Yom Kippur

No Peace, No War, October 1973

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Communism & Socialism, History, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Yom Kippur by Peter Baxter, Pen and Sword
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Peter Baxter ISBN: 9781526707925
Publisher: Pen and Sword Publication: June 30, 2017
Imprint: Pen and Sword Military Language: English
Author: Peter Baxter
ISBN: 9781526707925
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication: June 30, 2017
Imprint: Pen and Sword Military
Language: English

It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944—long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe—with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was the Middle East …

On the afternoon of 6 October, 1973, the colossus of the Israeli Defence Forces was awakened by a wave of airstrikes, followed by an artillery bombardment along the Suez Canal that preceded a meticulously planned Egyptian invasion of the Israeli-held Sinai. Simultaneously, a massive Syrian armored assault bore down on Israeli positions on the Golan Heights. The day was Yom Kippur, the most holy day on the Jewish religious calendar, and the commencement of a war that would bring the young state of Israel to the very brink of defeat.

In the aftermath of the Six-Day War of 1967, a stunning Arab reversal at the hands of the untested Israeli Defence Forces, Israel occupied and held Arab territory on the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. These were for the most part territorial buffer zones, retained to protect Israel against an inevitable future war, but their ongoing occupation remained an open diplomatic wound. In the meanwhile, a mood of complacency came to affect the Israeli military machine, in the belief that air and armored dominance of the battlefield would, as had been the case in 1967, guarantee a quick victory in any future war.

The Yom Kippur War proved the fallacy of this belief, revealing critical weaknesses in Israeli intelligence capability and battlefield strategy. The ferocity and effectiveness of the combined invasion pushed the much-storied Israeli armed forces almost to the point of collapse. Only the rapid resupply of arms and equipment by the United States, and a display of extraordinary reliance and determination by the fighting forces of Israel, rescued the young state from annihilation. The story of the Yom Kippur War is an object lesson in the dynamism of military thinking, the evolution of battlefield technology and the uneasy alliance of east and west during the Cold War era of détente. Yom Kippur was both a military and political maneuver that adjusted the balance of power in the Middle East, and set the tone for the ideological standoff that continues in the region to this day

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944—long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe—with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was the Middle East …

On the afternoon of 6 October, 1973, the colossus of the Israeli Defence Forces was awakened by a wave of airstrikes, followed by an artillery bombardment along the Suez Canal that preceded a meticulously planned Egyptian invasion of the Israeli-held Sinai. Simultaneously, a massive Syrian armored assault bore down on Israeli positions on the Golan Heights. The day was Yom Kippur, the most holy day on the Jewish religious calendar, and the commencement of a war that would bring the young state of Israel to the very brink of defeat.

In the aftermath of the Six-Day War of 1967, a stunning Arab reversal at the hands of the untested Israeli Defence Forces, Israel occupied and held Arab territory on the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. These were for the most part territorial buffer zones, retained to protect Israel against an inevitable future war, but their ongoing occupation remained an open diplomatic wound. In the meanwhile, a mood of complacency came to affect the Israeli military machine, in the belief that air and armored dominance of the battlefield would, as had been the case in 1967, guarantee a quick victory in any future war.

The Yom Kippur War proved the fallacy of this belief, revealing critical weaknesses in Israeli intelligence capability and battlefield strategy. The ferocity and effectiveness of the combined invasion pushed the much-storied Israeli armed forces almost to the point of collapse. Only the rapid resupply of arms and equipment by the United States, and a display of extraordinary reliance and determination by the fighting forces of Israel, rescued the young state from annihilation. The story of the Yom Kippur War is an object lesson in the dynamism of military thinking, the evolution of battlefield technology and the uneasy alliance of east and west during the Cold War era of détente. Yom Kippur was both a military and political maneuver that adjusted the balance of power in the Middle East, and set the tone for the ideological standoff that continues in the region to this day

More books from Pen and Sword

Cover of the book Armageddon's Walls by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Jet Wars in the Nuclear Age by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Barnsley Pals by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Bannockburn by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book United States Naval Aviation 1911-2014 by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Cruise Ships by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Pioneers of Aerial Combat by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Das Reich by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book The Malayan Emergency & Indonesian Confrontation by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Roman Empire at War by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Marching to the Sound of Gunfire by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Spirit of Resistance by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Periscope Patrol by Peter Baxter
Cover of the book Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917 by Peter Baxter
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy