both sides of various units; the Hittites having more chariots than the Egyptians did. Muwutallis had led Ramses to a trap by sending spies ahead and lying to Ramses causing him to have a false sense of security and get too far ahead of his army. However, Ramses countered this by allowing his army to be spread out. Since …show more content…
The development of chariots in general had a huge impact on wars throughout the early history until better methods were developed. In general, if one side had chariots while the other did not, the latter would most likely lose. The fact that both sides had chariots mostly left the battle to be decided on how the chariots would be used through military tactics and formations. This showed other developing civilizations the importance of chariots in their