Yom Kippur War and Oil Crisis
On 6 October 1973 — Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when most Israeli soldiers were fasting and off-duty — Egypt and Syria launched coordinated surprise attacks. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal in a brilliantly executed operation using water jets to breach the Israeli sand ramparts and portable bridges to cross; Syrian armour simultaneously drove deep into the Golan Heights, at one point reaching positions from which Israeli territory was visible. The initial assault overran Israeli positions and inflicted severe losses on Israeli armour; for the first 48 hours the outcome was uncertain. Israel mobilised, halted both advances, and counter-attacked within a week. On the Egyptian front, Ariel Sharon's division crossed the Canal to the west bank on 15-16 October, encircling the Egyptian Third Army. Soviet and US airlifts resupplied their respective clients — the US airlift (Operation Nickel Grass) compensated for the enormous Israeli losses in the first days. When the US went to DEFCON 3 in response to Soviet signals of potential unilateral intervention to save the encircled Third Army, a UN ceasefire was hurriedly brokered. The war's political consequences were transformative: Egypt's military performance allowed Sadat to claim the dignity needed to negotiate, leading to the Sinai disengagement (1974), the Camp David Accords (1978), and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty (1979) — the first between Israel and an Arab state.
- Year: 1973 CE
- Category: Military
