Qualla: Battle of Kadesh https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Kadesh https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh Battle of Kadesh: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh/ Photo credit Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0. "No officer was with me, no charioteer, no soldier of the army, no shield-bearer." That is how Ramesses II described his moment of crisis at the Battle of Kadesh around 1274 BC -- alone, surrounded, his army scattered by a Hittite chariot ambush along the Orontes River in what is now western Syria. The pharaoh's own account is, of course, self-serving propaganda carved into temple walls across Egypt. But the sheer volume of documentation makes Kadesh the best-recorded battle of the ancient world, and beneath the bombast lies a real event: two Bronze Age superpowers colliding in a fight that neither could win.

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Image: Roland Unger | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/sy1u-battle-of-kadesh-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Kadesh: The Trap on the Orontes https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh/ Photo credit Publisher New York Ward, Lock, Public domain. Ramesses II led four divisions north toward the fortified city of Kadesh, which the Hittite king Muwatalli II had seized from Egyptian control. The pharaoh's intelligence failed him catastrophically. Hittite agents, posing as deserters, convinced the Egyptians that Muwatalli's fo...

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Image: Publisher New York Ward, Lock | Public domain

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/sy1u-battle-of-kadesh-the-trap-on-the-orontes.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Kadesh: Ramesses Fights Back https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh/ Photo credit Unknown, published in 1879, Public domain. What happened next depends on whom you believe. In Ramesses's version, the pharaoh called upon the god Amun, mounted his chariot, and charged into the Hittite ranks with his personal guard and whatever survivors from the routed divisions he could rally. "I was before them like Se...

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Image: Unknown, published in 1879 | Public domain

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/sy1u-battle-of-kadesh-ramesses-fights-back.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Kadesh: Two Versions of Victory https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh/ Photo credit Public domain. Ramesses declared Kadesh a personal triumph -- and he made certain the world knew it. The battle was recorded in two literary forms, the Poem and the Bulletin, inscribed at least fifteen times across temples in Abydos, Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel, and the Ramesseum. No other ancien...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/sy1u-battle-of-kadesh-two-versions-of-victory.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Kadesh: The First Great Peace https://qualla.com/battle-of-kadesh/ Photo credit Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0. Neither empire could break the other. Muwatalli II campaigned as far south as the Egyptian province of Upi, placing his brother Hattusili (the future Hattusili III) in control. Egypt's Asian sphere of influence shrank to Canaan. The stalemate eventually produced something unprece...

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Image: Dennis G. Jarvis | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/1/u/battle-of-kadesh-wp/sy1u-battle-of-kadesh-the-first-great-peace.mp3 0:06 5 full