The Hittites - The Nemesis of Egypt

The Bronze Age, time of the first great human civilizations starting with the people of Summer and ending with the fall of the Egyptians, Mycenaeans and Hittites. The later in particular will be the focuses of today, as they tend to be the lesser known of the big three, with Egypt being the best recorded Nation while Mycenaean at least enjoy its connection with the Greek City States. But the Hittites were here, and they were a major player in the Region at the time.  

Ruling from their capital city of Hattusa, of which the ruins can still be seen in modern day Turkey, they emerged from a coalition of smaller cities known as Kussara before being united by a strong leader. This came in the form of the first Hittite king, Hattusili the first, who exploited a time of heavy unrest submitted the cities around the Halys River to his rule. His decedents would then continue to build their power base until forming the nation that covered most of Anatolia. Funnily enough, the Hittites were also the earliest known form of Constitutional Monarchy as their kings had to share power with the heir but also various officials. One of the reasons for this was that unlike other neighboring nations, like Egypt, a Hittite king wasn’t considered a godly figure but a man wielding more influence than other.  

Distribution of power was based on land ownership, with the king having the largest share of the kingdom while the rest of his family and noble class shared the rest. The rest of their society was mostly comprised of farmers, working the land for their designated overlord and feeding the whole nation. There was also a smaller class of specialist craftsmen, working in state owned workshops and producing all the tools, from farming equipment to weapons of war and of course their chariots. All of these people could of course be conscripted when the nation marched to war for whatever reasons. While warfare was an expensive endeavor, and as such the leadership tried diplomatic solution first, the Hittites weren’t one to shy from a fight if they had to. Indeed, until the rise of the Assyrians, the Hittites were the only nations that was capable of butting heads with the might of Egypt and having a decent chance of winning. The Hittites relied on a core of professional soldiers, men of dedicated their lives to warfare and unit living together in barracks. These troops were mostly kept in the capital of Hattusa, as its central location meant they could be rapidly deployed if needed to be. While numbers are hard to come by from such a long time ago, and the destruction of most Hittites record during the collapse, make the exact size of this standing army hard at best. However, we can estimate that the Hittites standing army stood at 10,000 strong during their prime, which wasn’t enough most of the time. 

As such, Hittites armies were quite often bolstered by levy forces, as mentioned earlier. Since most of these troops were farmers, Hittites leadership preferred to keep their military activities between sowing and harvesting season. This is to avoid as little disruption in food production, and thus avoiding a famine because there was no one to work the fields. Winter meanwhile was just not a season for warfare, even this far south, remained unchanged even in our days. This of course not counting the Mongols invading the Kievan Russ in the middle of winter, because these guys were too badass to be stopped by something as pesky as the Siberian winter. Slaves were bared from military services while substitutes for military calls were outlawed. Once called, levies were armed and trained in Hattusa alongside the permanent troops. 

Hittites armies were some of the most formidable and feared forces in the Bronze Age, and many disputes were settled by fear of an attack. Hittites armies were comprised of a large infantry core supported by an elite group of war chariots, of which you can read more on my post dedicated on them. Alongside them also existed horse riders, although they mainly filled scouting and communications role instead of a true cavalry force. Hittites logistics was also well structured and relatively efficient, further increasing their abilities to wadge wars. Gears, such as weapons, shields and armors were as mentioned earlier produced in state owned workshops. These goods would be distributed when need be, and if the few records are true, they were paid for by the King instead of collected. Food rations followed the same procedure, and soldiers were expected to only sustain themselves on what was given to them. Looting and pillaging was highly frowned upon, either to maintain order or safeguard the infrastructures of conquered lands. Now what exactly these soldiers were wearing in battle remains blurry due to lack of written texts on the matter. We know that shields were present, being the best form of protection against skirmishers, composed of wood and leather and being on the larger side. Egyptians' depiction of the battle of Kadesh, as well as areological finding also suggested that mailed and scale armor were in use at least by the regular forces. The main weapons of both soldiers and charioteers seemed to be the spear, the most ancient weapon created by humanity. Short swords were also common, with models for both stabbing and slashing being employed and while larger blade seemed to be in used these were rarer. Due to the fact that Hittite equipment were produced in state workshops, we can expect a high degree of standardizations unlike other nations where soldiers were expected to provide their own gears. 

This degree of militarization was due to their central position within the Bronze Age world, which while allowing them to grow economically also made them a target for everyone. This was further exacerbated by the fact that Hittites were the best at producing the single most important material at the time, Bronze. Indeed, Hittie metallurgy was extremely advanced, which allowed them to produce some of the best weapons and tools and in high quantity. In fact, they were so advanced in the domain that they were among the first to tame ironworking. 

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