1274 - 1200 BC (Of Kings and Gods)

"I destroyed Ramesses at Qadesh, and Egypt fell at my feet. I am the king of the Hittites, the Canaanites and the Lukka. The world is mine to command."

Egyptian-Hittite War (1274-1269)

 * See main article - Battle of Qadesh

Following the stunning Hittite victory at Qadesh, the Hittites turned from defense to offense, marching south into Egyptian territory. With Ramesses dead, the remainders of his army had to retreat, being harassed by the Hittite chariot force all the while. The bulk of the Hittite army, lead by their king Muwatalli II, marched south along the Egyptian coast. Khaemweset, the last surviving Egyptian commander could do nothing to stop the advance, and was instead forced inland. However, despite their predicament, the Egyptians had two advantages. For one, they were on their home territory, and second, their smaller army could reach the densely populated central Canaan faster. With nothing better to do, Khaemweset essentially began a race with Muwatalli, the first wanting to recruit troops, the later bent on conquest.

Ultimately, Khamemweset would arrive first, giving him some footing to defend himself. After an opportunity to increase his still inferior army, he began to move back north. Instead of attacking, or even blocking Muwatalli, the Egyptians instead focused on his chariot force, still separate fro the bulk of his infantry. While this seemingly stupid move lead Muwatalli to continue his advance south, Khaemweset had a trick up his sleeve. The Hittite chariots generally carried three men, while the Egyptians settled for two apiece. Of course, many saw this as a disadvantage for the Egyptians, but Khaemweset saw the value of his more maneuverable units. Using his infantry to trow a wedge between the Hittite soldiers and chariots, which were already 20 miles, Khaemweset deployed his chariots against the Hittites.

The Hittite chariots, commanded by Hattusili III, expected an easy fight, and charged the Egyptians with no regard for strategy or safety. Within minutes, the maneuverability of the Egyptians proved itself, and after being unable to inflict significant causalities, the Hittite were flanked. Despite desperate maneuvering, the Hattusili was simply unable to keep up, and forced to withdraw his forces. In subsequent battles, Hattusili III would be more careful with his troops, but even that was unable to level the playing field against the clever tactics of the Egyptians. However, while Khamemweset was able to maintain a slight edge in terms of chariots, his infantry was often used a little more than a shield, and were presently reduced to mincemeat. Even worse, as it became clear that the Egyptians were putting up a decent fight, Muwatalli pivoted his army, and began to march back north to rejoin Hattusili.

Khamemweset, now in a terrible position, had to pull back. Avoiding the Hittite chariots, the Egyptian army was driven south east, only barely managing to cross back. Now fleeing along the coast, the Egyptians were forced to abandon much of Canaan to the Hittites. With the last vestiges of Egyptian resistance temporarily gone, Muwatalli let his army loose across Canaan. Crushing what minimal resistance Khamemweset left behind, the Hittites sacked multiple cities and gathering what loot they could. To some extent, the Hittites solidified their control over the land near Qadesh, but for the most part, it was mindless chaos. The Egyptians, meanwhile, were struggling to come up with an army - Khamaemweset was a powerful military leader, but hardly a charismatic recruiter. Until 1272, the situation remained largely the same.

In that year, Khamaemweset manged to gather an army large enough to fight Muwatalli on more or less equal footing. The Hittite army, still dispersed in their reveling, initially proved easy targets for the new Egyptian army. Despite being slightly out of practice after a year and a half of minimal combat, the Hittites soon rallied against the new Egyptian threat. In short order, the war dissolved into a series of bloody street battles. At the same time, significant parts of the Canaanite began to join the Hittites, feeling abandoned by the Egyptians, though their contribution probably wasn't significant. By 1260, neither side had made progress, and both began to feel the severe losses.

Finally, in 1269, Egypt, crushed by their losses, opted for peace. the Hittites, also in a weak position after years of combat quickly accepted. The terms were simple: The Hittites would gain some territory and a few key cities, and Egypt would agree not to launch any attacks against the Hittites. Notably, this is the first example of a written international agreement discovered by archeologists. By the end of the year, Hittite forces had withdrawn, leaving Egypt to deal with the unrest the war had caused. In addition the the territorial changes, the conclusion of the war would help Egypt move from its nineteenth to its twentieth dynasty. Meanwhile, the Hittites would strengthen themselves, and effectively gain hegemony over Anatolia and the Levant.

Dynastic Struggle (1271-1268)
As Khaemweset struggled with the Hittites, another person began to rise to power back in Egypt. This was Aksumsa, A distant relative of Ramesses. While at first, hew went about gaining the approval of nobles with some level of subtlety, he soon began to pander directly to the people. It seems important to note that at this point, Khaemweset was still technically Pharaoh, and Aksuma's actions could be considered outright rebellious. However, the Pharaoh was busy in war, and thus, his opponent was able to build up a strong following around him. Most threateningly, he managed to drag several powerful generals over to his side. While he did make sure they war wasn't interfered with, he was calculating enough to ensure he would come out on top when the war ended.

As the war with the Hittites began to die down, Khaemweset was able to focus more of his energy on Aksuma and his schemes. His plan was simple - make him a subdominant by ordering him around, and to start "asked" him to help workout the treaty. However, Aksuma quickly came to understand the Pharaoh's plan, and began to work against him. While records don't tell us much, it seems pretty clear that he manipulated the negotiations to be more favorable to the Hittites. After the blame for the weak treaty was slammed squarely on Khaemweset, he realized that taking down his opponent wouldn't be nearly as easy as he thought. After that incident, he reversed policy. Instead of keeping Aksua close, he would keep him as far away as possible, where he supposedly couldn't cause trouble.

However, Khaemweset had again underestimated Aksuma. As soon as the former returned to Pi-Ramesses, he was greeted with a slew of problems. Everything from unrest in Canaan to crop failure was popping up. Obviously, it's hard to attribute any of this to Aksuma (indeed, his location at the time isn't even known), but because of the sheer amount of problems, it seems fair to say he and his allies where behind at least some of them. In any case, Khaemweset again showed he really couldn't handle administration, by doing nothing to stop any of these problems. In particular, the situation in Canaan began to spiral out of control, forcing some Egyptian troops to try to stabilize the region. Meanwhile, as Khaemweset began to lose the battle, nobles started to embrace Aksuma, again bringing him the the center of the court.

Finally, in 1268, Aksuma made his move. With much of the court and a fair amount of the army under his control, he and his allies stormed Pi-Ramesses in the dead of night. Taken by surprise, Khaemweset could do nothing to stop the advance, and was probably killed in the massacre. In the ensuing days the New Pharaoh began to cement his reign over Egypt. The remaining illoyal court members were deposed of, and supposedly buried in mass graves - a huge insult to their status. Khaemweset was apparently buried in a humble tomb (which remains hidden to the present day) in Pi-Ramesses, a city that was soon abandoned in favor of Luxor. By the end of the year, the new Emperor's reign was secure.

Canaanite Rebellion (1268-1260)
While Aksuma had been brilliant in taking over Egypt, he fell short in actually administering his new Kingdom. Right off the bat, he began to have trouble with the same problems that had put him in power - ironically, the same ones that he had apparently helped create. Soon, he began to try to alleviate the issues, and while he found mild success with agriculture, he crucially ignored the situation in Canaan. Not only were his efforts only being focused on Egypt, but Canaan had been distrustful of Egypt since their war with the Hittites. The rumors that Aksuma had caused their economic problems didn't help either, and nor did the Egyptian troops the new Pharaoh still hadn't removed. By the end of 1268, the Canaanites began to rebel.

Their first rebel attack was against a division of Egyptian troops in a city referred to as Mu-Canac. Instead of attacking the division directly, the Canaanite force dragged the Egyptians into the narrow streets of the city. Now unable to take advantage of the superior size of their army, the Egyptians lost all coherence, and were quickly defeated. After this failure, they rallied and attacked again, but were again repulsed. Mu-Canac would be the first of perhaps a dozen cities to fall from Egypt's grasp before Aksuma could bring his attention to the matter. By the time he did, revolution was raging across the region destroying the forces that hadn't already left the larger cities. Despite the other problems still plaguing his kingdom, Aksuma needed to refocus his attention immediately if he wanted to keep his kingdom intact.

To fight in Canaan, Aksuma raised three armies, one commanded by his brother Caial, the other two by established generals. The plan to retake Canaan was simple. Taking advantage of the lack of coherence among the rebels, the Egyptians would fight city by city, overwhelming them one at a time. However, the rebels had far more coherence than the Egyptians thought, and going city by city was exactly how they wanted the battle to go. As Aksuma raised his armies, the Canaanites began to turn their cities into fortresses. Already, the streets were narrow and hard to navigate, but the rebels made things worse, arbitrarily adding blockades, reinforcing existing walls, and even build new ones. By early 1267, both sides were rearing to fight.

The first Egyptian attack was mounted against a city known as Sigelic, by Caial and his army. Mimicking the tactics they had used at Mu-Canac, the Canaanites forced the battles to the street. Unable to force all his soldiers into the city, Caial was forced to opt for grueling combat, fighting for every house. Finally, after a months worse of fighting, an exhausted Egyptian army declared victory and control over the ruins of Sigelic. While this was heralded in Egypt as a huge victory, it destroyed the moral of Caial's army, and the similar (but less dramatic) experience of the troops in the other two armies had a similar effect. Meanwhile, the jaded remains of the rebel army retreated to another city, planning to defend that one in the same year.

In the coming years, the war would follow the footprint of the first few battles. The Egyptians would take brutal losses until they seized the city, only to repeat the process with the surviving Canaanite defenders and their comrades at the next city. To make matters worse, the Egyptian armies couldn't realistically hold more than three or four cities at once, and were often forced to shore up their defenses, or even reclaim cities. As a final nail in the coffin, Egyptian forces could never advance far north at all, leaving most of Canaan to its own devices, to the joy of its citizens. In 1263, Caial committed suicide. While he was soon replaced, much of his army deserted in the interim. The Egyptians forces were dulled even further by Caial's replacement - his name is lost to history, but he was a terrible general by all accounts.

Meanwhile, as Egypt continued to make no progress in the south of Canaan, the more northern regions were doing rather well for themselves. Aquelci, who would eventually become the first king of Canaan, was already gaining power, helping to organize the defense of various cities. Notably, he began to receive help from the Hittites, who apparently lent him weapons and generals to use. As the war continued to wear on, the Egyptians realized the futility of it, and in 1261 began to negotiate peace. War began to die down, and the Egyptians began to slowly lose up, retreating from their captured cities. Finally, in 1260, Canaan was allowed to go free, though its exact borders (at least at first) remain unclear.

The 20th Dynasty (1268-1251)

 * See main article - Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt''

In essence, the development of the Twentieth dynasty started as soon as Ramesses died at Qadesh. To be sure, Khaemweset was effectively the Pharaoh during his tenure fighting the Hittites in Canaan, but even then, Aksuma was plotting his downfall. Currently, Aksuma's relation to Khaemweset is unknown (hence the dynastic distinction), but he was apparently close enough to have significant influence in the court. That way, he was able to gain allies and influence, as well as create the problems that would eventually force Khaemweset off the throne. By the time of Aksuma's coup, he was already probably more powerful than the sitting Pharaoh - ironically, the coup was mostly a formality.