Thutmose III conducted at least 16 campaigns in 20 years. American Egyptologist
James Breasted referred to him as "the
Napoleon of Egypt" for his conquests and expansionism. He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the
Near East from the
Euphrates to
Nubia. He was the first pharaoh after
Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against
Mitanni. His campaign records were inscribed onto the walls of the temple of
Amun at
Karnak (transcribed in
Urkunden IV). He transformed
Egypt into an international superpower, an empire stretching from the Asian regions of Syria in the North, to Upper Nubia in the south. Much is known about Thutmose III as a
warrior and ruler, through the writings of his royal scribe and army commander Thanuny. The pharaoh was able to conquer so many lands because of revolutionary developments in military technology. The
Hyksos may have brought advanced weaponry, such as horse-drawn chariots, around 1650 BC, which the Egyptians adopted in the process of driving them out. Thutmose III encountered little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing him to expand his realm easily. His army also portaged boats over dry land.
Campaign 1: Battle of Megiddo When Hatshepsut died on the 10th day of the sixth month of Thutmose III's 21st year, according to a stela from
Armant, the king of
Kadesh advanced his army to
Megiddo. Thutmose III mustered his own army and marched from Egypt, passing through the border fortress of
Tjaru (Sile) on the 25th day of the eighth month. The army moved through the coastal plain as far as
Jamnia, then turned inland, reaching Yehem, a small city near Megiddo, in the middle of the ninth month of the same year. The ensuing
Battle of Megiddo was likely the largest battle of Thutmose's 17 campaigns. A ridge of mountains jutting inland from
Mount Carmel stood between Thutmose and Megiddo and he had three attack routes to choose from. The northern and southern routes around the mountain were judged by his generals to be safest, but Thutmose (as he boasted in an inscription) called them cowards and took the dangerous route through the
Aruna mountain pass, which he said was only wide enough for single-file "horse after horse and man after man." The army emerged on the plain of Esdraelon, brilliantly cutting between the rear of the Canaanite forces and Megiddo city. a lunar date. This date corresponds to 9 May 1457 BC, based on Thutmose III's accession in 1479 BC. In the battle, Thutmose routed the Canaanite forces, Thutmose was forced to besiege the city, and finally took it after a siege of seven or eight months. This campaign drastically changed the political situation in the ancient Near East. By taking Megiddo, Thutmose gained control of all of northern
Canaan, forcing the Syrian princes to send tribute and noble hostages to Egypt. Beyond the Euphrates, the
Assyrian,
Babylonian and
Hittite kings honored Thutmose with gifts, which he claimed as "tribute" on the walls of Karnak. The only notable absence was
Mitanni, which would bear the brunt of subsequent Egyptian campaigns into
Western Asia.
Campaigns 2-4: Tours of Canaan and Syria . The move from Egypt to Rome was initiated by
Constantine the Great (Roman Emperor, 324–337) in 326, though he died before it could be shipped out of Alexandria. His son, the Emperor
Constantius II completed the transfer in 357. An account of the shipment was written by contemporary historian
Ammianus Marcellinus. Thutmose's second, third, and fourth campaigns appear to have been nothing more than tours of
Syria and
Canaan to collect tribute. This text records tribute from the area which the Egyptians called
Retjenu (roughly equivalent to Canaan) and it was also at this time that Assyria paid a second "tribute" to Thutmose III. It is probable that these texts come from Thutmose's 40th year or later and thus have nothing to do with the second campaign at all. If so, no records of this campaign have been found. This survey is dated to Thutmose's 25th year. No record remains of Thutmose's fourth campaign, but at some point a fort was built in lower Lebanon and timber was cut for construction of a processional barque, and this probably fits best during this time frame.
Campaigns 5-7: Conquest of Syria The fifth, sixth and seventh campaigns of Thutmose III were directed against the
Phoenician cities in
Syria and against
Kadesh on the
Orontes. In Thutmose's 29th year, he began his fifth campaign, where he first took an unknown city (the name falls in a
lacuna) which had been garrisoned by
Tunip. He then moved inland and took the city and territory around Ardata; the town was pillaged and its wheatfields burned. Unlike previous plundering raids, Thutmose III garrisoned
Djahy, a name which probably refers to southern Syria. This would have permitted him to ship supplies and troops between Syria and Egypt, and some have supposed that Thutmose's sixth campaign, in his thirtieth year, commenced with naval transport of troops directly to
Byblos, bypassing
Canaan. Turning west again, Thutmose took
Simyra and quelled a rebellion in Ardata, which apparently had rebelled again. To stop such rebellions, Thutmose began taking hostages from the cities in Syria. The policy of these cities was driven by their nobles, aligned to Mitanni and typically consisting of a king and a small number of foreign Maryannu. Thutmose III found that taking hostages from these noble families largely ensured their loyalty.
Campaign 8: Attack on Mitanni In Year 33, after Thutmose III had taken control of the Syrian cities, the obvious target for his eighth campaign was the state of
Mitanni, a
Hurrian country with an
Indo-Aryan ruling class. However, to reach Mitanni, he had to cross the Euphrates River. He sailed directly to
Byblos and made boats which he took with him over land on what appeared to otherwise be just another tour of Syria, He continued north through the territory belonging to the still unconquered cities of
Aleppo and
Carchemish and quickly crossed the Euphrates in his boats, taking the Mitannian king entirely by surprise. He collected tribute from foreign powers and returned to Egypt in victory. The plunder recorded is minimal, so it was probably just a minor raid. Records from his 10th campaign indicate much more fighting. By Thutmose's 35th year, the king of Mitanni had raised a large army and engaged the Egyptians around
Aleppo. As usual for any Egyptian king, Thutmose boasted a total crushing victory, but this statement raises suspicion due to the very small amount of plunder taken. Thutmose's annals at Karnak indicate he only took a total of 10 prisoners of war. He may have fought the Mitannians to a stalemate, Part of the tribute list for his 12th campaign remains immediately before his 13th begins, and the contents recorded, specifically wild game and certain minerals of uncertain identification, might indicate that it took place on the steppe around Nukhashshe, but this remains mere speculation. In Year 38, Thutmose III conducted his 13th military campaign returning to
Nuhašše for a very minor campaign. After this campaign, the numbers given by Thutmose's scribes to his campaigns all fall in lacunae, so they can only be counted by date. In his 40th year, tribute was collected from foreign powers, but it is unknown if this was considered a campaign (i.e. if the king went with it or if it was led by an official). Only the tribute list remains from Thutmose's next campaign, and nothing may be deduced about it except that it was probably another raid to the frontiers around Niy. His final Asian campaign is better documented. Sometime before Thutmose's 42nd year, Mitanni apparently began spreading revolt among all the major cities in Syria. Thutmose moved his troops by land up the coastal road and put down rebellions in the Arka plain ("Arkantu" in Thutmose's chronicle) and moved on Tunip. His victory in this final campaign was neither complete nor permanent since he did not take Kadesh, This victory however, must have had quite an impact, for the next tribute lists include Adana, a Cilician city.
Campaign 17: Nubian campaign In Year 50, Thutmose III waged his last military campaign. He attacked Nubia, but only went so far as the fourth cataract of the Nile. Although no king of Egypt had ever penetrated so far with an army, previous kings' campaigns had spread Egyptian culture that far already, and the earliest Egyptian document found at
Gebel Barkal dates from three years
before Thutmose's campaign. ==Monuments==