Hittite Empire

The Hittites first appeared in history in the 20th century BC, as inhabitants of the Anatolian plateau with city of Hattusa. Historians trace the origin of the Hittites to areas beyond the Black Sea. It began spread outward around 1600 BC.

The Hittites were a composite people, fundamentally of Asian origin, but dominated by Indo-European aristocratic elements from the neighborhood of the Bosporus. 

The Hittites were the first of the Indo-European peoples to make use of iron, enabling them to construct weapons that were stronger and cheaper to make because of their widespread availability of iron ore.

The state was so powerful that a few decades later Mursilis I son of Hattusilis I (1630-1600 BC) succeeded conquering first Aleppo and then Babylon, thus causing the downfall of the Hammurabi dynasty. 

Starting around 1600 BC, the Hittites assembled their own empire in western Asia and even threatened the power of the Egyptians.

About 1460 BC, the Hittite empire arose to become one of the most amazing empires of ancient times.

The Hittite empire then stretched from the Black Sea and Lydia to the frontiers of Assyria. During the reign of Suppiluliumas (1380-1345 BC), with the submission of the kingdom of Mitanni, the Hittite state became a mighty empire, on a par with Egypt, to the extent that in the 14th and 13th centuries BC these two powers shared hegemony over the western world.

By 1190 BC Hittite power was at an end. The Hittite empire ended with the fall of its capital Hattusa. The last king was Suppiluliumas, who reign only briefly (1200-1190 BC).

After the destruction of the Hittite Empire, the surviving Neo-Hittite states in Assyria, who had been under Hittite control, continued the Hittite tradition. In 715 BC, they were finally absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. 
Hittite Empire