Ramses the Great's Army: Soldiers and Strategy in the New Kingdom

Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History · Jun 6, 2026 · 5m · transcript

What was it like to serve in Ramses the Great's army? This episode pulls back the curtain on the men behind the pharaoh's legendary campaigns. We explore the structure of Egypt's military during the New Kingdom's 19th Dynasty: the professional core of soldiers, the conscripted peasants filling the ranks, and the foreign mercenaries like the Sherden and the Medjay who brought their own tactics to the Nile. Lucas describes the daily life of a soldier—rations, pay, and the brutal reality of siege warfare—and explains how Ramses used military propaganda to cement his legacy…