The Battle of Kadesh (also Qadesh) took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, in what is now the Syrian Arab Republic.

The battle is generally dated to 1274 BC, and is the earliest battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known. It was probably the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000–6,000 chariots.^{[dead link]}

After expelling the Hyksos 15th dynasty, the native Egyptian New Kingdom rulers became more aggressive in reclaiming control of their state's borders. Thutmose I, Thutmose III and his son and coregent Amenhotep II fought battles from Megiddo north to the Orontes River, including the conflict with Kadesh.

Many of the Egyptian campaign accounts between c. 1400 and 1300 BC reflect the general destabilization of the region of the Djahi. The reigns of Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III were undistinguished, except that Egypt continued to lose territory to Mitanni in northern Syria.

This article is about Kadesh in the lands of the Amurru, bordering on Damascus Syria up to Hammath; see also Kadesh (South of Israel) or Kedesh

Kadesh (also Qadesh or Qadesh-on-the-Orontes; Hittite: Kadeš) was an ancient city of the Levant, located on or near the headwaters or ford of the Orontes River. It is surmised by Kenneth Kitchen to be the ruins at Tell Nebi Mend, about 24 kilometers (15 mi) southwest of Homs (ca. 34°35′N 36°31′E / 34.583°N 36.517°E / 34.583; 36.517) near Al Qusayr in what is now western Syria but is located in the text of the inscriptions at the Battle of Kadesh as near Tunip in the land of the Amurru. Kadesh was the target of military campaigns by most of the pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt and one of many outlying vassals won by the southerly encroachments of the Hittite Empire between 1500 and 1285 BC. Between 1504 and 1492 BC Thutmosis I campaigned north into Syria against the Mitanni a vassal of the Hittites and along with Aram an ally of Kadesh. In 1479 BC Thutmoses III fought against the king of Kadesh in the Battle of Megiddo. In the time of Hatshepsut there were no campaigns against Kadesh as she was focused on developing trade across the Red Sea and southward. Although Amenophis II campaigned in the djadi from then on until the reign of Haremhab 1319-1307 for a century and a half Canaan was in virtual rebellion and the Egyptians could do little about it. In 1306 BC Seti I succeeded in taking the city. In 1274 BC, the fifth year of Ramesses' reign, he led a large force of chariots and infantry 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to retake the walled city. In the Battle of Kadesh, the two forces clashed in what is widely regarded as the largest chariot vs. chariot battle (5,000—6,000 between both sides) in history on the plain south of the city and west of the Orontes River.