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N0KFQ > TODAY 06.10.14 15:05l 54 Lines 2472 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37469_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 6
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Sent: 141006/1403Z 37469@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Oct 6, 1973:
The Yom Kippur War brings United States and USSR to brink of
conflict
The surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces on Israel in
October 1973 throws the Middle East into turmoil and threatens to
bring the United States and the Soviet Union into direct conflict
for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Though
actual combat did not break out between the two nations, the
events surrounding the Yom Kippur War seriously damaged
U.S.-Soviet relations and all but destroyed President Richard
Nixon's much publicized policy of detente.
Initially, it appeared that Egypt and Syria would emerge
victorious from the conflict. Armed with up-to-date Soviet
weaponry, the two nations hoped to avenge their humiliating
defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel, caught off guard,
initially reeled under the two-front attack, but Israeli
counterattacks turned the tide, aided by massive amounts of U.S.
military assistance, as well as disorganization among the Syrian
and Egyptian forces. The Syrians were driven back, with Israeli
troops seizing the strategically important Golan Heights.
Egyptian forces fared even worse: retreating back through the
Sinai Desert, thousands of their troops were surrounded and cut
off by the Israeli army. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
together with his Soviet counterparts, eventually arranged a
shaky cease-fire. When it became clear that Israel would not give
up its siege of the Egyptian troops (low on food and medicine by
this time), the Soviets threatened to take unilateral action to
rescue them. Tempers flared both in Washington and Moscow; U.S.
military forces went to a Stage 3 alert (Stage 5 is the launch of
nuclear attacks). The Soviets backed down on their threat but the
damage to relations between the two nations was serious and long
lasting.
Kissinger worked furiously to bring about a peace settlement
between Israel and Syria and Egypt. In what came to be known as
"shuttle diplomacy," the secretary of state flew from nation to
nation hammering out the details of the peace accord. Eventually,
Israeli troops withdrew from some of their positions in both the
Sinai and Syrian territory, while Egypt promised to forego the
use of force in its dealings with Israel. Syria grudgingly
accepted the peace plan, but remained adamantly opposed to the
existence of the Israeli state.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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