Distinctive Facts About The Mighty Ottoman Empire

Distinctive Facts About The Mighty Ottoman Empire

Khalid Elhassan - August 13, 2020

Distinctive Facts About The Mighty Ottoman Empire
Pharaoh Thutmose III at the Battle of Megiddo. War History Online

2. The Ottoman Army Fell For a Reprisal of the Ancient Battle of Megiddo

Pharaoh Thutmose III realized that the central route to Megiddo was so obviously dangerous, that no reasonable commander would risk his army in its ravines. He also guessed that 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 took the central route. As he had guessed, it was unguarded, and the Egyptians arrived at Megiddo sooner than expected, caught the Canaanites off guard, and won a decisive victory that secured Egyptian hegemony for centuries.

Distinctive Facts About The Mighty Ottoman Empire
Ottoman army carriages and equipment destroyed in the 1918 Battle of Megiddo. Imperial War Museum

3375 years later, in WWI, General Allenby, an avid student of ancient history, was confronted with the same choice as Thutmose III as he led a British army against entrenched Ottomans and Germans entrenched in the Jezreel Valley. He stole a march upon them and burst unexpectedly in front of Megiddo with an advance through the central route via Aruna.

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