Military and Political Structures of the Hittites and the Assyrians – Compare and Contrast Essay

The army of Hittite was systematized around the decimal system mutual to armies of the area during that time. The Archers, chariots, and infantry also shared the same organizational design, with ten squads, ten companies’ battalions, ten squads companies. The infantry army was deployed for battle in a group of 10 men wide and ten men deep, and a battalions parading with 100 men in the front and ten deep. The Hittite infantry basic weapons were the medium-length spear, sickle sword, and axe (Angelfire, n.d).  The Assyrian ancient military command structure on contrary to Hittites began with the Assyrian king being the high commander in the whole military. An acting commander would be appointed by the king in case the king is unwilling or unable to take part in the battle. Unlike in Hittites standing military division in Assyrian would be distributed based on the state from where the soldiers lived. The forces would be led by the regional government based on orders received from the commander in the military. The military of ancient Assyrian was the first one to utilize a backup in Mesopotamia (Gale Groups, 2009).

The Hittite government was the initial constitutional monarchy. The activities of the King were monitored by noblemen assembly in association to their laws. The noblemen assembly was believed to have power to install or remove kings as required. Since they lacked succession law till circa 1500 BC, the king death before then initiated power struggle. The Hittites ruler in empire years was regarded as the Great King. Every year the vassal states rulers brought Hattusas gifts and promised their loyalty in exchange for military protection and trade favors (Angelfire, n.d.). Similar to Hittites, Assyrian Empire was governed by a king who acted as Ashur; gods, earthly deputy. Hittites also honored the King initially as a god and believed that kings became gods after their death. Similar to Hittites where the king determines who to receive the military support, Assyrian king acted senior military commander. Unlike Hittites kings, Assyrians kings had a number of assistance who adopted various specialties that included administration, the military, or foreign policy. They were also provincial governors, scribes, tax collectors and palace administrators. The Kings also desired to indirectly rule more distant territories via puppet kings and client states. Assyrian kings also did not have noblemen assembly to monitor their actions (Gale Groups, 2009).

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