Archaeology Supports Ancient Accounts of History’s First Well-Attested Battle
When exactly history’s first battle – defined as a sustained fight between large bodies of armed people – took place is unknown. However, it probably took place not long after the first two relatively large groups of humans had a conflict over a vital resource or territory that neither party could simply walk away from. While clashes and skirmishes were probably frequent between human bands since the dawn of history, battles probably would have been rare in humanity’s hunter gatherer days. Except in periods of dire want, it would be easier for one hunter gatherer group or the other to just move on, instead of both sides making a sustained do-or-die affair out of a dispute.
That almost certainly changed with the agricultural revolution, circa 10,000 BC, when humans settled down and began farming the land. Unlike hunter gatherers, farmers had strong ties to the specific territory containing their crops, so they could not just up stakes and move on. Aside from the significant investment of time and effort that went into farming, farmers counted on the crops in the ground for survival.
Thus, history’s first battles probably occurred tens of thousands of years ago, surely by about 10,000 BC, and for a certainty, battles were a regular feature accompanying the rise of history’s first civilizations by around 3500 BC. However, history’s first battle for which have sufficient details to understand what went on, when, where, who and how, was The Battle of Megiddo, in 1457 BC. It took place between an Egyptian army led by Pharaoh Thutmose III, and a coalition of rebellious Canaanite states. The rebellion was centered on the city of Megiddo, an important hub at the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley, astride the main trade route between Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Thutmose advanced from Egypt at the head of a strong army to Yaham. From Yaham, he had the choice of three routes to reach Megiddo: a southern one via Taanach, a northern route via Yoqneam, and a central one via Aruna that would take him straight to Megiddo. The southern and northern routes were longer, but safer. The central route was quicker but risky, entailing passage through narrow ravines in which an army would have to advance single file, vulnerable to being bottled up front and rear.
Thutmose realized that the central route was so obviously dangerous that no reasonable commander would risk his army in its ravines. He also guessed the rebels would leave it unguarded because they would not expect the Egyptians to be so foolhardy as to court disaster by running such an obvious risk. So Thutmose gambled on the central route, and as he had guessed, it was unguarded. The Egyptians arrived at Megiddo sooner than expected, caught the Canaanites flat footed, and won a decisive victory that secured Egyptian hegemony over the region for centuries.
Archaeologists and geographers have identified the approach routes to Megiddo that Thutmose chose from. In addition to Egyptian reports of the importance of Megiddo and the victory there, the Old Testament describes Megiddo as a powerful city. Archaeological digs at el Amarna in Egypt provided supporting evidence that Megiddo was one of Canaan’s greatest cities during this period. Specifically, the discovery of six letters, part of what came to be known as the “Amarna Tablets”, that were sent by a King Biridiya of Megiddo to the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten in the 14th century BC.
Additionally, the site of Megiddo itself has been discovered and excavated. The digs which are still ongoing as of 2018, reveal a well situated city atop a hill. Its fortifications are elaborate, with water systems that helped defenders withstand sieges. Palaces with storage facilities made Megiddo more formidable still, and archaeologists describe the site as containing some of the most elaborate Iron Age architectural remains in the Levant.
Interestingly, 3375 years after the ancient battle, General Allenby, an avid student of ancient history, was confronted with the same choice as Thutmose III during WWI. He led a British army advancing from the south against Ottomans and Germans entrenched in the Jezreel Valley. Allenby stole a march on them, and arrived unexpectedly in front of Megiddo by using Thutmose’s central route via Aruna.