Nations & States
The Crossing of the Suez Canal
The October War and the oil weapon, 1973
1393 AH / 1973 CE
Educational historical reconstructionWhere
The Suez Canal, Egypt
30.5000, 32.3500 · View on OpenStreetMap
Background
In October 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack to recover the territories Israel had occupied in 1967. On 6 October, a day that fell in the month of Ramadan, on 10 Ramadan 1393, and also on the Jewish Day of Atonement, the Egyptian army crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Badr, throwing pontoon bridges across the waterway, washing gaps through the great sand rampart of the fortified Israeli Bar-Lev Line on the far bank with high-pressure water jets, and establishing its forces on the east bank in a swift and well-planned feat of arms that astonished the world and restored a measure of Arab military pride after the humiliation of 1967. Although the war later turned, with an Israeli counter-crossing and heavy fighting before a ceasefire, the early success was a powerful psychological turning point. Alongside the fighting, the Arab oil-producing states wielded the oil weapon, an embargo and production cuts that sharply raised the world price of oil, demonstrating a new economic power of the Arab and Muslim world and reshaping global politics. The war led, within a few years, to the Egyptian-Israeli disengagement and eventually to a peace treaty. This scene depicts the canal crossing of 1973, the pontoon bridges and the columns of trucks and guns moving across under the hawk banners, the breached sand rampart beyond.
What you see
A broad straight canal of water runs through flat sandy desert, with a high sand rampart raised along the far bank. This is the Suez Canal, with the great sand wall of a fortified line on its eastern side.
Military pontoon bridges have been thrown across the canal, and columns of trucks, guns and troops are crossing them from the near bank to the far one; an army is forcing the waterway.
Flags with the hawk emblem fly over the crossing forces, and breaches have been cut and washed through the sand rampart opposite; the fortified barrier on the far bank is being overcome.
Fuel drums, pontoon sections and engineering vehicles crowd the bank; this is a great set-piece military engineering operation, not a skirmish.
An army storming across a canal and through a fortified line that had stood as a barrier marks the war of 1973, a feat of arms that restored a measure of pride, fought as the oil-producing states wielded their oil as a weapon.
Further reading & cross-references
Egyptian and Arabic accounts of the October (Ramadan) War of 1973: Contemporary Egyptian military accounts of Operation Badr and the canal crossing; used for the crossing, the engineering and the framing as a restoration of pride. Confidence high for the Egyptian perspective.
Standard histories of the 1973 war (e.g. The Yom Kippur War studies): Used for the course of the war, the Bar-Lev Line, and the later counter-crossing and ceasefire. Confidence high.
Studies of the 1973 Arab oil embargo: Used for the oil weapon, the embargo and production cuts, and the global economic impact. Confidence high.
Photographs and footage of the canal crossing (cross-reference): Period images of the pontoon bridges and the breaching of the sand rampart constrain the depiction; material detail only.
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