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Why did Ramses II go to war with the Hittites?

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Ramses II
Ramses II A larger-than-life Ramses II towering over his prisoners and clutching them by the hair. Limestone bas-relief from Memphis, Egypt, 1290–24 bce; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Ramses II went to war with the Hittites primarily to reestablish Egyptian imperial holdings in Asia that had been lost to Hittite control.1

Following the expansionist policies of his father, Seti I, Ramses II sought to reclaim Canaan and Syria and specifically aimed to recapture the strategic Hittite-held city of Kadesh. During the fourth year of his reign, he began military campaigns to subdue local dynasts in southern Syria, which served as a foundation for his subsequent push into Hittite-dominated territories.23

These hostilities, which included the famous Battle of Kadesh, continued intermittently for 16 years. The conflict eventually concluded in 1258 BCE with the signing of the first recorded peace treaty in history, establishing the two nations as equal powers and leading to a period of diplomatic cooperation.134