The October 1973 War - Essay Example

The October 1973 war (Yom Kippur war) Name Institution Introduction In the year 1967 during the Peninsula war and a long time ongoing Arab- Israeli conflict, Egypt lost territories to the Israelites (Middle east research and information project, n.d). In 1970 when Answar Sadat became the president of Egypt, he indicated his intentions of signing up peace treaties with Israel if the latter conceded the territories it had claimed from Egypt. The Israel government ignored this overture. Sadat made a resolution to launch a full-scale war with Israel. Because of lack of resources following a dilapidated Egyptian economy at this particular period, Sadat had no option but to seek assistance from other countries in the Arab league. He also sought weaponry and war equipments back up from the Soviet Union. Syria was among the major allies of Egypt in this war, hoping itself to reclaim Golan Heights from the Israelites. The attack coming on the Yom Kippur, a Jewish holy day took the Israelites by surprise (History.com website, n.d). By the time the Israel forces had mobilized themselves fully for the counter attack by the third day, the Egyptian and Syrian forces had already closed the Suez Canal into Israel. After six days of heavy casualties on both sides, the United Nations enacted a cease-fire and peace negotiations began with the assistance of the USA, bringing to a close the October 1973 war. This report examines the details of this war. The causes of the war will be established here. The effects of the war will also become established in this report. Causes and events leading to the October 1973 war Various events led to the October 1973 war. This war was also referred to as the Yom Kippur war. These events have been discussed in the following paragraphs. The major cause of this war was the Israel’s rejection of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat of relinquishing territories conquered in the 1967 Arab-Israel war in exchange for peace treaties (History.com website, n.d). President Sadat was determined to have the nation give back those territories to the Egyptian people. The Israelites, through their intelligence unit, Mossed believed that they had the capacity and the necessary resources to repel any attack that Egypt might initiate. Because of this reason, they declined to agree to Sadat’s offer of land for peace. Sadat reacted by rallying support from other nations in the Arab league, particularly Syria. He also sought military advice and equipments from the Soviet Union. Superpowers in the world at that time also played a big role in the facilitation of this war. The Soviet Union did not want the USA to have dominance in the Arab league and agreed to assist Egypt with military equipment and training when Egypt threatened to cross over and start negotiations with the USA (Regan, 2010). The USA on the other hand had their interests in this war vested on Israel. They promised to supply Israel with their superior weapons once the Egyptians attacked. It was a show of might between these two superpowers, using Israel and Egypt as pawns. They wanted to show who had the most modern equipment and military superiority. Their role in agreeing to finance and supply the war on either side greatly influenced the decision by the leaders of the two nations to go to war. With more than 20000 Soviet Union military advisers training Egyptian troops on the combat skills, Sadat was comfortable that he would win back the territories from Israel (Mfa website, n.d). Israel on the other hand was comfortable in its capacity to repel any advances made by the armies of Egypt and Syria. This confidence was boosted by the country’s over whelming win over the Arab league in the 1967 peninsula war. Israel also relied heavily on the information it received from its intelligence agency, Mossad, ranked among the best in the world. However, despite the soviet training the Egyptian soldiers, they did not believe that Egypt would go past the Suez Canal. When they realized the determination of Sadat, they pulled out their support. Sadat retaliated by expunging all soviet military advisers from the Egyptian soil. Another factor that influenced the decision to go to war was the weakening economy of Egypt. When Sadat took over power in 1970, the economy of Egypt was performing very poorly. The citizens were eager to see the new president effect reforms and policies that would see this trend reversed. Going to war was one of these decisions. There was a lot of pressure on Sadat coming from the civil activists as well as restless university students in the country to go to war with Israel (Palestine facts, n.d). Because of this, Sadat began a process of mobilizing and training his troops on combat skills. Many young men were recruited into the army. Equipments and military training was supplied by the Soviet Union. Sadat’s personal will and the desire to leave a legacy was a driving force that resulted into this war. In his mind, Sadat thought that even if the battle would be lost, he would prove to show the Israelites that peace will never exist in the region until those territories were given back to Egypt. The war would mark Sadat’s milestone in power. Sadat knew that with this war, his popularity as a political leader in Egypt would rise, giving him the edge he needed to make important and necessary reforms in the government. The effects of the October 1973 war The October 1973 had many effects. Like all wars, many of those effects were devastating. The following paragraphs detail the effects that resulted from the war. One of the major positive effects and outcomes was the ultimate signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Egypt regained the Suez Canal (Mfa website, n.d).This treaty was celebrated across the Arab league as an opening to widespread peace in the region. Israel on the other hand was reacting to the public outcry that demanded they return the territories they had taken from Egypt in 1967 and end the war. In the end, it was a win-win situation with Egypt regaining lost territories and Israel being assured of peace. Diplomatic relations between the Israel nations and the Arab nations were opened up to foster peace in the region and to ensure that those peace treaties were enforced. For Syria, however, the war proved to be a disaster. The country did not have enough resources to stage a full-scale war of its own against Israel. As a result, the country lost even more territory to the Israel in the year 1979. One of the notable effects was the massive and widespread devastation the war left in its wake. In all the countries that were participants in this war, there was a lot of damage to property and massive loss of life. Numerous military personnel died in this fight. Heavy casualties were experienced in both sides. Others became maimed for life. The destruction to property ran into millions of dollars. Millions of dollars was also spent in intelligence gathering, military recruitment and training as well as in the acquisition of equipment for use in this war. It was reported that Israel lost over 30 million dollars in a false alarm over an Egyptian attack in preparations for a counter offensive. The war had social implications too especially in Israel. It has been noted that the first attack happened on Yom Kippur, Israel’s holy day and it caught the whole nation and the defense forces off-guard. The cabinet of Israel had dismissed a possible attack on the nation after a previous false alarm. The intelligence across the globe including the CIA did not perceive this imminent attack by Egypt on Israel this particular day (Eshman, 2009). This gave the Egyptians a head start. The Israel citizens had a public outcry and criticism of the intelligence and defense forces pertaining to issues of their unpreparedness. The public failed to understand how the Egyptians could move such massive forces without the comprehension of the Israel’s intelligence service. The spies had their own explanation of this flop in intelligence. They reasoned that with Egypt’s acquisition of modern equipments and tankers, it would take awhile for the nation to train its soldiers and because of this reason, any imminent attack was dismissed as not possible. When it happened, the Israel forces took three days to mobilize and with assistance from the USA, they started counter attacking. This resulted into the ultimate resignation of the major policy makers citing incompetency. Ties between nations were severed and others solidified following diplomatic lines. Egypt seems to be the one that had major issues in this segment. Egypt had initially courted the support of the USA in bringing peace in the region and regaining their lost territory in Israel. This was evidenced through meetings with then USA president Richard Nixon on Camp David (RICHARD NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM, 2013). This led to the USA delaying supplies to Israel for a week as a mild gesture of trying to honor this agreement. The bond between Egypt and other Arab countries worsened during this period. This resulted into Egypt being voted out of the Arab league. The UN intervened in the war, ordered a cease-fire, and foresaw negotiations between these countries. The relationship between the Soviet Union and Egypt worsened. This was after Sadat expelled over 20000 Soviet Union military advisers from Egypt. The war also led to a cold war between the two major nuclear superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union. Because of their diversified interests in this war, they found themselves at extreme ends. Each wanted to prove its superiority over the other through supplying of weaponry and training to their allies, the soviet aligning with Egypt and the USA aligning with Israel. There was a lot of unspoken hostility between these two super powers that threatened to erupt during this war. To prevent this and perhaps prevent another world war, the two super powers met and had agreements that would see their partiality in this war (Eshman, 2009). They argued that because of their nuclear capabilities, their involvement in the war would lead to very disastrous consequences. Because of USA’s involvement on the israel’s side in this war, the Arab oil producing nations that backed egypt declared their intention of reducing the production of oil. The USA rebuffed this decision and continued supplying weaponry and equipment to the israel troops. The threat was carried out and the consequently, the oil crises of 1973 resulted. Bearing in mind that almost 70% of all the oil that is used to power machines and industries in the world comes from this region, the reduction in oil production was felt hard. Economies plummeted down, prices of goods shot up and inflation set it. Conclusion The above discussion has analyzed the October 1973 war, also known as the Yom Kippur war along the lines of what caused the war and the effects of the war. As seen here, there are several causes of this war. The major cause illustrated here was the act of israel to snub the Egyptian’s president Sadat offer of relinquishing conquered territories for a peace pact. Another was the pressure applied on Sadat by the citizens of Egypt to go to war with israel. The superpowers, that is, the soviet union and the USA also had a role in this as observed here. They were responsible for the supply and arming of the warring nations. The effects of the war have been diverse and adverse. The war resulted into many casualties from both sides and the massive destruction of property and infrastructure. However, the report has also shown that the war led to the establishment of peace treaties between israel and egypt, with the former returning conquered territories to the latter. This led to creation of accords and treaties that promoted peace within this region. In conclusion, the October 1973 war, like other ways had both positive and negative effects on the people and nations involved in the war. References Eshman, R. (2009). Lessons of the Yom Kippur war. Retrieved from http://www.jewishjournal.com/bloggish/item/lessons_of_the_yom_kippur_war_20090929 History.com website (n.d). The Yom Kippur war. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/yom-kippur-war Regan, A. (2010). The Consequences of the Yom Kippur War. Retrieved from http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/The+Consequences+of+the+Yom+Kippur+War RICHARD NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM. (2013). President Nixon and the role of intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/historical-collection-publications/arab-israeli-war/nixon-arab-isaeli-war.pdf Middle east research and information project. (n.d). The October 1973 war. Retrieved from http://www.merip.org/october-1973-war-camp-david-i Mfa website. (n.d). The Yom Kippur war. Retrieved from http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/Pages/The%20Yom%20Kippur%20War%20-%20October%201973.aspx Palestine facts. (n.d). Result of the Yom Kippurr war of 1973. 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