How did the Hittite war chariot make the Hittites conquerors?
2 Answers
They had a better design.
Explanation:
The Egyptian chariot placed the wheels in the back of the box, and only held two men, a charioteer and a warrior. The limitation was weight; with the wheels so far back, leverage placed most of the weight on the horses.
The Hittite chariot, in contrast, placed the wheels farther forward under the center of the box, which put the weight of the warriors over the axle and took the strain off of the horses, This allowed three men to ride, the charioteer and two warriors, which in effect doubled the number of fighting men that could be deployed with the same number of chariots.
The discovery of iron.
Explanation:
The Hittite war chariot was made with iron hub wheels; this made the Hittite war chariot stronger, faster, and longer lasting. Also, the warriors in the chariot were armed with superior weapons. Their iron tipped arrows had much greater penetrating power that the copper and bronze arrows of the Egyptians, who were the Hittites main rivals. The war chariot was sometimes equipped with iron swords on the hubs to cut opposing infantry units.
The Hittites ruled a large empire for about 500 years, from around 1700 BCE until about 1200 BCE. The empire declined once their monopoly on the secret of making iron was lost. The Hittites were hated for their harsh rule, and when the empire was defeated their capital was razed, buried, and forgotten. All inscriptions and references to the Hittites in Egypt and other countries were erased.
Only the Hebrew scriptures made references to the feared Hittite empire. For this reason most scholars considered the Biblical references to be myths and that the Hittites never existed.
It wasn't until archaeological evidence started to appear in the late 19th century that the ancient Hittite empire became known as fact. The discovery of the Hitttite empire should have increased confidence in the accuracy of the Hebrew scriptures
