King Tushratta of the Mitanni was no easy opponent, winning a great many of the initial engagements against the invading Hattic forces. For the entirety of his reign, Tushratta and his people were staunch loyalists to the Egyptian crown, and he reasoned that if his kingdom could demonstrate vigilance in the face of those who sought to destroy them, the Kingdom of Nile would surely embolster his defending nation.
Egypt, as we know however, was on the decline, and did anything but reinforce her Mitannian allies. Not only did the ill-prepared Egyptian forces fail to assist the Mitanni, but retreated from their occupied Syria soils at the first sightings of the Hattic enemy. Thus, despite winning on the field, king Tushratta ordered a tactical retreat back to his seat within Washukanni, the capital city of Hanigalbat that sat on the embankments of the Euphrates.
The king of the Mitanni dispelled any false notions of Egyptian rescue, for many months hearing from a distance how the Hattic army ravaged his land. Upon a brief deliberation, Tushratta recognized that his communication with Egypt was cutoff entirely, and was forced to consider suing for peace with Shubbiluliuma, rather than risk further annihilation. But the proud king was not to be swayed, this was a violation of property that he refused to throw out due to fear.
But the growing sentimentalities amongst his followers had morphed into dissension, and whilst his fighting spirit was undoubtedly hinged on the shoulders of honor and duty, a rebellious new faction was formed. This very faction, led by his own son Artatami II, betrayed the king, and the son violently slayed the father within his own palace walls, by way of razor, thus usurping the throne.
Hanigalbat then submitted to king Shubbiluliuma as overlord and by the time Tushratta's successor, Mattiuaza, assumed the throne, his entire kingdom was overrun by the Hittites of the west followed by the Assyrians of the east.
What strong leaders sometimes fail to recognize is that the the standard to which they hold themselves to does not necessarily apply to others. Tushratta reasoned that together with Egypt, they would expel the Hattic enemy, completely blind to the possibility of Egypt acting in cowardice. His capital stronghold being situated on an everflowing river, where he fortified knowing Washukanni impenetrable, could outlast the invasion. And yet his treacherous supporters and family murdered him.
History would have played out so very differently had only Tushratta simply continued to fight and trusted no one, holding true to the abilities of his own leadership and desire for his nation to remain independent.
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