Yom Kippur War

Yom Kippur War
Part of the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Cold War

Clockwise from top-left:
Date6–25 October 1973
(2 weeks and 5 days)
Location
Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula, Suez Canal (both banks) and surrounding regions
Result Israeli victory[25] (see aftermath)
Territorial
changes
  • Egyptian forces occupy the eastern bank of the Suez Canal, with the exception of the Israeli crossing point near the Deversoir Air Base[26]
  • Israeli forces occupy 1,600 km2 (620 sq mi) of territory on the southwestern coast of the Suez Canal within 100 km (60 mi) of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, and encircle an Egyptian enclave on its eastern bank[26]
  • Israeli forces occupy 500 km2 (193 sq mi) of the Syrian Bashan region on top of the Golan Heights, bringing them within 32 km (20 mi) of the Syrian capital of Damascus[27]
Belligerents
 Israel Egypt
Syria
Expeditionary forces:
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • 375,000[28]–415,000 troops
  • 1,700 tanks[29]
  • 3,000 armored carriers
  • 945 artillery units[30]
  • 440 combat aircraft
Egypt:
  • 650,000[28]–800,000[31] troops (200,000 crossed)[citation needed]
  • 1,700 tanks (1,020 crossed)[32]
  • 2,400 armored carriers
  • 1,120 artillery units[30]
  • 400 combat aircraft
  • 140 helicopters[33]
  • 104 naval vessels
  • 150 surface-to-air missile batteries (62 in the front line)[34]
Syria:
  • 150,000[28] troops
  • 1,200 tanks
    800–900 armored carriers
  • 600 artillery units[30][35]
Expeditionary forces:
Saudi Arabia:
23,000 troops (3,000 crossed)[38][4][39][40]
Morocco:
Cuba:
Total:
  • 914,000–1,067,500 troops
  • 3,430–3,600 tanks
  • 3,900–4,000 armored carriers
  • 1,720 artillery units
  • 452 combat aircraft
  • 140 helicopters
  • 104 naval vessels
  • 150 surface-to-air missile batteries
Casualties and losses
  • 2,521[45]–2,800[46][47] dead
  • 7,250[48]–8,800[46] wounded
  • 293 captured
  • 400 tanks destroyed, 663 damaged or captured[49]
  • 407 armored vehicles destroyed or captured
  • 102–387 aircraft destroyed[50][51]
Egypt: 5,000[46]–15,000[52] dead
Syria:
Morocco:
[dead link][citation needed] Iraq:
  • 278 dead
  • 898 wounded[54]
  • 13 captured[53]
Cuba:
  • 180 dead
  • 250 wounded[7]
Jordan:
  • 23 dead
  • 77 wounded[54]

Total casualties:

The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War,[60] the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. The majority of combat between the two sides took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights—both of which had been occupied by Israel in 1967—with some fighting in African Egypt and northern Israel.[61][62][page needed] Egypt's initial objective in the war was to seize a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and subsequently leverage these gains to negotiate the return of the rest of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula.[63][64][65][66]

The war began on 6 October 1973, when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred during the 10th day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year.[67] Following the outbreak of hostilities, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their allies (Israel and the Arab states respectively) during the war,[68][69][70] which led to a confrontation between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.[71]

Fighting commenced when Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed their corresponding ceasefire lines with Israel and entered the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Badr and advanced into the Sinai Peninsula; the Syrians launched a coordinated attack in the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made gains into Israeli-held territory. After three days of heavy fighting, Israel halted the Egyptian offensive, resulting in a military stalemate on that front, and pushed the Syrians back to the pre-war ceasefire lines. The Israeli military then launched a four-day-long counter-offensive deep into Syria, and within a week Israeli artillery began to shell the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus. Egyptian forces meanwhile pushed for two strategic mountain passes deeper within the Sinai Peninsula but were repulsed, and Israeli forces counter-attacked by crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing towards Suez City.[72][73] On 22 October, an initial ceasefire brokered by the United Nations unravelled, with each side blaming the other for the breach.

By 24 October, the Israelis had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army and Suez City, bringing them within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. This development led to dangerously heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, and a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on 25 October 1973, to officially end the war.

The Yom Kippur War had far-reaching implications; the Arab world had experienced humiliation in the lopsided rout of the Egyptian–Syrian–Jordanian alliance in 1967 but felt psychologically vindicated by early successes in the 1973 conflict. The Israelis recognized that, despite impressive operational and tactical achievements on the battlefield, there was no guarantee that they would always dominate the Arab states militarily, as they had done consistently throughout the First, Second and Third Arab–Israeli Wars; these changes paved the way for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. At the 1978 Camp David Accords that followed the war, Israel returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, which led to the subsequent 1979 Egyptian–Israeli peace treaty, marking the first instance that an Arab country recognized Israel as a legitimate state. Following the achievement of peace with Israel, Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and eventually left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely.

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  12. ^ Herzog (1975), Foreword.
  13. ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, p. 450.
  14. ^ Luttwak; Horowitz (1983). The Israeli Army. Cambridge, MA: Abt Books. ISBN 978-0-89011-585-5.
  15. ^ Rabinovich (2004). The Yom Kippur War. Schocken Books. p. 498.
  16. ^ Kumaraswamy, PR (2000). Revisiting The Yom Kippur War. Psychology Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-7146-5007-4.
  17. ^ Johnson & Tierney 2009, pp. 177, 180.
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  21. ^ Asaf Siniver (2013). The Yom Kippur War: Politics, Legacy, Diplomacy. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-933481-0. (p. 6) "For most Egyptians the war is remembered as an unquestionable victory—militarily as well as politically ... The fact that the war ended with Israeli troops stationed in the outskirts of Cairo and in complete encirclement of the Egyptian third army has not dampened the jubilant commemoration of the war in Egypt." (p. 11) "Ultimately, the conflict provided a military victory for Israel, but it is remembered as 'the earthquake' or 'the blunder'"
  22. ^ Ian Bickerton (2012). The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Guide for the Perplexed. A&C Black. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-4411-2872-0. the Arab has suffered repeated military defeats at the hand of Israel in 1956, 1967, and 1973
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  26. ^ a b Morris, 2011, Righteous Victims, p. 437
  27. ^ Morris, 2011 p. 433, "Bashan ... 500 square kilometers ... which brought it within 20 miles [32 km] of Damascus"
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  29. ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, pp. 372–373.
  30. ^ a b c The number reflects artillery units of caliber 100 mm and up
  31. ^ Herzog (1975), p. 239.
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  33. ^ Shazly, p. 272.
  34. ^ Haber & Schiff, pp. 30–31.
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  37. ^ Bar-On, Mordechai (2004). A Never Ending Conflict. Greenwood Publishing. p. 170.
  38. ^ Neil Partrick (2016). Saudi Arabian Foreign Policy: Conflict and Cooperation. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-85772-793-0.
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  41. ^ a b Touchard, Laurent (7 November 2013). "Guerre du Kippour : quand le Maroc et l'Algérie se battaient côte à côte". Jeune Afrique. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
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  47. ^ Journal "الأهرام","Al Ahram". 14 October 1974
  48. ^ Rabinovich. The Yom Kippur War. p. 497.
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  51. ^ "القوة الثالثة، تاريخ القوات الجوية المصرية." Third Power: History of Egyptian Air Force Ali Mohammed Labib. pp. 187
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  55. ^ Rabinovich p. 497
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  59. ^ Herzog (1975), p. 269.
  60. ^ (Hebrew: מלחמת יום הכיפורים, Milẖemet Yom HaKipurim, or מלחמת יום כיפור, Milẖemet Yom Kipur; Arabic: حرب أكتوبر, Ḥarb ʾUktōbar, or حرب تشرين, Ḥarb Tišrīn),
  61. ^ Rabinovich, Abraham (2004). The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East. Schoken Books. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-8052-1124-5.
  62. ^ Herzog (1975).
  63. ^ Herzog (1975), p. 37.
  64. ^ Insight Team of the London Sunday Times (1974), p. 15.
  65. ^ Herzog (1982), p. 321.
  66. ^ James Bean and Craig Girard (2001). "Anwar al-Sadat's grand strategy in the Yom Kippur War" (PDF). National War College. pp. 1, 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
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  69. ^ Rodman, David (29 July 2015). "The Impact of American Arms Transfers to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War". Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. 7 (3): 107–114. doi:10.1080/23739770.2013.11446570. S2CID 141596916. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  70. ^ Levey, Zach (7 October 2008). "Anatomy of an airlift: United States military assistance to Israel during the 1973 war". Cold War History. 8 (4): 481–501. doi:10.1080/14682740802373552. S2CID 154204359. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  71. ^ Quandt, William (2005). Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab–Israeli Conflict Since 1967 (third ed.). California: University of California Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0-520-24631-7.
  72. ^ Hammad (2002), pp. 237–276
  73. ^ Gawrych (1996), p. 60