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In the very south of Egypt, in the temple of Abu Simbel, a wall / mural relief tells the story of one of the first great battles of history, the Battle of Kadesh. The victory of the Egyptian ruler Ramesses II was elaborately staged: Several depictions along the Nile from present-day Luxor to Abydos tell of the great deeds he is said to have performed at Kadesh in present-day Syria. What he really did, however, has not been completely resolved to this day. All we know for
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certain is that in 1274 BC, Ramesses II marched with an army of 20,000 men against the Hittites. Near Kadesh, they were attacked by a numerically superior army of the Hittite king Muwattali II. When the Egyptians were suddenly confronted with about 1,000 heavy war chariots, some of their troops, which were still on the march, disbanded almost immediately. For a moment it looked as if the battle would end before it had really begun. Here, most sources have Ramesses II heroically
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destroy 1,500 enemy chariots single-handedly. More likely, the pharaoh, along with the chariots that had already arrived, overran the Hittites who were looting his camp, threw their flank into disarray, and then counterattacked with reinforcements arriving from the west. As more troops reached the battlefield, the Egyptians gained the upper hand and eventually repulsed the Hittites. If Ramesses II did indeed command 20,000 men or more, which most historians deem credible,
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this was an army the likes of which the world had probably never seen before. Kadesh is just one of many occasions when the New Kingdom of Egypt raised armies of this size. What an accomplishment this was is shown by the fact that even much later, raising such numbers of troops and deploying them so far away from their bases presented significant challenges to commanders and rulers. For example, in 1415 in the Battle of Agincourt, one of the most famous battles of
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the European Middle Ages, only about 7,000 English fought 15,000 French, and even Napoleon Bonaparte often fought with much smaller forces, though he sometimes led armies of much greater numbers, too. Armies like those at Kadesh were something entirely new. They became possible only in the Bronze Age when the first cities, city-states, and empires emerged. In this video, we look at how the Bronze Age brought about an unprecedented escalation of warfare. We investigate when exactly
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large armies entered the stage of history and how they evolved into formidable forces like the one of Ramesses II. In our endeavor, we are supported by Creative Assembly, the sponsor of this video, who allow us to use art assets and game play footage from their new game Total War Pharao. Chapter 1: The First Armies [Operation Desert Storm, Iraq 1991]
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During the air offensive against Iraq in the Gulf War, the US and their allies dropped 88,500 tons of bombs on Iraq. Some of them missed their strategic targets and landed in the desert. Four hit the ground right next to the 4,000-year-old Ziggurat of Ur, an ancient Sumerian step pyramid that had been restored in the 1980s under Saddam Hussein. About 60 years earlier in 1927/28 in the adjacent Royal Cemetery at Ur, the British archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Wooley had found
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an important artifact, a richly decorated wooden box. Wooley initially thought it was a standard, so it became known as the Standard of Ur. This find is one of the earliest pictorial representations of an army and one of the most important sources on Sumerian warfare around 2500 BC. The Sumerians lived between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in what is known as Mesopotamia.anm This area was home to various city-states, such as Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Lagash,
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which fought each other often and were led by elected religious king figures. To the east of Sumer lay the kingdom of Elam, which kept pushing into Mesopotamia. According to the authors of, “World History of Warfare”, a standard reference for military history, the ongoing struggle among themselves and pressure from their eastern neighbor led the Sumerian city-states to slowly develop into dynastically organized kingdoms and to build institutionalized, structured armies.
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But what did these early armies look like, how did they fight, and what units did they use? The Standard of Ur provides a number of hints. Its so-called “war side” shows one of the oldest images of a Sumerian army being led into battle by a king. The first thing that catches the eye is that the army depicted consists of war chariots and foot soldiers. The chariots, probably the best-known element of Bronze Age warfare, were no fast vehicles like those used
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by Ramesses II at Kadesh but simple, cumbersome carts pulled by mules or Asiatic half-asses. Horses as we know them today did not yet exist. Many generations of breeding were still required to create the majestic animals that were used in Classical antiquity or the Middle Ages. On a Sumerian chariot, there was space for a driver and a fighter equipped with throwing spears and an axe. Because the chariots had four solid wooden wheels and a stiff front axle,
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they were slow and hard to maneuver. This means that they had an enormous turning radius, and were not suited for driving toward enemies, attacking them, and then retreating quickly the way chariots were used later. Instead, they probably drove past the enemy front or flank to skirmish, brought high-ranking fighters to the battlefield, or pursued fleeing enemies. Either way, they were large vehicles and probably made an impression
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on enemies or even intimidated them. The second central element of Sumerian warfare were foot soldiers equipped with ordinary spears. On the Standard of Ur, they are wearing helmets and some kind of long cloaks whose function is unknown - as armor, they probably would have been rather impractical. Strikingly, the soldiers are standing very closely to each other, which is why some historians assume that this is a depiction of some kind of shield
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wall or phalanx. Although this is far from obvious because the infantry could also simply be depicted while marching. However, the formation as well as the presence of the king and the chariots implies some kind of order and hierarchy. Whatever the case may be, the depiction makes much more sense when compared with another artifact, which is about 50 years younger than the Standard of Ur. In the Louvre in Paris, seven ancient fragments are on display. They are part of the so-called
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Stele of the Vultures, a monument to the victory of the city-state of Lagash over its long-time enemy, Umma. It derives its name from the vultures that are feasting on fallen enemies on one of the fragments. The stele's largest fragment shows six rows of infantry with long spears and square shields who are being led into battle by their king, Eanatum. The infantry is depicted in an even tighter formation with overlapping shields, which is quite reminiscent
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of a phalanx formed by the Greek hoplites 1,800 years later. Because of this, most historians see no reason to doubt that a phalanx-like formation characterized warfare in Mesopotamia. However, it must be remembered that both artifacts are highly simplified representations whose purpose might not have been to display the exact composition of an army, weapons, or even actual events. This leaves a lot of room for interpretation. These objects probably just staged the achievement of
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a victorious king. Nevertheless, most historians assume that these early armies usually weakened the enemy with an attack of light infantry with javelins or chariots before the heavy infantry advanced to decide the battle in close combat. Nowadays, it might be difficult to imagine how an army that primarily relied on close combat shock tactics fought because modern armies almost exclusively rely on firearms, artillery, and modern technology such as drones and guided
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missiles. However, this was different for much of history, from prehistoric times to the early modern era ranged weapons such as javelins and bows could weaken the enemy, but a battle was almost always decided in close combat. Accordingly, shock weapons such as maces and spears were particularly important. This kind of weapon was greatly improved at the end of the Neolithic Age when humans began experimenting with new materials. First,
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they discovered copper as a material for tools and weapons, which also gave the transitional period between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age its name Copper Age or Chalcolithic. Thanks to copper, new manufacturing techniques became possible, such as casting vessels. Copper, however, is very soft and deforms quickly. But then people discovered that copper could be alloyed with tin or arsenic to make the much stronger bronze. With bronze better weapons such as battle axes and
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metal tips for spears became possible. Alongside these new effective offensive weapons better armor was developed, such as metal helmets, shields with shield bosses, and scale armor. The kind of weapons the soldiers of Lagash used can be seen in the lower part of the large fragment of the Stele of the Vultures. It shows the king - this time on a chariot - leading his soldiers on the march, which is indicated by their relaxed posture since they are carrying their axes
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and spears on their shoulders. The king himself has a spear, too, as well as a sickle sword. However, the sword was probably more of a ritual weapon because, while swords could be made of bronze, at that time they were not particularly suitable for fighting due to their long and thin shape combined with the soft material. Later, better bronze swords were developed, but truly sturdy weapons with hard-wearing edges could only be made once iron entered the stage. In the Bronze
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Age, axes, daggers, spears, and throwing spears had much greater practical importance than swords. Even though information is very scarce, and we know little about the organization and functioning of these bronze-age armies, it is clear that they could not have functioned without sophisticated logistics and organization. For example, Eanatum, the king depicted on the Stele of the Vultures, undertook extensive campaigns, or at least raids, into the neighboring kingdom of Elam.
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A military operation so far from home requires good logistics, a clear hierarchy, and a reliable organization. Soon, armies just like the one of Eanatum, equipped with weapons of bronze, well organized, and very disciplined, would facilitate the rise of the first empires. Chapter 2: The First Empires The rulers of the city-states between the Euphrates and Tigris constantly struggled for power. In the south of Sumer,
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near the Persian Gulf, a man known today as Lugalzagesi took the throne of Umma by force in about 2375 BC. He was very ambitious and soon moved with an army against Lagash, the ancient enemy with whom his city had been fighting over fertile land for several generations. After razing the city to the ground, he did something that had never happened before, as far as we know: he continued his campaign in order to subjugate even more city-states. Lugalzagesi took Uruk,
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made it his new capital, and then conquered one city-state after another until he finally ruled over all of Sumer and assumed the title "King of the Land." It is unclear what that meant exactly, how much control he really had over the city-states in his sphere of influence, and how he managed to expand his influence so greatly in the first place. It is clear, however, that such an undertaking required a far more complex administration, organization,
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and logistics than simple raiding. Lugalzagesi became the first king over several city-states because he took warfare to a whole new level in terms of scope and sophistication. But the reign of the “king of the land” was not going to last. In Akkad, a little further to the northeast in a region very similar to Sumer and also composed of city-states, there lived a man who was at least as ambitious as Lugalzagesi. Most likely he came from humble beginnings and made a career at
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the court of King Ur-Zababa of Kish. Today he is known as Sargon of Akkad. He too took advantage of his position at court, overthrew his king and seized power. Sargon referred to himself as Šarru-kēn, which is usually translated as "the legitimate king" - but "Any man who must say, I am the King, is no true king." Sargon moved against Lugalzagesi soon after he had ascended the throne. His army fought numerous battles against the Sumerian
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king and his princes until he eventually defeated him and captured his capital, Uruk. Then, he founded a new capital, Akkad, whose exact location we still do not know. Sargon then continued his conquest and created an empire even more extensive than that of Lugalzagesi. It stretched from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Accordingly, Sargon called himself not only king of the land but Šar kiššatim, king of the world. His realm is considered the first empire in history.
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How exactly Sargon established this empire and if his army was superior to that of Lugalzagesi is not fully clear. One possible clue is provided by another inscription that reads, "5,400 men eat daily in the presence of Sargon, king of the world, to whom the god Enlil gave no rival." This passage is translated and interpreted in various ways. According to the “Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean” , many historians interpret it
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as an indication that Sargon maintained the first standing army in history. This should certainly be taken with a grain of salt, but it would have been an absolutely revolutionary innovation if it were indeed the case. After all, warfare in this period was seasonal, and campaigns could only last a certain time because the men were needed in the fields at harvest time. A standing army was, therefore, only possible if a society produced a surplus and could feed more men than had to
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work in the fields. If Sargon indeed managed to supply over 5,000 men from a surplus and maintain them as a standing army, that would have given him an immense advantage over his enemies. A second aspect that contributed to the effectiveness of the Akkadian army was that it used archers en masse. The earliest known near eastern depiction of this weapon in the context of warfare, is found on the so-called Narām-Sîn stele, which was created between 2260 and 2223
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BC. It depicts a victory of Sargon's grandson Narām-Sîn over an enemy tribe. Akkadian archers relied on a fairly new technology: the composite bow made of wood, horn, and sinew joined together. This bow was much stronger than the simple bows crafted from one solid piece of wood that had been used before and had a reach of up to 300m, which is almost comparable to an English longbow of the 15th century. These composite bows were a core element of Akkadian infantry at
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the time of Narām-Sîn. It’s usually argued that a weapon does not become that crucial overnight, so historians tend to agree that the bow must have gained importance much earlier, probably under Sargon himself. Apart from archers, the Akkadian army primarily relied on light infantry axemen and spearmen. The cumbersome chariots, on the other hand, disappeared from the battlefields for the time being. For a long time, the ancient Romans,
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with their disciplined legions, and the Greeks, with their phalanges, attracted the attention of historians and blocked their view further into the past. Only about 60 years ago prehistoric and Bronze Age warfare in the Near East attracted considerable attention. A major reason for this neglect was that historians tended to assume that one of the most important powers of the Bronze
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Age, the Old Kingdom of the Egyptians (2,700-2,200 BC), was barely militarized. This misconception is rooted in the fallacy that an Empire that did not pursue an expansionist strategy, which the Old Kingdom did not, needed significantly fewer military structures or could even do without a real army. This turns out to be fundamentally wrong. Even though the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom
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relied almost exclusively on defensive strategies, Egypt had great military capacities. A series of written sources and archaeological finds indicate that the civilization on the Nile was not only forged in war but maintained by military means. Chapter 3: The Grand Strategy of Egypt [Old Kingdom, c. 2770-2200 BC.] In 1798, Egypt was invaded by Napoleon Bonaparte. He brought along intellectuals like the art collector and archaeologist Dominique-Vivant
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Denon who enthusiastically investigated the city of Nekhen, also known as Hierakonpolis, which was the religious and political center of Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period around 3100 BC. There, almost exactly 100 years later,
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archaeologists found one of the most famous artifacts in history, the so-called Narmer Palette. Although there is some dispute about what it depicts, most Egyptologists believe that it shows the violent unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer, symbolized by these two mythical creatures, so-called Serpopards. Both sides of the polished slate show warlike scenes. On one side, Narmer is executing a defeated enemy with a mace; on the other,
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he is looking at the decapitated foes at the feet of his troops. Alongside several similar depictions, for example, the Libyan palette that is slightly older and depicts several sieges, the Narmer palette is interpreted as evidence that organized warfare played an important role very early in the Old Kingdom. The militarization of the Old Kingdom is not apparent, however, because it pursued a defensive Grand Strategy. The term Grand strategy refers to
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how a state uses military and non-military means to advance its interests in the long term. The idea of an offensive Grand Strategy goes back to the famous military theorist Carl von Clausewitz and other military thinkers. It emphasizes that it is imperative to maintain a powerful army with offensive capabilities to ensure the security of a state. Such offensive Grand Strategies have long dominated world politics. Since World War II, however, defensive strategies
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have prevailed with the goal usually being to avoid direct conflict but to be able to defend oneself in an emergency. After Narmer had unified the Old Kingdom, its Grand Strategy was almost exclusively defensive, revolving around defending the core territory along the Nile by exploiting and reinforcing Egypt's natural borders. This led many historians to believe that Egypt had only a rudimentary army at the time, perhaps even only a police force of sorts.
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But on the edge of the fertile area along the Nile, about 600 kilometers north of Nekhen, lies the Old Kingdom cemetery of Deshasheh, which contains a wall relief that shows this was not the case. This relief in the tomb of Anta shows the Egyptians besieging a fortress. Soldiers with some type of crowbar and ladders are trying to scale a rampart while archers and axemen are engaging in a heated battle. Such an approach exceeds the possibilities of a simple police force. Another
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source, the autobiography of Weni indicates that there already was some kind of conscription in addition to regular troops. It also shows that Nubian mercenaries were deployed. Apart from these sources, however, virtually nothing is known about the military structure of the Old Kingdom. Around 2160 BC, economic and climatic changes increased the power of local nobles, the so-called nomarchs or barons. At the same time the power of the pharaohs declined. Internal strife ensued,
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and a period of unrest began, the so-called First Intermediate Period. It lasted until around 2055 BC when Mentuhotep II reunited the empire. [Middle Kingdom, c. 2050-1560 BC.] From their new center of power at Thebes, the pharaohs reorganized the army in the following years. They did not manage to eliminate the private armies of the local rulers completely, but they regained most of the military power by creating a standing army on empire-level,
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strong enough to suppress private wars and protect the borders of the empire. This new army allowed the pharaohs to pursue a different, more innovative Grand Strategy. This change in strategy became necessary when nomads from Palestine kept marauding the empire during the first intermediate period. Egypt thus abandoned its purely defensive approach. Soon, Egyptian armies marched north to locate and eliminate the settlements of the nomads.
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In these strategic seek-and-destroy missions, they may have advanced as far as the mouth of the Orontes River. This was not due to imperialist ambitions but part of a forward defense in which the pharaohs strived to control a large area outside their borders. At the Isthmus of Suez, they built a line of forts as a last line of defense. This system of strongholds is known as the Walls of the Prince. However, we only know of this from written sources - archaeological traces,
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according to Egyptologist James Hoffmeier, have not been found yet, which is why we don't know precisely where these defenses were. In the south of the empire, the Nubians were a constant threat. There, Egypt responded with a classic defense-in-depth strategy, that is, by extending its sphere of influence to the second cataract. The cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths or whitewater rapids that make navigation by ship impossible. They acted
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as natural boundaries along the river. The Egyptians did not colonize the conquered land between the first and second cataract but made it a militarized zone. Throughout the entire area, the Egyptian army built at least 21 fortresses and numerous forts. Anyone who would attack Egypt from the south had to fight through this zone. All the Egyptian army had to do was to slow them down, weaken them and retreat strategically from fortification
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to fortification until the enemy ran out of supplies and had to abandon their campaign. The army of Egypt quickly adapted to this new task. It was under the supreme command of the "General of Upper and Lower Egypt" , a kind of generalissimo to whom the rest of the generals reported. Several other specialized military functions can be identified in this period, for example, a “Commander of the Shock Troops” and a “Master of the Secrets of the King in the Army”,
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probably the head of a kind of intelligence service. The troops were composed of heavy infantry armed with spears and large, wide shields supported by light infantry with axes, daggers, and throwing spears. They were divided into two corps: the "young men", including recruits and warriors, and the shock troops. The recruits were conscripts, while the warriors and shock troops were professional soldiers. In addition, there was now a personal guard for the pharaoh, serving
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as a palace guard in times of peace and fighting alongside him as an elite force in times of war. Due to the requirements of the Defense-in-Depth strategy, which was much about defending and attacking fortresses, the Pharaohs now created archer units. Previously, they had managed without a corps of Egyptian archers and instead deployed Nubians. At about the same time, a forerunner of the battering ram appeared in the armies of Egypt. This device is shown in a wall
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painting at Beni Hasan which depicts the siege of a desert fort. This rudimentary siege weapon consisted of a pole operated by three soldiers from some sort of shelter or roof and was used to lever out individual stones from a wall. Although little is known about the tactical organization of the army of the Middle Kingdom, these new functions and weapons make it clear that the troops further specialized, professionalized, and adapted to the conditions of a Defense-in-Depth.
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This new Grand Strategy helped Egypt achieve a second stable period that ended only when internal strife again weakened the empire in the 17th century BC. Now Nubian tribes invaded Upper Egypt and Semitic peoples from the east pushed into the Nile Delta, and eventually took control of Egypt. The Egyptians called the leaders of these peoples Hyksos "ruler(s) of foreign lands". [New Kingdom, c. 1550-1069 BC.] Around 1600 BC, the Egyptians revolted
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against the foreign rulers. The armies that fought in these wars of liberation used several innovations and siege methods imported from western Asia, and were probably even introduced, or at least influenced by the Hyksos themselves. These innovations included scale armor, composite bows, and, most importantly, horse-drawn chariots. These new, agile vehicles from Asia had nothing in common with the cumbersome carts of the Sumerians. They had spoked wheels, only one axle, and were
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pulled by real, albeit small, horses. These war chariots were usually manned by an archer and a driver. They quickly became the most important offensive weapon of the Egyptian armies and a symbol of their striking power. Nevertheless, they did not fight in isolation but worked in coordination with the infantry and archers. Thanks in part to these innovations, Pharaoh Ahmose I. could drive the Hyksos out of the Nile Delta in the middle of the 16th century BC. Egypt
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completely changed its long-held defensive grand strategy under him and his successors, Thutmose III and Ramesses II. The pharaohs now went on the offensive and regularly undertook expeditions into Syria and Ethiopia to subjugate neighboring peoples. Thutmose III, for example, led no fewer than 15 campaigns into Palestine and Syria during his reign. In this time, the image of the pharaohs changed, too. They now measured themselves by their achievements on the battlefield
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and staged themselves as war gods who led a professional army into battle on their chariots. This new imperialist policy was primarily a reaction to changed military circumstances. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom had to deal with much more resilient enemies, such as the Kingdom of Mittani or the Hittite Empire, so that defense-in-depth and search-and-destroy were no longer valid strategies. The new neighbors had large, mobile, and mighty armies themselves.
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Accordingly, the pharaohs needed a larger army to secure their influence in the Levant, an army that allowed them to campaign far beyond their borders. At the same time, diplomacy became an essential tool because maintaining Egypt's integrity in that new political situation without allies and client states would have been hopeless. The new Grand Strategy was based on mobile armies and diplomatic connections. It clearly differed from those of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
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Fortifications and defensive military zones were no longer important. Instead, the border areas were secured by large, mobile defensive armies. These new, powerful armies were among the most efficient in history. They were highly professional, had a clear command structure, and were based on a capable organizational and logistical apparatus. In keeping with their new image, the pharaohs usually acted as commander-in-chief and the tjaty
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or vizier, the highest official in the empire, as minister of war while the generals formed an advisory war council. The troops themselves consisted of divisions of about 5,000 men each, made up of chariots and infantry. These divisions were tactically independent and composed of companies of 250 men, which in turn comprised five units of 50 men. A sophisticated command structure, a reliable logistical system, and an efficient armament industry
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allowed Egyptian military leaders to conduct operations that were way ahead of their time. Epilogue A few generations after Ramesses II, Egypt fell into a new crisis. The empire was again destabilized by internal unrest, but also by natural disasters, droughts, and external attacks. First, the pharaohs had to face the infamous Sea Peoples (ca. 1200 BC), then the Libyans (mid-10th century BC), and later the Kushites (ca. 750 to
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670 BC). These powerful enemies kept weakening Egypt until it was ultimately conquered by the Persians under Cambyses II in 525 BC. The emerging Persian Empire and the Assyrians were to become the next great powers in the eastern Mediterranean. They owed their rise to two of the most significant inventions in human history: the ability to process iron and the use of horses in war. Soon, they sent armies into the field that were even better organized,
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more numerous, and better equipped. They were to bring war to a new dimension in the Iron Age. But this is a topic for a future video. Thanks again to creative assembly for sponsoring this video. "Total War: Pharao” is now available on Steam. Support our channel and check out the game by clicking the link in the pinned comment or description.
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