Egyptian Kingdom vs. Hittite Empire
Research Projects Guidelines
Purpose
This project is intended to offer you a substantive experience in multi level topical research. Activities will involve:
Choosing a topic from the options list below, or suggesting an alternative
Conducting both online and library based research
Generating essay elements as a result of your research.
Topic Options
A. Topic Options
(History) Research the Battle of Kadesh c. 1274 BCE. Egyptian Kingdom vs. Hittite Empire. Considered the first recorded battle in history. Text Reference: page 17
B. Research Component
Read Text Reference section
Conduct additional research online [Google, Wikipedia, or any site you choose]
The following are guidelines that will help you evaluate websites. Review all five and choose one or two that will help you find trustworthy websites. Evaluating the reliability of a website is the goal of this part. Reliability factors will include: Accuracy; Timeliness; and Motivation
Support your web based examination with library based research. You may use the TNCC Library which is fully equipped to help you with academic research. Or, you may use the Hampton City Library or a city or country library nearest your home location. Library research is a required part of the project assignment. On your Works Cited page you will list the books you examined and the name of the library where you found them.
C. Use Research Information to Craft
Title Page
Abstract
Essay [800-1000] words
Works Cited Page [minimum of six cited sources-combination of websites and library based texts and/or journals]
The assignment will utilize both online and library research techniques.
The results of your research will be documented as follows:
1. You will generate an essay abstract, and a comprehensive works cited page in the Modern Language Association [MLA] format.
2. You will write the essay [800-1000 words].
Instructor
Course
Date
Battle of Kadesh
History has served us with a cocktail of battles; great, cruel, unprecedented, or cruel. These battles have been lessons throughout the generations, as they proved pivotal in one way or another. Just in some way, things were never the same again after the war. Wars between kingdoms were a way in which they received fame and popularity. In ancient kingdoms, kings believed that when they won battles, they established strong grounds to continue reigning. Mostly they battled to expand their territories, or reclaim those they had lost in earlier battles. The likes of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, fought famous battles with their arch enemies, the Chi Empire and the Persians respectively, for the purposes of territorial expansion and pride too. Others like the Greek city states fought for their freedom, while the Ottoman Turks were mainly driven by religion .This paper is going to look at the Battle of Kadesh, its causes and the ramifications of its outcome.
The Battle of Kadesh pitted the Egyptian forces against the Hittites. It dates back to the year 1274 .The region, what is commonly known as the Asian Minor, was a hotspot for repeated conquest and constantly changing alliances (Torres).The chief players in the game were the rapidly growing Hittites and the more than 1000-year-old Egyptian Empire. The battle was mainly spurred by the battle of control of the new territories between these two powers. There was a silent struggle between them, for the control of the region around Syria called Kadesh.
At the time of this war, King Ramses had just succeeded his father, Seti 1, as the ruler of the Egyptian empire. He was in his fifth year of reign (Cavillier). Led by king Ramses, the Egyptians crossed Canaan, to the region south of Kadesh, on Orontes River. He intended to make the attack from the east, which is the area near the Mediterranean Sea, up towards the river Orontes. After this, he planned venturing further north into Syria .In this manner, Ramses wanted to follow in the exact footsteps employed by his great great grandfather, Tuthmose 111, a century earlier during his excursions to expand the Egyptian influence into the Middle East.
This played into the hands of the Hittites, led by their king, Muwutallis, who had hoped that the Egyptians would venture deep into their territory, before he launched his offensive. The Hittite king also used two Bedouins, who falsely informed Ramses that the enemy had fled. This led the Egyptian king to drop his guards in a false sense of security. He made the tactical blunder of spreading out his army, while even worse still was the fact that he did not seek further intelligence, instead opting to trust the Bedouin ‘informants.’ The reality was that the enemy was just within striking distance of the Egyptians, and had even once camped where the Egyptian army had.
Logistically, the Egyptian army was well endowed with infantry, but had very ...