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."

"The Kings before me have died, their reigns were weak. They allowed Egypt to fall into ruin, greed to take what it wanted from our land, and the black turn to red. But those before me were mere kings - I am a god, and gods never die."

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 Aksuma, 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 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.

Of course, the Twentieth Dynasty would start off rocky. Not only did they face the Canaanite rebellion (See section above), but numerous other problems also plagued the kingdom. Notably, agriculture had fallen apart during Khaemweset's reign, largely due to economic sabotage by Aksuma and his allies. So, as Egyptian troops died by their thousands in Canaan, several famines happened concurrently to that fiasco. In all likelihood, these famines destroyed Egypt's many chances to end the Canaanite rebellion. At one point, it got bad enough that a coup was attempted against Aksuma. While it wasn't successful, it only made problems worse for the new Pharaoh, and he soon found it next to impossible to trust anyone. This coup did have a silver lining though - it gave Aksuma a lot of motivation to improve his nations (and his own) standing.

With a motivated Aksuma at Egypt's helm, even as the war wore on, there were a few bright spots. For one, the famines were slowly alleviated. This wasn't due to luck, in fact, one of Aksuma's main focuses, even during the war, was agriculture. To start with, he began to change the structure. From now on, the Pharaoh and his bureaucrats would decide what could be grown were. While at first this was unpopular, yields began to increase dramatically across the Nile. To make the system even more efficient, Aksuma created distribution networks, essentially mapping out where each city would get its food from. In tandem with the reforms, the Pharaoh instituted a new system for taxes, sometime that had been neglected by Khaemweset. The new taxes were slightly higher, but also better distributed and collected, giving Egypt a source of revenue that would stay stable for several centuries.

However, as other areas of Egyptian society began to improve, the Canaanite rebellion remained in full swing. Not only did it devour thousands of Egyptian troops, but it was a major drag on Egypt's economy. Furthermore, the Egyptian army seemed to make no progress against the Canaanites, and couldn't really control any significant territory. By 1262, the only momentum on the Egyptian side was a small but powerful group of nobles who simply couldn't stand to see the territory go. At first, Aksuma attempted to negotiate with this branch, but when it became clear they would never give up, he sily negotiated behind their backs. None of that group would discover the negotiations until peace had been made. Shortly after making peace and giving the Canaanites independence, Aksuma died and was replaced by his son, Suamweset.

After Suamweset's ascent, Egypt began to revert to business as usual. While the changes Aksuma were notable, they hardly disrupted the fabric of Egyptian society, and were thus quickly accepted. Following in his father's footsteps, Suamweset did try to contribute his own ideas during his first few years as Pharaoh. For one, he strengthened the system that distributed food by city, mandating crude population counts of major cities to better measure how much food was needed for each. In addition, he started to take a hard line against the still young Canaanite state. He banned Egyptians from trading with Canaanites, and even organized small raids along the border. While these small gestures did a lot to garner favor, he never went beyond petty raids, fearing the same situation that had allowed that Canaan independence in the first place.

After the first year of his reign, and the minor improvements he made, Suamwest's remaining three years as Pharaoh would be marked by constant failure. This largely started when north African nomads began to raid the western reaches of his empire. At first, these were minor affairs, often driven off by only a few chariots, but soon they began to get worse and worse. Raids would often destroy entire small towns, and the Egyptian forces became spread thinner and thinner. Suamweset did little to stop this, only moving troops when pressure from his generals began to mount. By that time, the raids had already grown much worse, and the new arrivals also proceed insufficient. In addition to letting his frontier fall apart, Suamweset also had another failure: He and his wife were unable to conceive a child. This soon became a problem, as a Pharaoh without an heir could prove destructive when he died.

As the Pharaoh continued to fumble around, his brother Tutemef began to plot. Knowing the court was slowly abandoning Suamweset, he began to gather allies, in a similar manner to his father. In 1256, he and his allies stormed Luxor, killing Suamweset and much of his court. However, Tutemef had not counted on how loyal certain elements of the army were to his brother, and what was meant to be a coup soon erupted into a small scale war. Suamweset's forces, no controlled by a few loyal generals retook Luxor, forcing Tutemef out. After resettling in Memphis, the new Pharaoh repeatedly try to take the former capital to no avail. As a matter of fact, Luxor would remain a stronghold until 1249, two years into the 21st dynasty, despite huge huge efforts dedicated to trying to crack it.

Again following in the footsteps of his father, Tutemef failed to deal with the problems that he had Stolen from his predecessor. For one, he had dragged a huge portion of the troops away from the raids. While the raids had been slowing, they had never ceased to be a huge problem, and now worsened again. This was only worsened by an assassination attempt on Tutemef only three months into his reign. This would essentially destined to spend the rest of his reign politicking, trying to combat the growing coalition against him. Towards the end of his reign, he eventually started to refuse to leave the presence of his guards, and never went outside memphis. In the end, his paranoia became a self fulfilling prophecy, and he was deposed of with no heir, signaling the start of the twenty first dynasty.

The 21st Dynasty (1251-End of the Century)

 * See main article - Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt

As Tutemef's reign continued to fall apart, Ramkesa, a noble from Heliopolis, began to plot against him. Tutemef was getting more and more paranoid every day, and shutting himself off. Even potential allies found the Pharaoh hard to reach, and thus had no idea how to defend him from the plots of other nobles. In the meantime, what little control Tutemef still had fell away, and as he gained influence, Ramkesa began to fill the void. As more and more soldiers became loyal to Ramkesa, the a coup was planned. Ironically, despite his extreme paranoia, Tutemef never saw it coming. During a visit to Memphis, Ramkesa simply killed the Pharaoh himself, as Egyptian soldiers loyal to him destroyed what little remained of the 20th dynasty. Within days, the last vestiges of the 20th dynasty was destroyed, and Ramkesa ascended the throne.

With the competent Ramkesa now at the throne, Egypt was finally able to deal with its problems. Not only was the population on his side, but with the politicking Tutemef gone, Ramkesa could now actually deploy the vast resources of Egypt. His first priority was the marauding Africans that were still attacking Egypt's westernmost regions. Unlike his predecessor, Ramkesa was able to rally a huge portion of the Egyptian army to fight back. As soon as the Egyptians arrived, the situation improved drastically. The raiders were hardly equipped to fight an organized army, much less a chariot based one. After all, most of the raiders were in it for the easy loot. After only a few months of fighting the raids ended, with massive causalities for the raiders, and very few for the Egyptians. With his borders secured, Ramkesa could now look inward.

When Ramkesa had ascended to become Pharaoh, the Egyptian court had been a mess. Not only were some troops and nobles in Luxor still loyal to the long dead Suamweset, dozens other were split between less powerful contenders for the throne. While this problem had to be put off to fight the western raiders, Ramkesa no settled the issue brutally. His army, now battle hardened (relatively speaking) returned to Memphis to begin its work. In January of 1250, Ramkesa started a purge of every noble or priest who wasn't loyal to him. While he started with those who actually competed for the throne, he soon moved onto their cronies and allies. Meanwhile, as his court was purged, Luxor was sacked, destroying any remaining loyalty to Suamweset and the no obliterated 20th dynasty. By March, the killings slowed, and they were no onto the lower levels of the court - bureaucrats and low ranked military commanders. By June, anyone who wasn't loyal to Ramkesa was long gone, giving the new Pharaoh a huge measure of control over the court.

Now equipped with more or less unilateral control over Egypt, Ramkesa began to manufacture what he wanted done. To start with, he began to open up to Canaan. He was essentially the first Pharaoh to realize they couldn't take the region back by force, he decided to take what he could and trade with the nation. While both sides had tariffs and taxes, it did a lot to build trust between the two nations. In addition the trade had an ulterior motive - Ramkesa wanted to minimize Hittite influence in Canaan. Said influence was basically untouchable in the north, but he could at least generate some good will in the south. Interested in trade as he was, Ramkesa also allowed some limited trade with the Hittites, albeit heavily taxed. Furthermore, there are even records of Egyptians goods making their way to Greece, and some have even been found, though how they got there is unknown.

Finally, noting the mistakes of his two most recent predecessors, Ramkesa ensured that he had an heir. Not only did he have a wife (Gilheot), who had a son, but he had plenty of concubines. During his reign, he always maintained a list of his sons (from both his wife and his concubines) in the order of most preferred to take the throne. The first son on the list would take the throne by default, the second only if the first couldn't, the third is the first and second couldn't and so forth. By the end of his reign, it was estimated he had 50 or more sons, all of them having their place should it be needed. These measures, while arguably an overkill, proved successful, and when Ramkesa died in 1239, he was seceded by his eldest son Kelamwesfre with almost no trouble. Kelamwesfre would inherit a successful kingdom, powerful and stable, and a dynasty that would last well over a hundred years.

As soon as Kelamwesfre became Pharaoh, he began to work with the cities of his nation. Most dramatically, he moved the capital again, this to Heliopolis, where it would remain until the end of the dynasty. Meanwhile, he began to rebuild two cities - Luxor and Pi-Ramesess, the latter now known as Ramesopolis. Luxor had been more or less destroyed when it was sacked by Rameska, while Ramesopolis had been abandoned since the death of Khaemweset, so the Pharaoh was starting from scratch for both of them. Luxor was updated with three massive obelisks at its center (later dedicated to Ramkesa, Kelamwesfre, and Kelamwesfre's son, Halituren), and large central markets, restoring it to prominence. Meanwhile, Ramesopolis was designed to be more of a military station. Its strategic location made it perfect for this, and it would later become the military capital of Egypt.

However, on other fronts, Kelamwesfre would not follow his father's example at all. This was best exemplified by his alleged attacks on Canaan. The attacks are actually something of a mystery - while there is certainly evidence of fighting, trade doesn't seem to have slowed down, and may have even expanded. Meanwhile, minimal records exist of it, and no writings can be found attributing the attacks to Kelamwesfre. Most now believe that these battles were the result of unruly generals, which makes sense, considering the Pharaoh had a reputation for letting his generals run wild. Regardless of the situation with Canaan, Kelamwesfre was able to follow his father's example for his heir. After he died, the transition was again smooth, and Halituren took the throne with no problems in 1232.

As soon as he arrived in Heliopolis (previously, he had been in Luxor), Halituren began to work out the flaws in the still growing dynasty. The first item of business was to bring the army more closely under the Pharoah's control. Their new station in Ramesopolis has given them a large degree of independence from the Pharaoh and his allies Heliopolis, thus leading to the problems Kelamwesfre had run into. To solve this problem, Halituren ordered the highest ranking commanders to live in the capital, leaving their armies in the control of their aids. This meant they could only dispatch armies under the direct command of the Emperor. For the first few years, lower ranked commanders were still unruly, but they caused far less trouble than the generals, and Halituran's brutal discipline eventually sent a clear message.

With the the army under his belt, Halituren did little else to complete his reign, despite the length of it. While trade would generally increase, it's hardly far to attribute it to the Pharaoh - not only would it have happened anyway, but there are no records of him supporting it, even with words. In addition, a few Egyptian forts in Arabia were known to be made during his reign, though their importance is unknown - it's likely they were just for trade, though they did actively defended these small colonies. Halituren's reign ends in a bit of a mystery. While he was getting old, some records show that his son (who became Pharaoh after him), Nestrafarset killed him. This seems to be plausible, as all record is Nestrafarset show him to be militant, but no solid records can be found. Either way, however Nestrafarset ascended the throne, it's clear it wasn't destabilizing to Egypt, and the nation remained on its relatively positive trajectory.

All that is really known about Nestrafarset's reign is his militarism (Incidentally, that's probably also why so little is known - he wasn't one to sponsor the arts). While forts in Arabia began to appear under his father's reign, it was Nestrafarset who actually began to expand into the peninsula. Small Egyptian settlements appear on the Arabian coast, generally like supported by a small garrison. In addition, Egyptian soldiers tried to fight off Arabian nomads. For the most part, they were successful, though some small Egyptian settlements were raided in retribution. Meanwhile, sporadic attacks continued against Canaan, though this didn't really slow the trade to the region. By the end of his reign, Nestrafarset had expanded his nation significantly, and when he died in 1198, Egypt was well on its way to restoring it to its glory before the Battle of Qadesh.

Fighting in Lukka (1261-1214)
The Hittite victory at Qadesh and their subsequent victory over Egypt in Canaan made the nation nearly unstoppable. While Egypt withdrew into the Twentieth Dynasty, Muwatalli II continued to build his nation. Since it's inception, the Hittite Empire had effectively controlled south-eastern Anatolia, and periodically held influence over other swaths of the region. By 1274 (The traditional date of the Battle of Qadesh) The Hittites were the pseudo-superpower in the region, having some level of influence over the entire peninsula. as a result, after his war with Egypt, Muwatalli was able to spend the remainder of his reign (until 1265) increasing Hittite influence over Anatolia, mostly via tirade and military force.

By the time of Muwatalli's death in 1265, a vast portion of Anatolia, as well as parts of Canaan were under Hittite control. However, his successor Tudhaliya was left with one huge thorn in his side - The Lukkan lands in south east Anatolia. Even as Hittite influence around them only increased, the Lukka remained resilient, refusing to help the Hittites at all. Twice during his reign, in 1269 and again in 1266, Muwatalli had sent a limited contingent of troops to bring the Lukka into the sphere of Hittite influence. Both these efforts failed, and so Tudhaliya was left with the Lukka largely independent. After cementing Hittite control over a few regions in Northern Anatolia in the first four years of his reign, he decided to take on Lukka once and for all.

The Hittite royalty and populace were both supportive of this measure, and soon Tudhaliya had an army of perhaps 5000 soldiers with 1000 of them in around 350 chariot under the command of his brother Armanliya. The Hittite army arrived in Lukka in either late April or early Map, a few months into campaign season in the temperate Anatolia. As soon as the campaign started, it started to crush the Hittites. The Lukka, while less organized, were almost impossible to catch. Repeatedly trying to set up a set piece battle, Armanliya was instead harassed by Lukkan chariots, and then ambushed when ranks were broken to respond. Throughout the summer, the Hittites hobbled around Lukka, taking heavy losses without being able to stage a battle, moral crumbling all around.

Making the whole matter worse was how useless the Hittite chariots were. Traditionally, the three man chariots would be used against infantry, not competing with the more nimble two man chariots of the Egyptians and other Hittite rivals. However, without a stable base of Infantry to fight, the Hittite had no counter to the faster and deadlier Lukkan chariots. The dilemma was perfect: if the Hittites pursued the Lukkan chariots, they would be ambushed and more chariots would attack the Hittite infantry, but if they didn't the Lukka could lob javelins at them all day long. However, despite their apparent uselessness, the chariots were kept around, possibly because they were two expensive to justify abandoning. By the end of the summer, a pitched battle still hadn't been fought, and the Hittites began to consider retreating with no substantial gains.

However, the Lukka had other ideas. Over the course of the summer, the Hittite army had been whittled down to perhaps 60 percent of its original side, and wanting to deal a death blow against the weakened force, the Lukka began to prepare a set battle. In doing so, they ignored their huge advantage against the Hittites - ambushes. They didn't even work one into the battle plan, relying on their numerically superior force. As such, when confronted for the first time with an actual Lukkan formation, with no ambush to hold him back, Armanliya knew exactly what to do. The Hittite chariots cut apart the Lukkan lines, allowing the Hittites to advance in the confusion. within a half hour, the Lukka were forced back, and the campaign could end on a high note for the Hittites.

Following the success of 1261, Tudhaliya didn't return in force until 1253. In the meantime, small bands of Hittite troops roamed the Lukkan lands, ambushing the Lukka, and on occasion raiding villages. It was surprisingly rare for these groups to actually decisively win a battle, but they did wear down the Lukka significantly. In addition this marks the first time the Hitties would use two man chariots, which would be much more effective in Lukka. As the end of Tudhaliya's reign began to approach, a fair amount of tactics for the Hittites in Lukka had been developed, and the troops there were much better at both navigating and battling in the region. Feeling confident that he could actually make minor gains this time, Tudhaliya again had troops venture into Lukka, this time lead by Devitala.

This attack would last five years, longer than the first, and would bleed into Devitala's reign (He was the heir to Tudhaliya). This time, the Hittites were much more prepared, and knew the area due to the extensive cartography over the last eight years. As a result, their tactics had improved drastically. For one, they had adopted two man chariots. Not only did this allow them to combat the Lukkan tactics, but it also allowed them to give chase without fearing ambush to the same extent. Without the advantage of more nimble chariots and ambushes, the Lukka were forced to fight in larger groups, leading to the exact kinds of battles the Hittites could overwhelm them in, and where their remaining three man chariots could dominate. It was now the Lukka who were in a Dilemma: They couldn't not confront the superior Hittite army, but if they did, they would be destroyed.

After years of fighting, the Hittites started to feel the burden of war as well. While they were dominating, fielding such a large force was expensive, and Lukkan resistance was slowly adapting the the more effective tactics. By 1250, they were starting to feel bogged down, despite the fact that the Lukka were all but devastated. Finally, after two more years of fighting, Devitala recognized there was no future in continuing that attack, and asked for a truce which was quickly accepted - the Lukka were exhausted too. Instead, he had the king of the Lukka (no known name) agree to become a subject of the Hittites, and by proxy, the Lukkan people did as well. Practically, this made only a small difference, but it did prevent further fighting, and when combined with substantial payment and some land, it was a clear victory for the Hittites, and allowed them to remain miles ahead of Egypt.

After that victory, the fighting slowed, even skipping the entire 20 year reign of Alecedyi, who instead focused on domestic issues, solidifying control over other areas of the empire, and war with Assyria. However, when Muwatalli III took the throne, he ignited the war again in 1228. From 1228 to 1220 or so, he merely sponsored raiding against the nation. However, in 1220, fighting broke out for real, this time between two opponents well prepared to fight each other. As the war dragged on, it started to look as if it would go the same way as Devitala's reign, woth both sides wearing each other down to nothing. Both sides began to slow down from exhaustion around the 4 year mark. But Muwatalli had one more trick to fight with - a new and brutal general, called Cralliya.

Immediately, Cralliya set to work. Already famed for his brutality, he made good on his reputation by starting to raze Lukkan towns. Previously, the Hitties had been unwilling to do this, not wanting to alienate their future subjects. Cralliya, not concerned with such things, saw the other side - this utter destruction forced something the Hittites wanted badly: a set piece battle, many of them in fact. Even after being repeatedly defeated in said battles, the Lukka still had to respond with a battle to defend their villages, and quickly started to collapse. The Lukka Couldn't even ambush the Hitties anymore, as they had long learned how to avoid those, and simply shrugged them off with minor causalities As the Hittites tore across Lukka, it was all they could do to hold on, much less effectively fight back. Finally in 1213, the Lukka surrendered.

This time, Muwatalli III ensured the Lukka wouldn't cause trouble again. He deposed of all of their nobles, going as far to assassinate distant cousins living in Egypt and Canaan, making sure no one had a claim to the throne. He sold every Lukkan soldier into slavery he could into slavery, taking their weapons and pocketing the profits in the process. Most effective of all, more villages razed as warning, with survivors being allowed to spread toe story across the land. Solidifying this change of power were the garrisons, each holding around 100 Hittite troops, that were set up across Lukka to deal with any potential uprisings. After garrisons were set up across the country, it was unquestionably a Hittite territory, and they were beaten so badly they would actually be one of the last areas to rebel when the Empire finally collapsed.

Relations and Trade with Canaan (1268-End of the Century)
As soon a second rebellion broke out in Canaan, Muwatali went head over heels to help the rebels and continue to beat on his already weakened enemy. As fighting broke out in the southern cities, Hittite merchants began to arrive in the north in great numbers, excited about new government sponsored trade. Not only did they bring generic trading items, but weapons were provided to groups of Canaanites who then moved south the fight. Indeed, it is thought that's much of the early Canaanite resistance was organized primarily by the Hittites, and at least three of their generals almost certainly commanded sections of the Canaanite defense. To Muwatali's delight, Egyptians knew nothing of this, and presumed that the Canaanites were fighting without external help, which prevented them from taking action against the Hittites, even though they didn't have any resources or capacity to do so.

As the war dragged on, the Canaanites still received aid from the Tudhaliya, though the Hittite king still refused to directly help. However, in the last years of the war, Hittite men did vollenteer to help, though it was discouraged by the generals for fear of the Egyptians finding out. The Egyptians never found out, though they did capture a few Hittite troops - they merely assumed the Hittites were merchants who had ended up in the city during the battle, or something of the like. Instead of fighting, the Hittites focused on helping Aquelci claim power of Canaan and build up the structures of the nation. Aquelci, glad for the help, soon fell under the influence of the Hittites, and when he claimed the kingship of Canaan, he would more or less be a Hittite puppet, cementing their influence in the region for centuries to come.

After the Canaanite rebellion, the alliance between the Hittites and Canaanites was solidified. To start with, both sides contributed militarily to the other. The alliance started as an agreement between Aquelci and Tudhaliya after the latter had assisted with the defeat of the Egyptian. Instead of withdrawing the generals the Hittites had let the Canaanites used, it was instead proposed that they would remain in Canaan and assist with the development of of he latter's military. Eventually, this would lead to an arrangement in which the Hittites provided commanders to lead Canaanite troops, while the Hittites got occasional use of said armies. In addition, both sides had troops stationed in each others nations, generally in areas were the had interest, but also to assist with defense of borders and even in wars.

Across the centuries, this alliance would pay off in many way. For example, Nomadic and Egyptian raids against Canaan were partially fended off by the Hittite troops garrisoned in Canaan, while Hittite troops got the same benefit in their nation. Meanwhile, the Hittite campaigns against the Lukka would be reinforced by Canaanite troops in almost every battle, with some battles apparently saved by these auxiliaries. It was even the Canaanites who helped develop the Hittite version of the two man chariot that proved so effective in Lukka. Later on, Canaanite troops would be recorded during the Hittite war in Assyria, and when Hittite collapsed, Canaanite troops would be some of the last defenders of the Hittite remnant. However, despite their military cooperation, it would arguably be the least important part of the alliance between them, at least in the long term.

The other, and perhaps more crucial part of the alliance, would be the trade it facilitated. The bedrock for this had been set while the Canaanites fought against Egypt. Not only did the Hittites trade with the Canaanites, but to get supplies to the fighting, semi-permanent trade routes from north to south were established. As the war ended, these became more open to Merchants traveling across Canaan, and even between Egypt and the Hittites. Eventually, two routes, became well established - Arawa, which travel from north to south along the coast, and the Iskallai inland route. The later route was further divided into northern and southern routes, Kessar and Kikla, respectably. Judging by the Hittites names, it is likely these routes were created and maintained by the Hittites, a testament to their influence and strength in the area.

And their influence payed off in a big way. To start with relations between the Hittites and Egyptians had always been icy, but with the trade routes stationed in an independent state in between them, said routes and the Canaanites could serve as a middle man. Both the Egyptians and Hittites liked this arrangement, but considering how aligned the later was with the Canaanites, it soon became clear that they had the advantage. Of course, there was nothing the Egyptians could do to change this, so they continued trade, which was still profitable despite unfavorable conditions. Military arrangement would also come into play here, as it allowed the trade routes to be defended by all interested parties and secure trade for centuries to come, even after the collapse of all the originally involved states.

Battle of Niḫriya and War with Assyria (1237-1230)

 * For more information see: The Battle of Niḫriya

As the Hittite focused on Western Anatolia, mostly Lukka, they began to ignore Mitanni, a declining empire to their east. Instead of focusing any significant resources, Tudihaliya and Devitala both made the mistake of sending only token forces to the region, allowing the Assyrians to take the brunt of the fighting in the declining empire. For the first ten years of his reign, Alacediy maintained the same mistake. However, in early 1237 after the Mitanni Empire had essentially collapsed the situation changed drastically. One of the small bands of Hittite soldiers got into a skirmish with the Assyrians. It is lost to history who started it, but it prompted the Assyrians to destroy the remaining Hittite armies in Mitanni and start to rush towards the eastern border of the Hittite Empire.

After that miscalculation, Alacediy had no real choice but to bring his armies around the the east, abandoning a substantial portion of his border operations and his planed invasion of Lukka. Estimating that the Assyrians would have around 14,000 soldiers, pretty much the maximum they could field on that front, Alacediy brought up 20,000 troops to fight, with 10,000 more lagging behind. With the decisive numerical advantage being built up in just under a month, the Hittites were fairly confident of victory. Not only did they have numerical strength, but they would be fighting a pitched battle - far more in their element than the sporadic and unorganized fighting in Lukka and western Anatolia. As the Assyrians closed in, the main Hittite army set up in the border city of Niḫriya, with the 10,000 extra soldiers on their extreme southern flank.

Having arrived at Niḫriya before the Assyrians, the Hittites had a fair amount of time to dig in. Lacking large amounts of chariots, they instead threw together crude earthworks and other fortifications to minimize the effect of the Assyrian's chariots. In addition, a fair amount of their army retreated into the city itself, hiding their surplus troops and making their army seem only about the size of the Assyrian force. When the Assyrians arrived, they thought they had an advantage, and charged the Hittite lines. Quickly, the Chariot attack was blunted by the fortifications, and the Assyrian infantry was soon fighting alone. With the Assyrian chariots gone, the remainder of the Hittite force joined the fight from Niḫriya, turning the battle into a rout. Without a chance to win the Assyrians wisely withdrew, minimizing their losses, but still knocking their army off balance.

The Assyrians, now fleeing, soon felt the full power of the Hittite force. As Alacediy had predicted, a portion had fled south along the border, hoping to flank the Hittites that way. They of course ran into the yet undeployed Hittite troops, and where pushed back into Mitanni. Within days, fighting had erupted across the entire border, with the Assyrians on the losing end. Their strategy, especially after being badly beaten at Niḫriya and realizing how out numbered they were, was to minimize causalities. While this was a noble goal, it allowed their armies to be pushed around, and they were soon divided into several major groups, spread out across the Hittite border. By the end of the year, the groups were largely cut off from each other, as well as any major Hittite city, permanently blunting their attack against the Hittite homeland.

Now that his border was secured, Alacedyi began to pull back some of his troops. Not only was maintaining such a large army against a relatively small power unnecessary and expensive, but having excess troops in Mitanni meant that the other Hittite borders would be weaker. In addition, the Kassites in Babylonia had started their own invasion directed at the core of Assyrian territory, meaning the Assyrains couldn't focus much energy on their conquest of Mitanni. By the middle of 1236, about 15,000 Hittite troops remained in Mitanni, compared to about 14,000 Assyrians. However, this understates the advantage the Hittites had - after Niḫriya, more Hittite chariots had arrived, while the Assyrians couldn't replace their own. With a decisive advantage secured, Alacedyi began to push his army into Mitanni.

Immediately, the massive advantages of the Hittites became apparent. Because do the chariots lining both Hittite flanks and serving as scouts, it soon became all but impossible from the Assyrians to mount a successful attack. As a result, unless they got the Infantry alone, they still had to avoid direct confrontation, lest they suffer irreplaceable casualties. This gave the Hittites almost free rein over Mitanni, and they had soon captured the few major cities in the area. By the end of 1236, their only trouble was actually catching the Assyrians to fight a battle with them. To be sure, the Hittites were still inflicting heavy losses to the Assyrians, but because of the fighting in Assyria itself, they knew a solid victory would likely put Mitanni under their control. In late 1233, they finally achieved this, cutting apart the Assyrian army and forcing them out of Mitanni for good.

Mitanni, now wrestled from Assyrian control, would soon be absorbed into the Hittite Empire. Meanwhile, the Hittites renewed their attack, this time directly at Assyria. Already plagued with the troubles fighting on two fronts, the Assyrians had no way to handle both of those fronts becoming attacks on their core territory. As soon as the Assyrians stopped maintaining their strategy of minimizing causalities, they were done for, as minimizing causalities against the Hittites had been the only thing that allowed them to fight the Kassites for their homeland effectively. Worse still, they had no other viable option, and all their diplomatic efforts were rejected. In 1230, the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta was killed, marking the end to their resistance. The Hittites inherited Mitanni while the Kassites received the core Assyrian territories.

Dynastic Change (1213-1212)
Despite the massive expansion successes of the New Kingdom up to that point, after decades of wars, they found themselves starved both economically and politically by Muwatalli's ascension. However, instead of focusing on stabilizing his reign, Muwatalli instead spent much of his time fighting in Lukka and western Anatolia. While both of these wars were successful, they were enormously expensive. In addition, Muwatalli's frequent absence from court made it harder than it should have been to collect taxes, making it harder to pay the costs of war, and forcing the treasury to be quickly extinguished. Making matters worse, Muwatalli had no heirs upon his death in 1214, leaving the future of the nation unclear.

Immediately, several candidate rose to try to take the throne. The first was Cralliya, the general who had sealed the Hittite victory in Lukka. Other powerful people who wanted the throne where Zidanta, a local leader in Hatti, the core of the Hittite Empire, and Ken-wal, the now widowed wife of Muwatalli. Cralliya, with control of most active Hittite armies, seemed to be the most powerful city candidate, but both Zidanta and Ken-Wal had extensive political connections and allies. The first play was made only a month after Muwatalli's death. Zidanta tried to have Ken-Wal assassinated, using what few soldiers where u dear his control, and his contacts to access the palace she was staying in. The attempt failed, but she was forced to flee west, where she was quickly prompted to align herself with Cralliya and his armies.

After that, it seemed Zidanta had miscalculated severally. Both of his opponents where now against him, processing military power and allies beyond his own. However, one Advantage still remained - Zidanta still controlled the core Hittite territory, while his opponents were camped with their army in the outer reaches of the empire. Moreover, a small portion of Cralliya's army was more loyal to Zidanta - there was too few of them to actually rebel, but they could make the logistics more or less impossible to manage effectively, giving Aidanat time to raise an army should it come to actual combat. For the time being though, neither side had either the will or the ability to fight each other directly, and instead exchanged assassination attempts and small raids.

For six months of assassination attempts and failed political maneuvering, the struggle finally turned more decisively in Zidanta's favor. Cralliya's extended camp on the Hittite border ha dbegun to provoke a response from the local Arzawa people, who began to constantly raid his camp. For a full month, he tried to fight the attacks off without breaking camp, and did so successfully. However, as time wore on, Cralliya began to lose a lot of men. Not only was this weakening his chances in a potential battle against Zidanta's growing forces, but it was personally disturbing to the general to let his men die without retribution. Finally, after two months of attacks, and three assassination attempts from Zidanta, Cralliya decided to stop fighting for the throne, and campaign against the Arazawa. He sent an envoy to lead by Ken-Wal Hattusa, where Zidanta was based, to inform him.

Immediately, Ken-Wal was imprisoned, and the other soldiers in the envoy killed. Soon afterwards, Zidanata announced that Cralliya had decided to campaign, effectively leaving the kingship to him. While some of the generals allies where uncomfortable with this, they didn't have much ground to argue, and conceded to Zidanta. Now, more or less recognized as king, Zidanta started to cut apart what little remained of Cralliya's faction. Those who remained loyal to him where killed, and even some of those who had been coopted into the existing court where quietly killed, or sent to the far reaches of the Empire. As the General continued to crush the Arazawa, his system was completly dismantled. However, he was very successful in Arzawa - he even forced them out of a huge swath of territory, expanding the Hittite empire and returning a hero.

Upon Cralliya's return from campaign, Zidanta was faced with a dilemma. He couldn't simply kill the popular general, but he worried that he might regain allies now that he was back. He started to do everything in his power to prevent this. While he let Cralliya stay in Hattusa briefly, he soon assigned him to a remote, quite outpost, explaining to the court that Cralliya wanted to remain in combat, but deserved a quieter location. Months later, a raid that was supposedly organized by Zidanta would hit that outpost, killing Cralliya. With his main opponent gone, Zidanta finished the job by killing the still imprisoned Ken-Wal. With those two gone, Zidanta had no competition for the throne, and became the King of the Hittites, marking the beginning of the Late Kingdom.

Conquest of Assyria (1236-1229)
As the Assyrians used their army to cut across Mitanni, tensions began to increase with the Kassites in Babylon. The Kassites had been well established in Mesopotamia for centuries, and viewed the Assyrians as mere upstarts. It went the other way too; The Assyrians regularly attacked the Kassites, though this was mostly limited to border skirmishes. However, the Kassites saw the activity in Mitanni as a dramatic increase in Assyrian power, or at least will to use it. By the time the Hittites got themselves wrapped up in the conflict, the Kassites king had already started to gather his resources. The Battle of Niḫriya was viewed as an excuse to attack, but the attack was delayed a year, until the Kassites were sure the Hittites wouldn't take care of it themselves. Thus, the Kassite attack began in 1236, under the command of Akron of Babylon.

At the time, most active Assyrian troops where engaged fighting the Hittites. Only around 2,000 where left in Assyria itself, giving the 12,000 strong Kassite army a enormous initial advantage. However, instead of trying to deliver a devastating blow, the Kassites focused most of their energy on small raids and harassment of various borders. To be sure, the attacks that Akron thought of as small were nearly overwhelming to the Assyrians. Still, the Assyrian army hung on, and over the summer began to reinforce itself. As the army swelled to 4,000, and then 6,000, and possibly as much as 8,000, the Kassites abruptly decided to switch strategies. They quickly ended their raids, and moved into a series of pitched battles against the Assyrians. However, the armies where now more or less evenly matched, and while the Kassites won and secured some territory, it was nothing like the crushing victory it might have been.

After the summer of 1236, both sides had an opportunity to reinforce themselves, and both sides swelled to around 14,000 troops, with the Kassites probably having a slight edge. The combat started with a massive counter attack from the Assyrians. Using almost all their chariots, as well as a huge portion of their manpower, they threw themselves at several key locations. The rick was enormous, the the Assyrians neglected their front in Mitanni in the process, but they felt the need to defend their homeland first. The Kassites were caught off guard, but quickly regained their balance. What was supposed to be a fast and surgical attack quickly devolved into chaos. Both sides took devastating causalities, but the Kassites mostly held their ground. The attack concluded with the recapture of two Assyrian cities; small gains for the staggering casualty count.

After wearing down the Assyrian attack, the Kassites generals recognized an opportunity. Their opponents where exhausted, having been on the offensive for so long, while the Kassites armies where in much better shape. Not wanting to waste another oppertunity like they had in 1236, the Kassites mounted a huge assault, throwing their entire weight behind it. As predicted, the exhausted Assyrians could barely defend themselves, much less seal the enourmous gaps Akron had punched into their lines. The following months were a bloodbath, as the Kassites ripped across the landscape destroying everything in their path. At least 4 significant cities where sacked, and the Assyrian capital itself barely survived a siege attempt. This devastation lasted throughout 1235 and 1234, but would come to screeching halt in the spring of 1233.

The Assyrians had finally found competent leadership in Sargon, the same General that had fought the Hittites at Niḫriya. Knowing there was no way to fight the rampaging Kassites army, he instead launched a brutal attack on their supply lines. As soon as the lines where cut, Akron felt the freest on his army. Food instantly ran short, and it became impossible to send the wounded and dead home. Worse still, the army had long since been divided up, in groups as small as 1,000 scattered across Assyria. With no their otpion, Akron rallied his army and marched south to fight Sargon for the supply lines, despite being at an awesome disadvantage. Luckily for the Kassites, Sargon had miscalculated. Thinking the Kassites army was dramatically bigger than it was, he engaged only briefly before slipping away. Akron reclaimed his supply lines, but his offensive action was blunted.