Battle of Kadesh - Egypt vs. the Hittites
Ramesses II marched north with four divisions of the Egyptian army to reassert Egyptian control over the strategic city of Kadesh. He was lured into a trap by two Hittite spies who falsely reported that the Hittite army was far to the north. Egyptian accounts inscribed on temple walls describe Ramesses invoking Amun and personally fighting his way out. Hittite records claim their own victory. Modern historians assess the battle as a draw. Around 1259 BCE, Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III concluded a formal peace treaty, copies of which survive in both Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions and in Akkadian cuneiform. This Egyptian-Hittite treaty is the earliest surviving international peace agreement in history, and a replica hangs at United Nations headquarters in New York.
- Year: 1274 BCE
- Category: Military
