Battle of Ganuvara

The Battle of Ganuvara, also Kannuwara was fought between the Hittite Empire and the Hayasa-Azzi confederation during the reign of the Hittite king Mursili II. The Hayasa-Azzi had served as one of the Hittite’s most determined enemies for the past half century, however in a battle outside the city of Ganuvara they were decisively defeated by the Hittite general Nuvanza and would never be a threat to the Hittites again.

Background

The Hayasa-Azzi are first recorded when they are one of multiple people groups who invaded the Hittite kingdom during the difficult reign of Tudhaliya II. Not much about them is known but they were likely a political confederation of multiple small kingdoms whose heartland was located in the Armenian Highlands. They are reported to have seized the important Hittite city of Samuha before Tudhaliya sent his son, general and later Hittite King Suppiluliuma against them. Suppiluliuma defeated the Hayasa-Azzi and forced them to return the captured Hittite territory and become Hittite vassals, thus ending the first period of conflict between the two nations.
However during the reign of Mursili II, around 20 years after the end of Tudhaliya II’s reign, the new king of Hayasa-Azzi who was called Anniyash restarted the war with the Hittites along with many other of the Hittites enemies. Anniyash attacked Hittite territory and sacked many cities and then refused to return the prisoners taken. In reaction to this Mursili II launched campaigns against the Hayasa-Azzi during the seventh and eight years of his reign. These campaigns were successful in removing Hayasan forces from Hittite territory but it still didn’t subdue the kingdom. In Mursili II’s ninth year he was unable to attend to the Hayasan problem as rebellion in Syria by the Nuhašše distracted him. Taking advantage of this Anniyash launched another large invasion of Hittite territory, occupying Istitina and besieging the city of Ganuvara. The Annals of Mursili record that the Hayasan army had 10,000 men and 700 chariots. Murisili sent his general and cup bearer called Nuvanza to deal with the threat.

Battle

Nuvanza inflicted a decisive defeat on the Hayasan army outside Ganuvara, as recorded in the Annals of Mursili:

Aftermath

The battle seemingly eradicated the military power of the Hayasa-Azzi confederation as they are never recorded as taking any major military action against anyone again. In his tenth year Mursili invaded their territory and the next year received their formal submission. The Hayasa-Azzi confederation would remain a Hittite vassal until the Hittite Empire’s fall during the Bronze Age Collapse, after which the eventual fate of the confederation remains unknown; it most likely mixed with other peoples in the area and could be the ancestors of the later Urartu kingdom and modern Armenians.