The first reliably recorded battle was the Battle of Megiddo between Pharaoh Thutmose III and several states in the Levant led by the king of Kadesh. In the 15th century BC these Levant kingdoms had been attempting to switch their allegiance from the Egyptian to the Hittite empire. When Thutmose ascended to the throne he attacked these Levant Kingdoms so as to bring them to heel. The battle was a route and the Egyptians chased their enemy into the city of Megiddo. The city was eventually captured, however, and the king of Kadesh escaped. It would take several years for Thutmose to pacify the Levant, but he would eventually do so, and lead Egypt in her largest territorial conquests.