Editing Nebuchadnezzar II (section)

=== Nebuchadnezzar as crown prince ===
[[File:Battle of Carchemish.png|thumb|alt=Depiction of the Battle of Carchemish|The [[Battle of Carchemish]], as depicted in ''Hutchinson's Story of the Nations'', 1900]]
[[File:The so-called "Chronicle of Nabopolassar". The cuneiform inscriptions on this clay tablet narrate the chronicle of the years 608-605 BCE. 550-400 BCE. From Iraq.jpg|thumb|The so-called "Chronicle of Nabopolassar". The cuneiform inscriptions on this clay tablet narrate the chronicle of the years 608-605 BC. After the fall of Nineveh, Naboplolassar vied with Egypt to control Assyria's western territories. His death stopped the campaign and sent his son Nebuchadnezzar II back to Babylon to claim the throne.]]
Nebuchadnezzar's military career began in the reign of his father, though little information survives. Based on a letter sent to the temple administration of the Eanna temple, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar participated in his father's campaign to take the city of [[Harran]] in 610 BC.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} Harran was the seat of [[Ashur-uballit II]], who had rallied what remained of the Assyrian army and ruled the Neo-Assyrian [[rump state]].{{Sfn|Melville|2011|p=20}} The Babylonian victory in the Harran campaign and the defeat of Ashur-uballit in 609 BCE marked the end of the ancient Assyrian monarchy, which would never be restored.{{Sfn|Radner|2019|p=141}} According to the ''[[Babylonian Chronicles]]'', Nebuchadnezzar also commanded an army in an unspecified mountainous region for several months in 607 BC.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}

In the war against the Babylonians and Medes, Assyria had allied with Pharaoh [[Psamtik I]] of the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt]], who had been interested in ensuring Assyria's survival so that Assyria could remain as a buffer state between his own kingdom and the Babylonian and Median kingdoms.{{Sfn|Lipschits|2005|p=16}} After the fall of Harran, Psamtik's successor, Pharaoh [[Necho II]], personally led a large army into former Assyrian lands to turn the tide of the war and restore the Neo-Assyrian Empire''',{{Sfn|Rowton|1951|p=128}}''' even though it was more or less a lost cause as Assyria had already collapsed.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=7}} As Nabopolassar was occupied with fighting [[Urartu]] in the north, the Egyptians took control of the [[Levant]] largely unopposed, capturing territories as far north as the city of [[Carchemish]] in Syria, where Necho established his base of operations.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=182}}

Nebuchadnezzar's greatest victory from his time as crown prince came at the [[Battle of Carchemish]] in 605 BC,{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} which put an end to Necho's campaign in the Levant by inflicting a crushing defeat on the Egyptians.{{Sfn|Lipschits|2005|p=20}}{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=7}} Nebuchadnezzar had been the sole commander of the Babylonian army at this battle as his father had chosen to stay in Babylon,{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=8}} perhaps on account of illness.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=182}} Necho's forces were completely annihilated by Nebuchadnezzar's army, with Babylonian sources claiming that not a single Egyptian escaped alive.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=230}} The account of the battle in the Babylonian Chronicle reads as follows:{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}

{{blockquote| quote = The king of Akkad{{efn|"Akkad" here refers to Babylonia{{sfn|Da Riva|2017|p=77}} and derives from the city [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]], the capital of the ancient Akkadian Empire that Nabopolassar worked to connect himself to.{{Sfn|Nielsen|2015|pp=61–62}} The "king of Akkad" referred to here is thus Nabopolassar.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}|group="n"}} stayed home (while) Nebuchadnezzar, his eldest son (and) crown prince mustered [the army of Akkad]. He took his army's lead and marched to Carchemish, which is on the bank of the Euphrates. He crossed the river at Carchemish. [...] They did battle together. The army of Egypt retreated before him. He inflicted a [defeat] upon them (and) finished them off completely. In the district of Hamath the army of Akkad overtook the remainder of the army of [Egypt which] managed to escape [from] the defeat and which was not overcome. They inflicted a defeat upon them (so that) a single (Egyptian) man [did not return] home. At that time Nebuchadnezzar conquered all of Ha[ma]th.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}}}

The story of Nebuchadnezzar's victory at Carchemish reverberated through history, appearing in many later ancient accounts, including in the [[Book of Jeremiah]] and the [[Books of Kings]] in the Bible. It is possible to conclude, based on subsequent geopolitics, that the victory resulted in all of Syria and Israel coming under the control of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, a feat which the Assyrians under [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] ({{Reign}}745–727 BC) only accomplished after five years of protracted military campaigns.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} The defeat of Egypt at Carchemish ensured that the Neo-Babylonian Empire would grow to become the major power of the ancient Near East, and the uncontested successor of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=8}}{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=183}}