Nevertheless, the treaty was bred during a time of change in the region surrounding Kadesh. Egypt was taking on a huge slave population from its skirmishes with the “Sea Peoples,” the Haberu people were finding that they couldn't live peacefully in their land anymore, and the Hittites were finding that they needed the cedar trees in the Sinai, as did the Egyptians, which probably brought about Kadesh. They, the Haberu, needed to seek refuge with a superpower in the area. Most of them chose Egypt.
The treaty also did something that, up until that time, was unseen. It provided terms for the extradition of prisoners:
"If a man or two men who are unknown flee, and if they come to Reamasesa, to serve him, then Reamasesa has to take hold of them and deliver them into the hands of Hattusili, king of the country of Hatti."
"If a man or two men who are unknown flee, and if they escape from the country of Egypt and if they don't want to serve him, then Hattusili, the great king, the king of the country of Hatti, has to deliver them into his brother's hands and he shall not allow them to inhabit the country of Hatti."
"If a man flees from the country of Hatti, or two people, and if they flee from the country of Hatti, and if they come to the country of Egypt, and if a nobleman flees from the country of Hatti or of a city and they flee from the country of Hatti to go to the country of Egypt, then Reamasesa has to order them to be taken to his brother. Look, the sons of the country of Hatti and the children of the country of Egypt are at peace."
"If some people flee from the country of Egypt to go to the country of Hatti, then Hattusili, the great king, the king of the country of Hatti, has to order them to be taken to his brother. Look, Hattusili the great king, the king of the country of Hatti, and Reamasesa, the great king, the king of the country of Egypt, your brother, are at peace."3
Furthermore, it established Geneva Convention-like terms concerning the treatment of fugitives who flee either country:
"If a man flees from the country of Hatti, or two men, or three men, and if they come to Reamasesa, the Great King, the king of the country of Egypt, his brother, then Reamasesa, the Great King, the king of the country of Egypt, has to take hold of them and to order them to be taken to Hattusili, his brother, since they are brothers. As for their crime, it should not be imputed; their language and their eyes are not to be pulled out; their ears and their feet are not to be cut off; their houses with their wives and their children are not to be destroyed. "
"If a (man flees from the country of Reamasesa, the Great King, king of the country of Egypt), or two men, or three men, and if they come (to Hattusili, the Great King), the king of the country of Hatti, my brother, then Hattusili, the Great King, king of the country of Hatti, my brother, has to take hold of them and to order them to be taken to Reamasesa, the Great King, the king of the country of Egypt, because Reamasesa, the Great King, king of the country of Egypt, and Hattusili are brothers. As for their crime, it should not be imputed; their language and their eyes are not to be pulled out; their ears and their feet are not to cut off; their houses with their wives and their children are not to be destroyed."4
This treaty was truly revolutionary for its time. Not until the Geneva Convention itself would the world see a treaty like this. These two countries were the two heavy hitters of their time. However, how did the treaty affect Egypt?
Egypt, as a culture had moved away from posh tombs to a more secluded form of burial in the Valley of the Kings. She had forgotten where she came from, and was becoming a product of the world around her through trade with the Phoenicians. Egypt did not need to have a standing army. She, unlike her neighbors, was allowed to approach trade from a “let us benefit both our nations with trade” rather than “accept or we will kill you.” For thousands of years, Egypt need not worry about invasions from foreign peoples as desserts to the west and south, the Sinai to the East, and the Mediterranean Sea to the North naturally protected her. That is why, when the Hyksos invaded, Egypt was docile. Hitherto the Hyksos invasion, Egypt did not need a standing army. However, two conquering nations [the Hyksos and Hittites] had made her tough prompting Tutmosis III to draft Egypt's first standing army. Her culture suffered as a result.
