The Battle of Megiddo 1457 BCE

When Thutmose III marched on Megiddo against the Canaanite tribes led by the king of Kadesh, he was presented with a choice of three routes to his target. Against the advice of his generals, he took the road less travelled, through a ravine, and surprised his enemies. He emerged at the Qina Brook, and fanned his troops in a crescent formation. When the Canaanite army hastily assembled to confront them, the Egyptian forces charged, routing their enemies and driving them back to Megiddo. If the Egyptians had not stopped to plunder, the Canaanites might have been utterly destroyed, but the bulk of their forces made it into Megiddo, and a seven-month siege ensued. Eventually, after building a moat and a palisade around the city, Thutmose forced its surrender, and returned to Egypt with his reputation burnished and mastery of Palestine secured.