Yom Kippur War (oct 6, 1973 – oct 24, 1973)

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"Anwar el-Sadat, Nassers’ successor as president of Egypt…found a way to get their (US) attention by launching a surprise attack across the Suez Canal in October 1973. It was a war that Sadat expected to lose, fought for a political objective he shrewdly calculated he would win. For would the Americans let Israel humiliate a leader who had already diminished Soviet influence in the Middle East?" (Gaddis 2006, p. 203)

"Kissenger personally negotiated an end to hostilities, earning gratitude in both Cairo and Telavi while the Russians gained nothing at all. Five years later after negotiations with the Israelis mediated by President Carter, Sadat got the Sinai back, along with the Nobel Peace Prize he shared with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. (Gaddis 2006, p. 204).

"This episode reveals the shakiness of détente: if a regional power could manoeuvre a superpower into seeking unilateral advantage at the expense of the other – thereby violating its explicit promise to the other – then as Dobrynin observed, détente “was very delicate and fragile”. The 1973 war and its aftermath “definitely damaged the trust between the leadership of both countries." (Gaddis 2006, p. 206).

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