The Battle of Kadesh: Ramses the Great's Greatest Gamble

Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History · May 7, 2026 · 7m · transcript

In 1274 BCE, Ramses the Great led his army into one of the largest chariot battles in ancient history: the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittite Empire. This episode reconstructs the dramatic day when Ramses, misled by spies and caught in a Hittite ambush, nearly lost everything—then turned disaster into a propaganda triumph. We explore the two main Egyptian accounts, the Poem of Pentaur and the Bulletin, which present wildly different narratives from Hittite records. Learn about the tactical decisions, the role of the Ne'arin reinforcements, and how Ramses transformed a near-defeat into…