NEW KINGDOM EGYPT

1. NEW KINGDOM EGYPT MILITARY AND WARFARE

2. EGYPT PRE HYKSOS • Egypt was considered to be the most peaceful country in the ancient world. Its natural boundaries (the First Cataract on the Nile at Aswan, the deserts east and west of the Nile Valley, and the Mediterranean coast to the north) provided plenty of protection from outsiders, and Egyptians themselves were not a society of invaders or conquerors.

3. Therefore, the country didn’t consider the need for a professional army – until the invasion of the Hyksos during the 15th Dynasty in the Second Intermediate Period.

4. Up until that time, Egypt had a loosely organized, part-time army and crude, inferior weapons. The army that was raised in times of need, i.e., during civil unrest, consisted of conscripts, who were generally peasants and artisans, led by noblemen. • There was, however, a small core of regular soldiers, but they were mostly engaged as palace guards, border police, or trade ship escorts.

5. Egyptians were very hesitant to engage in conflicts outside their own country because they were afraid of dying and being buried elsewhere, thereby not receiving the necessary and appropriate funeral rites. Because of this fear, armies of the Old Kingdom were made up of foreign mercenaries.

6. THE HYKSOS INVASION • The Hyksos invasion forced Egypt to create a trained, professional army and improve its weaponry. The Egyptians learned valuable lessons from the Hyksos attack

7. The chain of command, in order of rank, was: • King, commander in chief • General, or overseer of the army, who reported directly to the king • Lieutenant commander, serving as senior officer • Overseer of the Nubian frontier and Mediterranean coast fortresses • Overseer of garrison troops • Troop commander, in charge of several regiments, a brigade or a fortress • Captain of the troop • Commander of 250 soldiers • Standard-bearer, controlling 200 men • "Greatest of Fifty", the lowest commander

8. For major military actions, the pharaoh was the commander-in-chief and physically led his army into battle, while minor officials or princes led less significant campaigns. The vizier acted as the minister of war, taking advice from an army council. Prior to a battle, the king always consulted his senior officials.

9. The army itself was made up of the infantry and chariotry divisions, which were commanded by either the king himself or one of the princes.

10. MIDDLE-LATE 18TH DYNASTY • From the time of Amenhotep III on, most enlisted men were former prisoners of war. In the 18th Dynasty recruits would be brought in from Nubia; in later periods recruits came from many foreign areas.

11. However, during the New Kingdom soldiers were recruited locally by conscription and by the time of Ramesses II, one man in ten was forced to serve in the military. Some men did not have to be recruited – they chose the army as their profession Reasons include: booty, land, hereditary rewards – sons could inherit land etc

12. Herodotus • "The warriors were the only Egyptians, except the priests, who has special privileges: for each of them an untaxed plot of twelve acres was set apart. …. A thousand Calasirians and as many Hermotybians were the king’s annual bodyguard. These men, besides their lands, each received a daily provision of five minae’s weight of roast grain, two minae of beef, and four cups of wine. These were the gifts received by each bodyguard."

13. The chariot and chariotry were introduced to Egypt by the Hyksos. The Egyptian chariotry consisted of five squadrons, with twenty-five chariots in each and two men in each chariot: a driver and a soldier armed with bows and arrows, a shield, a sword, and a javelin.

14. The pharaoh’s specialized troops were called "Braves of the King". These were the elite fighting forces that led attacks, while the garrison troops, called the ‘w’yt, sometimes served as the pharaoh’s household troops both in Egypt and in foreign lands. A group called the "Retainers" distributed rations to troops during the 18th Dynasty, acted as letter carriers during the Ramesside Period, and may have functioned as the royal bodyguards.

15. Mercenaries were still important in the professional army of the New Kingdom. The number of foreigners including Medjay, Sheriden, and Libyans in the Egyptian army was so high that captains were specially designated to be in charge of them.

16. Travelling along with the army were scribes, who appeared to have low regard for the professional soldier. • The Instructions of scribe Wenemdiamun "woes of the soldier", counting among these woes the fact that each soldier had many superiors who could wake him at any hour of the night for any purpose. He wrote "One is after him as a donkey",

17. METHODS • Fortifications • Hand-hand combat in open areas • Collection of booty • The Egyptians adhered to a strict military code in battle.

18. THE DEFEATED • Enemy survivors were taken as POWs or enslaved. • Towns and forts were ransacked and booty was given to the Egyptian soldiers • Enemy princes who surrendered to the pharaoh had the option of accepting the Egyptian pharaoh as their overlord; these princes were then allowed to continue governing their own cities.

19. WEAPONS

21. NAVY • prime purpose was long distance transport of troops and supplies, or mobile military operation bases. • Occasionally the navy did engage in warfare, but even then, sailors acted as soldiers at sea rather than as a separate force

22. Many naval ships were actually built in Byblos; the Gebel Barkal stela shows that ship makers in Byblos built ships annually, then sent those ships to Egypt along with other tributes. This provided the Egyptian navy with a steady influx of high quality vessels.

23. Egypt developed coastal bases in other territories, as well as creating a naval centre near Memphis called Perw-nefer • Outside Egypt, Thutmose III took over harbour after harbour in Phoenicia’s coastal cities, acquiring supplies for his troops from each in order to proceed to the next.

24. Naval recruits, called w’w, mainly served on warships and most were the sons of military families who became professional sailors themselves

25. According to naval officials’ biographies and the Nauri Decree, naval rankings probably were as follows: • King • Crown prince, commander in chief • Admirals • Overseer, chief of ship’s captains (commanded several ships) • Ship captain (navigation) • Captain’s mates (navigational support) • Commander of troops (older men with land-based duties) • Standard-bearer • Commander of rowers • Sailors

26. THE POLICE FORCE • Egypt’s police force, on the other hand, was not an extension of the army. It was established to enforce the gods’ orders and protect the weak from the strong in the general society. The police maintained order by bringing guilty parties to justice. Even so, the police were not looked upon as a hostile body, but rather as the guardians and protectors of generally law-abiding communities.

27. Nubian nomads, called the Medjay, became part of the Egyptian police force in the 18th Dynasty. The Medjay also served as tomb guardians during the construction of the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina. In this capacity, Medjay police had many responsibilities including ensuring the tomb’s safety, inspecting the tomb, guaranteeing good behavior on the part of the workers, protecting workers from any dangers (including threats by invaders), and occasionally assisting the workers and moving blocks of stone.