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army engaged in complex campaigns in Nubia (under Sesostris III), it is during the New Kingdom that we find the ascension of an imperialistic Egypt holding vast foreign territory. The great warrior pharaohs between the 18th and 20th Dynasties such as Ramesses are prominent in this period.

The Hyksos period should be seen as the crucial bridge between the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. This link is visible in two respects: weaponry, and the rise of a garrison state and a culture of nationalism.

War and Weaponry

"The Hyksos Period has traditionally been considered to be the time when a massive alteration of military technology came to pass in the Nile Valley" (Anthony Spalinger)

For centuries prior to the New Kingdom, the navy had played a major role in warfare. Evidence of this is found in the second Kamose stela, where Kamose stresses his capture of the Hyksos king Apophis' fleet outside Avaris. Ships, which formed "the foundation" of Middle Kingdom warfare, were primarily used to move soldiers quickly to the battlefield whereupon they would engage in hand-to-hand or long-range combat and siege warfare. The ranks of the navy were attractive to royal elites, whereas the army was seen as inferior. In the Eighteenth dynasty however a new form of weaponry became an important part of the Egyptian arsenal: the horse and chariot. The chariot usurped some of the transportation role previously performed by ships travelling along the Nile. Provided that the ground was flat, the chariot was highly mobile and could efficiently move troops to where they were required.

The importance of this development must be emphasised. The chariot, which was probably introduced by the Hyksos or another source from Western Asia (its exact origins remain a controversial point), enabled the formation of a strong land-based unit that would help the New Kingdom Egyptians render their conquest of Palestine and Syria more permanent.

Of course, the chariot had its weaknesses, as Alan Schulman has astutely observed. In the first place, Schulman points out that the chariot was not suitable for use as an offensive weapon owing to its lack of armour and the difficulty of keeping horses under control while charging head-on. At best, a driver and archer could provide covering fire from the flanks to enable infantry to close in on the opposition, or give chase once the enemy was already retreating. Chariots were useless in sieges. They were also extremely expensive to maintain. The costs

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