34. History’s First Recorded Military Deception
History’s first recorded military engagement for which we have reliable details is the Battle of Megiddo, 1457 BC. Deception and mind games played a key role in enabling its victor, Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III, to defeat a coalition of rebellious Canaanite states seeking to free themselves of vassalage to Egypt.
The rebellion was centered in 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 led his army from Egypt to Yaham. From there, he had the choice of three routes: 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 approaching army would have to advance single file, vulnerable to being bottled up front and rear.