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Egypt and Syria launched coordinated assault
From the north, Syrian forces move into the Golan Heights region. From the east Egyptians move across the Suez Canal Pic: Historynet.com -
Period: to
Yom Kippur War
This is a timeline of the Yom Kippur War. A conflict between Israel and Egypt/Syrian led Islamic states to push Israel back out of territory they viewed as rightfully Muslim. Although the war only occurred during the month of October, 1973 it was a bloody and vicious conflict between embittered cultural rivals and was the final major war between Arab nations and Israel. Although true peace accords were not reached until the Camp David Accords it stands as the final major conflict of the era. -
Syrian Success
Syria Captures most of the southern portion of the Golan Heights in rapid, overwhelming numbers.
Picture: Jewish Virtual Library -
Israeli first counterattack
Israel launches its first counterattack against Egypt in the Sinai region and is unsuccessful. They believed that a quick head-on attack by armored units would break the Egyptians as it had in previous wars. They were wrong. -
Israel urges the United States to send support
Israel pleads for help and the shipment of arms by Nixon and the US government to help them in their war. Nixon is sympathetic and sends over two billion dollars of aid in the form of jets, tanks, and supplies. -
Valley of Tears
On the fourth day of fighting in the Golan Heights, the massively outnumbered Israeli forces managed to outmaneuver and outwit the much larger Syrian forces. This caused the Syrian forces to withdraw and was a huge victory for the IDF (Israeli Defense Force). In the end over 800 Syrian tanks and armored units were destroyed. The Israelis only lost around 100. Pic: Historynet.com -
Israel counterattack into Syria from the Golan Heights
Israel successfully attacks Syria from its positions in the Golan Heights region they had recently repelled the Syrians from. This causes the USSR to claim that they would give air support to Syria if Damascus (Syrian capital) is attacked. The Israelis got within 25 miles of Damascus. -
OPEC Oil Embargo
As part of Anwar Sadat's (Egyptian PM) plan during the invasion the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries put an embargo on oil for countries that supported Israel in the war. This had wide sweeping economic impacts across the globe for years to come. Pic: Getty Images -
Massive Egyptian Offensive
After seeing how things had turned sour in the Golan Heights for Syria Egypt realized they needed a massive offensive to keep their success going. Their goals were key mountain passes in the Sinai that would give access to Israel proper. Over 1000 armored units pushed forward and were met by Israeli forces who once again outmaneuvered their enemies and inflicted heavy losses. -
Israeli counteroffensive across the Suez
Having successfully repulsed the Egyptian offensive, an opening appeared for a counterattack and the Israeli forces pounced on it. They quickly crossed the Suez and effectively split the Egyptian forces on either side of the Suez. Intense fighting followed but the Israeli forces continued to push the Egyptian forces back. Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat could see that the tides of the war were rapidly turning Pic: Mideastweb.org -
First Ceasefire enacted by the UN
The United Nations releases Security Council Resolution 338 in the hopes of starting a ceasefire and bringing the Israelis and Egyptians to discuss peace. -
Peace treaty signed
For the first time in 25 years military representatives between Israel and Egypt meet to discuss peace. The treaty was officially signed on November 11th by Egypt and Israel although Syria refuses to sign it. Pic: Wikimedia commons
