Anwar Sadat and the Yom Kippur War

Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, had begun his rule by following Nasser's policies, but he was working his way toward policies of his own. With the failure of the 1967 war he had swung with others toward more devotion to Islam -- as had President Jafaar Muhammad al-Nimeiry of Sudan and the ruler of Libya since 1969, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Nimeiry added to his shift a book Why the Islamic Way, and Gaddafi issued his Green Book. Sadat tried enhancing his support with Koranic references in his speeches and became known as "the believer president." He released Islamic activists from prison and left the Muslim Brotherhood as illegal but tolerated, and in some cases the Brotherhood was encouraged as a counter-balance against the secular leftist forces. Sadat encouraged the growth of Islamic organizations on university campuses to counter Nasserites and leftists. He had several rivals and leftists arrested, and he began to move away from what had been Nasser's ties with the Soviet Union.

Sadat chose war against Israel as a way out of the deadlocked negotiations and to restore Arab honor. He was joined by the Syrians and by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Arabia expected to contribute money rather than soldiers. The new war against Israel began on October 6, 1973 -- to be called the Yom Kippur War, and also the Ramadan War. Sadat labeled the war a jihad.

President Richard Nixon responded by asking the U.S. Congress for 2.2 billion dollars for military aid for Israel, and King Faisal felt betrayed. Faisal had warned that he would be forced to use oil as political leverage to offset support Israel was receiving in the West. And, the day after Nixon's request to Congress, Faisal launched an oil embargo against the U.S. and the Netherlands.

The Soviet Union was airlifting supplies to Syria and the United States was airlifting supplies to Israel. Israel was outnumbered twelve to one against the Syrians, and the Syrians had 1,100 tanks to 157 for the Israelis, but Israel drove the Syrians back. Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal and, on October 21, managed to surround Egypt's Third Army. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was in Moscow trying to stop the fighting.

The Arab League pressured King Faisal, who ordered Saudi oil off the market as part of an oil embargo by Arab producers. World oil prices quickly quadrupled. The oil embargo created a gasoline shortage in the United States, with long lines at gasoline stations. The U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissenger, announced that oil was a national security priority and that the U.S., if necessary, would intervene militarily. The Saudi oil embargo was having an impact on the U.S. waging war in Vietnam. Tensions between the Saudis and the U.S. dissipated when King Faisal agreed to supply oil in secret to the U.S. navy.

The Yom Kippur War lasted only nineteen days. The oil embargo by Arab producers officially ended soon after, but the steep rise in oil prices launched worldwide inflation and recession for the years 1974 and '75. But soon the need of producing companies to sell their oil and the dynamic of supply and demand brought the price of oil down again. By 1974 the Arab-Israeli war and the oil embargo were ended.

Sadat wanted to end the war to prevent further disaster, and by August 25 the U.S. had pressured the Israel into a cease fire. The war had lasted nineteen days. Around 8,500 soldiers had been lost by Egypt and Syria. And the Israelis had lost nearly 3,000 dead or missing.