Yom Kippur War – October 6–25, 1973

Yom Kippur War broke on Yom Kippur, October 6, 1973 when an Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria invaded Israel. Surprised, unprepared, and greatly outnumbered, Israel lost ground on both the Syrian and the Egyptian fronts and suffered bitter losses. Moshe Dayan, the Israeli Defense Minster during that time, and the hero of the Six-Day War, talked about the “Destruction of the Third Temple.”

Despite the early losses, the Israel military bounced back. Wren the war ended eighteen days later, Israel not only pushed back Egypt and Syria to the pre-war borders, but threatened both capitals. In the North, Israeli forces were on the way to Damascus. In the south, the Israeli army was on the Suez-Cairo road, encircling the Egyptian third army.

Yet despite the military victory the war was viewed in Israel as a failure both because of the high number of casualties and because of the failure of the intelligence and military systems to predict the war and prepare properly.

Despite the military defeat, the war was viewed by both Egypt and Syria as a victory because their successes at the beginning of the war. The common belief is that it is this feeling of victory that enabled President Sadat of Egypt to engage in peace negotiations on 1976 and sign the Camp David peace Accords with Israel.

Casualties:
Israel: over 2200 killed, over 7000 wounded
Arab coalition: over 8000 killed, over 18,000 wounded

Additional Reading:

1. Wikipedia: The Yom Kippur War

2. Yom Kippur War: personal testimony

3. Applying Yom Kippur Lessons to the conflict with Iran

4. Israel defense minister on lessons from the Yom Kippur War

5.  A visit to The Valley of Tears today