Battle of Kadesh

Ramesses II marches north with 20,000 soldiers to confront the Hittite king Muwatalli II near the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River. Despite nearly losing the battle due to a Hittite ambush, Ramesses fights his way to a draw and later spins it as a glorious victory in massive temple carvings. The resulting Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty — copies of which survive in both Egyptian and Hittite versions — establishes a lasting alliance and is the earliest international peace agreement ever discovered.