Battle of Hattusa

## Belligerents

**Organization of Free Kingdoms:**
• Kingdom of Hatti (Muwatalli's faction)
• Mycenaean Confederation
**Eastern Coalition:**
• Kingdom of Hatti (Hakkarpili's faction)
**Tugdam's Confederation:**
• Cimmerians, Kaskians, and other former mercenaries of Hakkarpili
• Mushkian-led eastern barbarian army

## Commanders and leaders

**Organization of Free Kingdoms:**
• Muwatalli III (Hatti)
• Lihsuman † (Hatti)
• Huhhaziti (Hatti)
• Eteweokles † (Mycenaean Confederation)
• Trechus † (Mycenaean Confederation)
• Harpalion (Mycenaean Confederation)
• Tharybis † (Mycenaean Confederation)
**Eastern Coalition:**
• Hakkarpili †
• Washuba †
**Tugdam's Confederation:**
• Tugdam †
• Argishti †

## Strength

**Organization of Free Kingdoms:**
~92 000
**Eastern Coalition:**
~16 000
**Tugdam's Confederation:**
~53 000

## Casualties and losses

~19 000
**Eastern Coalition:**
~16 000
**Tugdam's Confederation:**
~34 000

The Battle of Hattusa was the final battle in the Hittite Civil War, taking place around Hattusa in over a month. The battle contained smaller engagements within, as well as the siege of the city, between the OFK, the EC, and a newly created barbarian confederation.

## Barbarian capture of Hattusa

Beginning as a two-way fight between the OFK and the EC, the battle soon turned into a three-way fight, as the barbarian mercenaries in Hakkarpili's army split off, under the command of the Cimmerian warlord Tugdam, and began attacking their former employers. The mercenaries saw that the EC could not win the battle and so would not pay them, so they decided to take whatever resources they could from Hattusa and its surroundings, and leave before the OFK forces could arrive.

Upon learning of this, Hakkarpili locked down Hattusa, but the barbarians, now almost 50 000 strong, continued ravaging the farmlands around it. Soon enough, on 4 Shemu III, they managed to get into Hattusa, as some of them had managed to stay behind and let them in. In a few days, most of Hattusa was taken over by the barbarian coalition, which included Cimmerians, Kaskians, Luwians, Urartians, Mushkians, Scythians, and others. The city was ransacked, and any resisting soldiers or civilians were killed by them. Temples and homes were looted and chaos spread through the city. Only the royal palace, situated high on top of the hill, remained in Hakkarpili's control, where thousands of his loyalists and other influential citizens managed to arrive, seeking to escape being killed by the barbarians in the Lower and Upper City.

## OFK's entrance

On 10 Shemu III, the OFK forces - Muwatalli III's led Hittites and Eteweokles' led Mycenaeans - arrived at the city, after taking out all barbarian and EC units along the way. They managed to surround it and set up a siege, so that the barbarians could not escape and would be forced to surrender. However, they did not surrender and instead entrenched themselves. Many attempts were made to take the city, but they all failed at first and resulted in many casualties on the OFK side, including the Hittite general Lihsuman, and the Mycenaean king Tharybis. The barbarians were also losing soldiers, but the walls could not be breached still.

However, on 22 Shemu III, a new plan was proposed by the Mycenaeans, and executed on 27th. The Hittites built a large wooden horse with wheels and stuffed it with explosives, sending it right to Hattusa, with the Mycenaean king Trechus being its driver. Trechus had contacted the barbarians and deceived them by saying that he wants to defect with his unit to their side, to enjoy the Hittite spoils, also saying that this wooden horse was his means of escape from the OFK camp. Thus he managed to drive into Hattusa and was welcomed by the former mercenaries. He set fire to the horse upon disembarking, telling the barbarians that it was to show how sturdy it was, but before they had realized what was going on, the explosives in the horse were triggered by the fire and activated, causing a massive blast which killed Trechus, the barbarians in the area, and blowing a large hole in the city wall, which allowed Muwatalli's Hittites to move in.

## Mycenaean diversion

Yet around that time, a new barbarian force was discovered to the east, around 15 000 strong. Eteweokles volunteered to engage them, so that Muwatalli would be free to retake his capital. Eteweokles took a portion of his Mycenaean force and marched east with them, eventually setting up defensive positions and waiting for the attack. The barbarian force was led by Argishti, the former chief of Hayasa. This battle to the east of Hattusa took a few hours and eventually led to Eteweokles engaging Argishti directly and killing him, though in the process being mortally wounded too, and dying on the way back to the camp. Even still, the Mycenaean managed to push on and defeat the now much more disorganized barbarians, scattering their force and driving them from the capital region. The remaining Mycenaeans turned back and soon rejoined Muwatalli in his fight in Hattusa.

## End of the battle

Meanwhile in Hattusa, Muwatalli's army entered the city and began clearing it of barbarians. The Lower City, where the hole was blown by the horse, was taken first, but the Upper City followed suit soon too. Tugdam attempted to attack Muwatalli there, but was shot and killed by Hittite archers. The remaining barbarians were soon all killed too, as the capital was now completely surrounded by OFK forces and so barbarians had no means of escape. With the main parts of the city retaken, Muwatalli proceeded to the palace. All remaining Hakkarpili's guards and soldiers let him pass and defected to him on the way. Hakkarpili was found alone in the throne room and was tied by Muwatalli's men so that he would give up information of where Muwatalli's sister was. He did so after being tortured, and soon Muwatalli's sister Niwalka was found in the Lower City. She was held hostage by Washuba, Hakkarpili's chief advisor, who had hoped to escape this way. However, he and his accomplices were all shot by Muwatalli's archers and Niwalka was rescued by Muwatalli, while her and Hakkarpili's child was killed by the soldiers as per her wishes. Finally, Muwatalli returned to the throne room, where he executed Hakkarpili, and, shortly afterwards, proclaimed victory to the citizens of the city.

Thus the Battle of Hattusa was over, as was the Hittite Civil War, though there still remained some holdouts which did not want to accept Muwatalli III as their ruler. Still, Muwatalli had reclaimed Hattusa and in turn most of Hatti, now becoming the factual king of the country, with most Hittites rejoining his side. He began the reconstruction of his capital and country immediately and began preparing for a potential invasion by the EC from the east. He was also informed by the Mycenaean kings Iphiclus and Harpalion that Eteweokles had died. Iphiclus became the temporary new leader of the Mycenaeans in Anatolia and he signed an official peace treaty with Muwatalli, as the Mycenaeans and Hittites were still theoretically at war since the start of the Great Powers' War. With the peace treaty signed, the Mycenaeans soon left Hittite territories to go home and choose a new wanax, between two Eteweokles' sons, leaving the Hittites completely in control of their kingdom.