Six-Day War: A History from Beginning to End

The State of Israel was founded in conflict, and in the first ten years of its existence, it was involved in two major wars with its Arab neighbors. The First Arab-Israeli War began almost the moment that the new state was announced in May 1948. Although it barely had time to create armed forces, somehow Israel survived a simultaneous invasion by armies from four Arab states during that conflict. In 1956, Israel found itself at war again, this time fighting alongside Britain and France, who had launched an invasion of Egypt after fears that the Suez Canal might be closed. While these wars demonstrated just how lethally effective the Israel Defence Forces were, they failed to bring lasting peace to the Middle East.

By the mid-1960s, the relationship between Israel and its neighbors was once again strained. Palestinian guerrilla groups operating from bases in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon had launched attacks on Israel, which responded with cross-border strikes. Tensions rose, and by the early summer of 1967, Egypt seemed to be preparing for war by moving troops and tanks closer to the Israeli border. Many people anticipated a new war in the Middle East, but when that war finally began in June 1967, it didn’t play out in the way that most had expected. Though the war lasted just six days, it changed the Middle East completely and turned Israel into a regional superpower. This is the surprising story of the Six-Day War.