Egyptian Hittite union?

i was doing my usual military history flick through when, on battles BC ( an Awsome show!) about the battle of Kadesh and learned that the widow of the ever famous king Tutankhamen had, in an attempt to protect her family and her belief in Amohteps III belief in 1 god. To do this she actually sent an invite the Hittite court offering to marry one of the Hittite kings sons- a union that would have united two of the worlds greatest empires. Unfortunately...... the prince was ambushed and assassinated on his way to Egypt- as was Tuts widow.
so..... what if he made it? what if the two great kingdoms were united as one great empire controlling the vital Syrian trade routs. Could it have lasted? would it have fallen apart? what do you think?
 
I don't think that this union could be very long-lived. Their had their own cultures and they both were quiet nationalist if that kind of word can use. Union break-up very soon. Both surely want be leading country.
 
I don't think that this union could be very long-lived. Their had their own cultures and they both were quiet nationalist if that kind of word can use. Union break-up very soon. Both surely want be leading country.

hmmm i thought so- but consider the fact that the prince would spread Hittite influence in court and culture. Also, relations would be better, so in the event of invasion ( e.g the sea people) the two could assist each other- so Hittite empire dosnt collapse, Egypt remains major power.
 
I don't think that this union could be very long-lived. Their had their own cultures and they both were quiet nationalist if that kind of word can use. Union break-up very soon. Both surely want be leading country.

The Nubians would disagree with you. They ruled Egypt and Nubia for quite a while, also with a distinctly different culture and "nationalism".

I think geography is more what is in the way here. With only a thin strip of land connecting two worlds, it would be very tricky keeping it unified without one simply breaking off from the other.
 
The Nubians would disagree with you. They ruled Egypt and Nubia for quite a while, also with a distinctly different culture and "nationalism".

By the time a Nubian dynasty ruled Egypt, though, Nubia's culture and religion had become almost completely Egyptianized, and it had been politically integrated with Egypt for centuries (albeit with interruptions). The same wouldn't be true of the Hittites.
 
Not happening. The Egyptian military won't let it happen, and it was a very powerful institution by this point (it filled the power vacuum left by the deaths of Tutankhamun and Itnetjer-Ay in OTL). Even if the ambush fails, Zannanza (the Hittite prince) won't make it past the Way of Horus and the Walls of the Ruler.

There will be butterflies if Zannanza dies on Egypt's doorstep rather than en-route, though. Suppiluliuma (the Hittite emperor) may not catch the plague that killed him in OTL, which could lead to him being succeeded by Arnuwanda rather than Mursili, which completely changes Hittite history as we know it. Horemheb will probably still take the throne in Egypt, and will likely still be succeeded in turn by Ramesses I and Seti I, but Ramesses II will have a slightly different childhood and may not end up being the same person.

I'd expect to see a war between the Egyptians and Hittites flair up as in OTL, but if Suppiluliuma doesn't die, then the Egyptians will have a much bigger challenge on their hands. We could see an earlier Kadesh-analogue that settles Egyptian-Hittite spheres of influence earlier.
 
i was doing my usual military history flick through when, on battles BC ( an Awsome show!) about the battle of Kadesh and learned that the widow of the ever famous king Tutankhamen had, in an attempt to protect her family and her belief in Amohteps III belief in 1 god. To do this she actually sent an invite the Hittite court offering to marry one of the Hittite kings sons- a union that would have united two of the worlds greatest empires. Unfortunately...... the prince was ambushed and assassinated on his way to Egypt- as was Tuts widow.
so..... what if he made it? what if the two great kingdoms were united as one great empire controlling the vital Syrian trade routs. Could it have lasted? would it have fallen apart? what do you think?

It doesn't work this way in that political context. When we think about monarchies most of us are most familiar with mediaeval European feudal monarchies with personal unions and so forth but this is a different cultural context- there's no political conceptualisation behind such a union.

To the poster who brought up the example of the Nubians, that was a case of a highly Egyptianised society conquering Egypt itself and ruling as Pharaohs.
 

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I thought it was one of the younger sons, but this makes it seem as though it was the immediate heir. So wouldn't Egypt maintain its political independence, merely with close familial ties to the Hittites rather than a direct union. Even in the case of a direct union there's no guarantee that it would be centralized in any one location other than Egypt, because that's where the son went, not the other way around.
 
Hardly since Hetite Empire and Egypt were two very different beasts. Egypt was unified by an idea of joint indentity, Hetite empire was united by the sword and was more like Austria led HRE than Russia.

Hetites could fight of and defeat Egyptian armies in the levant but were never comfortable actually marching to war knowing their home territories in Anatolia are potential threatened by their vassals and the "wild" tribes to the north.
 
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