Page 80 - History of War - Issue 29-16

egypt’s

struggle

canaan

for

In the Late Bronze Age, Egypt became the
dominating superpower of the Middle East, but
its rule over the southern Levant was challenged

time and again. The two major battles of Megiddo
and Kadesh would seal the fate of the region for
centuries to come

WORDS MARCEL SERR
he rise of the rst civilisations in breeding, but also continued access to the
the Middle East in the Bronze Age woods that were needed for construction. For
was the beginning of organised Egypt, this meant access to the cedars of the
warfare, accompanied by brilliant region now known as Lebanon. It was for this
T inventions that enhanced strategy, reason, among others, that the area became
tactics, and, of course, weaponry. In the fourth highly sought after by neighbouring powers.
millennium BCE, tin was added to copper in Two centuries earlier, in the 17th century
order to produce a harder alloy – bronze. In time BCE, Egypt had been conquered by the
this would come to mean that war was a much Hyksos. For over 100 years these conquerors
more serious, and deadly business. introduced new weapons – like the horse-
Besides the invention of the composite drawn chariot, heavy bronze swords and the
bow towards the end of the third millennium composite bow – to the Egyptian people.
BCE, one of the most signi cant military Ironically, with the help of these new arms, the
innovations of that time was the war chariot, Egyptians nally overwhelmed the Hyksos and
which had possibly already been introduced by founded the New Kingdom (c. 1570 BCE) that
the Sumerians around 3000 BCE. By the 15th became the most powerful player in the Middle
century BCE the Egyptians had developed the East, dominating the southern Levant.
chariot to become the deadliest weapon of its
time. However, production and maintenance The rise of Thutmose III
required not only expensive training and horse When Pharaoh Thutmose II died in around 1479
BCE, his son, also named Thutmose was still
too young to rule. This left Hatshepsut, the
young man’s stepmother, to reign in his stead
and later declared herself pharaoh. While she
did most of the ruling, Thutmose became head
of the army. After Hatshepsut died, an alliance
CITIUM of Canaanites led by the ruler of Kadesh – a city
MEDITERRANEAN in western Ancient Syria (now Israel) – rebelled
SEA against Egyptian rule. The rebels concentrated
KADESH their forces at Megiddo (today’s Wadi Ara,
TANIS MEGIDDO northern Israel) – a strategic city near what
GAZA would be known as the Via Maris, the main
trading artery to Mesopotamia.
Planning to surprise his enemy, Thutmose
MEMPHIS III quickly set his army in motion against the
insurgents, before pausing his approach at
Yehem. Here he had two choices to continue
towards Megiddo, which was located behind
the mountainous Carmel Ridge; he could either
take the conventional routes around the ridge

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