Why Isreal Wins Its Wars

[Heraclius49]

A little while ago I was researching the history of Israel. After the founding of Israel in 1948 it has participated in numerous wars with the nations of the Middle East. Israel in almost all of these conflicts was outnumbered and yet still either come out on top or proved to be an even match for the Arab coalitions laid against them.

Could anyone tell me why Israel consistently performed well in these wars?

 

[say1988]

Off the top of my head, a major factor was often that the Arab forces tended to operate independently without much real cooperation, helping degrade their advantages.

 

[privatehudson]

Well obviously since the wars were quite different there's often separate reasons why they won each. Common factors to all the 56, 67 and 73 wars would include the fact that her armed forces have high motivation, extensive combat experience and training. Common to both 1967 and 1973 was the fact that they knew full well that defeat was not an option they could afford to entertain, i.e. no alternative, what Golda Meir described as Israel's Secret Weapon.

The Israeli armed forces are well lead and have been inventive and resourceful since the early days. Although their regular army is relatively small they have employed a very effective form of national service and call up which ensures that at times of crisis they can significantly increase their combat forces at short notice. Their use of mobile armoured warfare has generally been excellent (a notable exception being the Bar-Lev line in 1973) and they have used their air force to good effect, especially in 1967. They've also been able to acquire some very good equipment, or adapt limited equipment such as the Sherman tank to suit their needs.

They have also been helped by a combination of luck and poor enemy planning and battlefield performance. For example the Egyptians executed a very good plan for crossing the Suez canal in 1973 and through a combination of SAM cover and man-portable anti-tank missiles beat off the initial Israeli counter-attacks. Unfortunately they failed to turn that initial success into anything concrete and by the time the Egyptians made a strong push further into the Sinai the Israelis had brought up their reserves and easily halted them.

Lack of Arab co-ordination also helped. In 1967 Israel may have fought Egypt, Syria and Jordan but in reality Syria joined the war after believing Nasser's reports that Israel's military had taken significant losses. In reality the Israeli Air Force was able to respond to increased Syrian action by destroying 2/3 of the Syrian air force, and the situation on the ground was favourable enough that Israel could reject a Syrian offer of ceasefire and go onto the offensive before they'd even finished with Egypt.

There are other reasons, especially in the field of diplomacy but these are some of the main ones.

 

[Heraclius49]

What about the Arab-Israeli war of 1948?

 

[privatehudson]

Hmm, I probably should have included that in the "no alternative" section since although Israel had only just come into existence those involved knew the consequences if Israel had lost. As say1988 mentioned another factor was Arab disunity and inability to co-ordinate offensives. A factor I touched on slightly which was especially relevant in 1948 was Israel's inventiveness, especially when it came to acquiring much needed tanks and planes. I don't want to blow my own trumpet here but neither do I wish to repeat myself, I wrote two articles on this point which you'll find on this forum. Various truces also aided Israel, splitting the conflict into distinct stages and giving her breathing space to bring in manpower and equipment to continue the fighting.

 

[Heraclius49]

Do you have links to the articles?

 

[privatehudson]

Part 1 deals with the Armoured Forces

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=95146

Part 2 with the Air Force

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=96227

Some of the photos that appeared in the Air Force article were links to a now defunct site so they may take a little time to be fixed. I hadn't noticed that until today though so you're query has helped me out

 

[civver_764]

Because they have a lot of western allies and support?

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I remember having read on this board that for instance Egypt didn't really want to wage war but just wanted to distract from internal issues and that it was very much aware of its slim chances. Don't remember any details though
Anyway if this is true, compared to Israel the other armed forces probably just sucked equipment-/trainingwise.

So yea, American money and know-how

 

[Tee Kay]

1948 War - Israel had a very organized and well-trained military, with experience during World War II on top of fighting the British and the Arabs, and as others have said they had acquired Western weapons. The Arabs didn't have much in the way of numerical superiority. All the Arab nations, except Jordan, had weak militaries and in case of Syria and Lebanon had just came into existance. Iraq and Saudi Arabia were too far away to offer any serious help (and they didn't had much interest in doing so, in any case). The Arabs were disorganized and divided amongs themselves, with Jordan actually secretly approaching the Israelis for a settlement.

1967 War - Began with an Israeli offensive, which destroyed the bulk of the Arabs' air force on the ground even before they can fight. The Israelis had a clear plan of what they were doing as opposed to the Arabs who were generally disorganized and failed to coordinate their attacks.

1973 War - As others have said, the Arabs (Egypt and Syria only, not Jordan) failed to capitalize on their initial surprise. The Israeli had been prepared for this and had an ability to quickly mobilize its forces and did so. Israeli forces were much better trained, led and motivated than the Arab forces, and the Arabs soon loose the benefits of numerical superiority once Israel fully mobilizes.

 

[frekk]

compared to Israel the other armed forces probably just sucked equipment-/trainingwise.

It's not easy to put it down to just equipment - sometimes the Arabs were not all that far behind Israel in these departments.

Take 1967, for instance. The Egyptians, at least, possessed some relatively decent equipment compared to Israel - Mig-2 fighters, Tu-16 bombers, and the (at the time) state of the art SA-2 air defence system (the West was only just beginning to develop countermeasures to it in 1967). They also had assistance from the Pakistani Air Force which was (and still is) one of the best in the world, holding its own against the renowned Indian Air Force.

Still, Israel totally crushed the combined air forces and obliterated many of their airbases, with only a few losses (mostly to SA-2s).

 

[privatehudson]

In addition to Frekk's comment I'd like to point out that Israel frequently got its equipment from other sources than America. They've used the French AMX13 light tank and mounted 75mm and 105mm French guns on respectively their M50 and M51 Shermans. They also used modified centurions and the British 105mm L7 when they upgraded various older tanks such as captured T55s. This is just scratching the surface of course.

Because they have a lot of western allies and support?

Not necessarily, they had very little official support from Western governments during the 1948 war and support for Israel in say 1973 varied depending on the stage of the conflict.

1973 War - As others have said, the Arabs (Egypt and Syria only, not Jordan) failed to capitalize on their initial surprise. The Israeli had been prepared for this and had an ability to quickly mobilize its forces and did so. Israeli forces were much better trained, led and motivated than the Arab forces, and the Arabs soon loose the benefits of numerical superiority once Israel fully mobilizes.

I agree that Israel had a fantastic ability to mobilise for war but I'd question how prepared they were for it in 1973. A combination of intelligence mistakes and a fear that launching another pre-emptive strike would loose American support meant that Israel only managed a partial call up before the war began. They were fortunate that Egypt and Syria had begun their attack on Yom Kippur since most Israelis were either at home or at the Synagogue, making the call up easier. They certainly suspected that war was coming but concrete action to prepare for it only came when it was almost too late.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

well, the wars:

1. weren't that numerous;

2. was mostly Israel vs one of it's neighbours with the rest of the Arab world cheering on the sidelines(and only cheering)

3. most of the states in the area were pretty new in '48, rather poor(so little cash for armed forces) and without any conflict on the horizon(even less incentive to develop a viable armed force). I mean, beside Jordan, there was nothing relevant imho in the arab camp in '48.

4. never fought Irak or even Iran; which imho are/were the only relevant armies in the area. Probably '80 - '90s+ S. Arabia or Egypt are decent too, but there was no conflict with those either.

5. kickin' a Lebanon caught in the middle of a civil war ain't that hard...

6. arab air forces always seemed to have an issue?

 

[privatehudson]

2. was mostly Israel vs one of it's neighbours with the rest of the Arab world cheering on the sidelines(and only cheering)

I'd say only 1956 (and at a push 1948 given the generally disjointed nature of the Arab attacks) match that description. In 1967 Israel kicked off with ground operations against Jordan and Egypt at the same time and then later when fighting on those fronts had largely died down they went onto the offensive against Syria. In 1973 the war kicked off with a simultaneous attack by Egypt and Syria and when things really began to go pear shaped for the latter contingents from Jordan and Iraq went some way to stabilising the front.

4. never fought Irak or even Iran; which imho are/were the only relevant armies in the area. Probably '80 - '90s+ S. Arabia or Egypt are decent too, but there was no conflict with those either.

See above, they did go into action against an Iraqi contingent of around 30,000 troops towards the end of the Yom Kippur war. This proved quite a surprise for the Israelis since they were unaware of the Iraqi presence which with the Jordanian troops threatened their southern flank. After that initial surprise though these forces achieved little and in fact the Jordanians probably did better.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

yeah, but not against iraq's army after saddam started investing so hard in them. Which is what I wanted to refer too(but worded so badly).

what I wanted to say in #2 was that wars were against Israel's neighbors not against "the arabs" - i.e. the other arab countries didn't really help Syria or Egypt. I mean, no wars against a coallition of "1 billion people", 20+ countries, etc...

 

[Heraclius49]

yeah, but not against iraq's army after saddam started investing so hard in them. Which is what I wanted to refer too(but worded so badly).

Do you mean the Republican Guard or the Saddam's military in general? The quality of his regular army seemed pretty dubious in 1991 and 2003.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

anything is dubious compared to current US army, imho... but he seemed poised to compensate quality with numbers. And, at least '91, it seemed that the army had a problem in determination more than anything else(normal, afterall, if you're in a dictatorial regime, you didn't want in the army in the 1st place and you're fightin' against the best army in the world).

with Iran they didn't fare that badly. I'd say they wouldn't fare too bad against Israel either. Though, still... arabs have an issue with air forces

 

[Tee Kay]

Though, still... arabs have an issue with air forces

Well in 1967 the air force was destroyed on the ground at the very start of the war. Lack of trained pilot was also an issue though.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Well in 1967 the air force was destroyed on the ground at the very start of the war. Lack of trained pilot was also an issue though.

Well actually, Israel didn't destroy the air forces, but rather just bombed the tarmacs so they couldn't take off.

 

[Tee Kay]

Well actually, Israel didn't destroy the air forces, but rather just bombed the tarmacs so they couldn't take off.

It was both actually. The primary targets were the aircrafts themselves, and Egypt made this task very easy since they failed to construct proper shelters for their aircrafts. Cratering the airfields made sure that any aircraft that did survive or potentially coming in from other Arab countries could not use them.