All-chariot battles played out a little differently. It seems most likely that opposing chariot armies would line up in single or double lines. The reason for such shallow formations is to prevent the collisions between downed chariots and those coming up from behind. If a chariot army consisted of thousands of chariots these lines would be truly enormous. On a relief depicting the Battle of Kadesh, Pharaoh Rameses the Great claims have lined his chariots in formation over a mile long. The opposing lines of chariots would then charge each other firing arrows at the enemy's chariot horses. As the lines approached each half of the army would turn towards the outside in a U-turn while continuing to shoot volleys at the enemy army.

The armies would continue this charge and retreat tactic until one of the armies broke and ran. Despite popular depictions chariot armies did not weave through each other and then turn and charge. The two armies would most likely have rammed each other head on and destroyed huge numbers of chariot and lives in the process. If this were attempted both armies would be destroyed after just a few charges. As chariotry warfare was played out on the plains there was little chance of one army moving undetected and flanking the enemy army. In fact with one exception, the infantry that was used at this time was used solely to prevent such tactics.

Despite the deadly speed and power of chariot armies there is little record of their use after ca. 1200 B.C. In fact by the time of the Roman Empire, chariots were entirely relegated to a ceremonial use and had no value on the battle field. The abrupt disuse of chariots and a return to infantry warfare is no doubt related to the catastrophe of that overtook much of the eastern Mediterranean ca. 1200 B.C. To understand why chariots became outmoded it is important to understand exactly what occurred during this catastrophe. As a result of the catastrophe nearly every major urban center in the eastern Mediterranean (outside of Egypt) was destroyed.

Many of these sites show abundant evidence of violent and fiery destruction. For example there are stone pillars at the Syrian site of Ugarit that are deformed from the intense heat of fire. The level of destruction at these sites has led many to assume that the catastrophe was caused by an earthquake (or earthquakes) of massive proportions. This is unlikely as an earthquake of that magnitude would be unprecedented throughout all of history.