Tension and Conflict, 1956-73 » The Yom Kippur War, 1973

Why Sadat wanted a war

After the Six-Day War of 1967 Israel held the whole Sinai Peninsula, right up to the Suez Canal. Egypt's president Nasser died in 1970 and Anwar Sadat took his place. Sadat tried peaceful ways first. He offered Israel talks about a partial deal on Sinai, but Israel would not hand back the land without a full peace. The stalemate suited Israel, and the USA and the Soviet Union did little to change it.

Sadat decided that only a war could break the deadlock. He did not expect to destroy Israel. His aims were:

• To win back Sinai, or at least start the process.
• To restore Arab pride after the humiliation of 1967.
• To shock the great powers into acting, so that Israel would have to talk seriously.

Syria's president, Hafez al-Assad, joined him because he wanted the Golan Heights back. Sadat had sent Soviet advisers home in 1972, but he still bought modern Soviet weapons.

Key terms:

• Yom Kippur: the holiest day of the Jewish year, a day of fasting and prayer when almost everything in Israel stops.
• Bar-Lev Line: a chain of Israeli forts and a huge sand wall along the east bank of the Suez Canal.
• Oil weapon: using oil supplies and prices as a form of pressure. Arab oil producers used it in 1973.

The attack: October 1973

At about 2 pm on 6 October 1973, which was Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked together. Thousands of Egyptian soldiers crossed the Suez Canal in small boats. Engineers washed holes in the sand wall of the Bar-Lev Line using high-pressure water hoses, and bridges were built across the canal. In the north, hundreds of Syrian tanks pushed into the Golan Heights.

Why the Arab attack at first succeeded

The Egyptian and Syrian armies had also trained for months for one clear task, and they attacked together on two fronts. Within days Egypt held a strip of land on the east bank of the canal, and Israel was fighting on two fronts at once.

Israel recovers

Israel then fought back. Its reservists were called up and rushed to the fronts within days. On the Golan the Syrian advance was stopped, and Israeli troops pushed the Syrians back to within artillery range of Damascus. In the south, Egyptian tanks moved forward beyond their missile cover on 14 October and lost many tanks. Soon afterwards an Israeli force under General Ariel Sharon crossed to the west bank of the canal and trapped the Egyptian Third Army.

The USA also sent Israel a large airlift of weapons. The superpowers' part is covered in the lesson The Cold War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. On 22 October the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire (Resolution 338). Fighting went on for a few more days, but it ended by 25 October. More than 2,500 Israelis and many thousands of Arab soldiers had died.

Effects of the war

• The oil weapon. Arab oil producers cut production and stopped selling oil to the USA and some other countries that backed Israel. The price of oil roughly quadrupled and countries in the West faced shortages. The world could no longer ignore the conflict.
• Sadat's standing. Although the Third Army was trapped, Egyptians remembered the crossing of the canal as a victory. Sadat became a hero in the Arab world and could now negotiate from a stronger position.
• Israel's shaken confidence. Israel had survived, but it had been caught by surprise. Many people blamed their leaders. A commission of inquiry criticised army chiefs, and Prime Minister Golda Meir resigned in 1974. Israelis no longer felt that their army could not be beaten.
• A push to talk. Both sides had seen the cost of another war. The talks that followed are covered in the lesson Kissinger and Shuttle Diplomacy, 1973-75.

Change and continuity: in 1967 Israel won in six days and the Arabs were humbled. In 1973 the Arabs did far better, and neither side could claim an easy win. But the land was still disputed and the Palestinian problem was still unsolved.

Exam-style question

Explain TWO ways in which Egypt's position after the 1973 war was different from its position after the Six-Day War of 1967. [6 marks]

(After 1967, Israel held all of Sinai and Egypt's army had been beaten in six days.) Make each way a direct comparison, with a fact about 1967 and a fact about 1973. One way only can score no more than half marks.