Who won the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War of 1973 Explain your reasoning - Assignment Example

The Yom Kippur/Ramadan War of 1973. The Yom Kippur/Ramadan War of 1973 broke out on 6 October, 1963 on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. A coalition of Arab forces, led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on two fronts. Israel was taken by surprise and suffered early reverses in the Golan Heights and in the Sinai. Israel recovered and emerged victorious. A UN sponsored ceasefire ended the war on 22 October. Although Israel repulsed the Arab advances, there were no clear winners or losers in the war.

Israel effectively won the war. However, it suffered a psychological defeat in that the formidable reputation of the Israeli Defense Force was shattered. The Israeli public lost faith in the military and political establishment. This led to the establishment of the Agranat Commission of enquiry and the resignations of Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff David Elazar and a major shake-up of the intelligence bureau. Israel lost 2,688 soldiers in the war. On the positive side, the war laid the foundation for Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt in the Camp David Accords.

This was the first official recognition of Israel by an Arab country. Egypt lost 7,700 soldiers. However, the Egyptians considered that “The war has retrieved Arab honor” (Bard). The war was a psychological victory for Egypt. Egypt’s prestige in the Arab world was considerably bolstered. Syria’s casualties numbered 3,500. Although Syrian advances were completely repulsed by Israel in the final days of the war, Syria was given a financial assistance package from the United States in order to secure its cooperation.

The world at large was brought to the brink of nuclear war as the United States and the USSR faced off on opposing sides. The Yom Kippur War had no clear victors. Works Cited.Bard, Mitchell. “The 1973 Yom Kippur War.” Jewish Virtual Library. 2013. 19 May2013.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/73_War.html