ancient Egypt

The military history of ancient Egypt spanned three millennia, spanning the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. There were developments in technology, organization, fortification, and in battle itself, although the hieratic pictures on temple walls convey a timelessness in which the pharaohs are shown seizing and dispatching their enemies. One thing that did not change was the economic and strategic situation of the Egyptian civilization: its wealth was based upon the annual inundation of the Nile flood plain. This fertile strip was only open to land invasion through narrow points of access, the Fourth Cataract in the south and the Gaza Strip in the east. There were no significant enemies to the west, but if there had been there was a similar choke point in the northern Libyan desert.

The first pharaoh to unite the ‘Two Lands’ of Upper and Lower Egypt (the delta and the southern Nile) is known as Menes (c.3100 bc). It is possible that warfare of the Archaic Period was ritualized, being based around the taking of prisoners for sacrifice. Certainly weapons were primitive and short-ranged and no armour appears to have been worn. These characteristics of Egyptian warfare also seem to have been long-lasting, into a period beginning with the second millennium bc when bronze weapons were already available. Under the Old Kingdom (2686-2160 bc) there existed a system for recruiting a militia from the nomes (tribes) and there were officials responsible for training and for logistics, which already displayed a high level of organization. During this period the troops were entirely infantry and the hard core of warriors were mercenaries. These came from Nubia and later Libya, and towards the end of the Old Kingdom formed a great proportion of the army.

During the Middle Kingdom (2133-1786 bc), the emphasis was placed upon recruiting native Egyptians. Although still all infantry, the columns of heavy spearmen resembling the Sumerian formations were supported by archers, perhaps split 50: 50. By the 18th century bc it is believed that the pharaoh maintained a standing force of some 10, 000 men (divided into two divisions and named after the gods Amun and Re) in addition to a more numerous militia. Soon after 1700 bc, there took place an invasion that brought about a military revolution. The Hyskos (the name means ‘desert princes’) brought with them a vastly superior technology, comprising bronze weapons and armour, the composite bow, and the chariot. The domestication of horses gave the Hyskos a great advantage and they established their rule in Lower Egypt from their capital at Avaris in the Delta. The Egyptians soon adapted these innovations and made them their own and within little more than a century they had expelled the intruders and established the New Kingdom (1567-1085 bc), during which they grew to their greatest power. Chariots became heavier (with six-spoked wheels instead of four) as the crews were armoured. The composite bow was the primary weapon for charioteers, which is how the pharaoh was increasingly depicted. The navy also grew from a riverine fleet into a true maritime force, as can be seen in the reliefs at Medinet Habu (c.1180 bc). The ships had 50-man crews who doubled as marines, armed with bows, spears, and grappling hooks for boarding actions.

The first well-recorded battle in history took place in c.1485 bc. Pharaoh Tuthmosis III was then campaigning near the Sea of Galilee (some 186 miles (300 km) from Egypt proper) and we have details of the strategy and tactics he employed to attack and capture the city of Megiddo. First he used an unexpected route to arrive before the city, then he charged with the largest chariot corps that Egypt had so far possessed and won substantial booty, including over 2, 000 valuable horses. The siege of the city took another seven months, but with its fall Thutmoses was able to establish his authority as far as the Euphrates. This brought Egypt into conflict with the equally expansionist Hittite empire, and it was in exactly the same region, at Kadesh, in 1300 bc, that Ramesses II, another great warrior pharaoh, won a victory over them. The last pharaoh to campaign in Syria was Merneptah (1236-1223 bc), after which Egypt was on the strategic defensive. Merneptah himself already had to defeat a land invasion by a group known as the Sea Peoples in the fifth year of his reign, and under his successor Ramesses III the pressure intensified. They were defeated in a great sea battle (c.1180 bc) but their land migrations seem similar to those of the Germanic peoples towards the end of the Roman empire. The Sea Peoples were a mixture of tribes, possessing both a military cutting edge and the momentum of a whole people on the move. Illustrating the point exactly are the ox-carts clearly shown on temple reliefs, which they used both for transporting their families and also as battle-wagons.

Understandably, the Egyptians turned to fortification to stem this human tide, and this aspect of Egyptian war-craft became well developed. Ramesses III constructed a line of forts in the western Delta and there had been a fortified zone on the Upper Nile from the beginning of the second millennium bc. This eventually stretched some 250 miles (402 km) between the First and Fourth Cataracts, which prevented invasion from Nubia. As seen in Thutmosis III's capture of Megiddo, by the 15th century, if not earlier, they had also become adept at siege warfare, although they did not develop the siege engines which were to make the Assyrians such great city takers. A bas-relief depicting the capture of Ashkelon by Ramesses II shows several phases of siege. First, the defenders are driven away from outside the walls and the place is isolated, then the assault goes in, with ladders raised by the storming parties while sappers attempt to hack through the city gates with axes.

Bibliography

• Healy, M., New Kingdom Egypt (London, 1992)

— Matthew Bennett