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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.04
EAN num: 9780060014001
ISBN number: 0060014008
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: October 01, 2004
Publishing house: Harper Perennial
Release Date: October 05, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 787692
Studio: Harper Perennial
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On October 6, 1973—Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar—the Arab world launched a bold and ingeniously conceived surprise attack against Israel. After three days of intense, bloody combat, an unprepared Israel was fighting for survival, while the Arabs, with massive forces closing in on the Jewish heartland, were poised to redeem the honor lost in three previous wars.
Based on declassified Israeli government documents and revealing interviews with soldiers, generals, and intelligence operatives on both sides of the conflict, The Eve of Destruction weaves a suspenseful, eye-opening story of war, politics, and deception. It also tells the moving human tale of the men and women who fought to maintain love and honor as their lives and destinies were swept up in the Yom Kippur War.
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Rated by buyers 
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Overwhelmed by a massive surprise attack, the Israeli armed forces were nearly decimated within 72 hours. How did the Israelis reverse their bad fortune? How did this happen to begin with? In this narrative, Mr. Blum presents us with the perspective of individuals, major and minor, on both sides of the conflict.
One must ponder what the result could have been, had the Israeli people failed in their darkest hour. Israel's enemies have stated very frequently and openly about the genocide to follow, if they ever succeed in their goal. Israel, a thriving free nation on the very precipice, can not afford to make such errors in judgement again.
Rated by buyers 
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Thirty years ago, on October 6th 1973, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, the Arab world launched a bold and ingeniously conceived surprise attack on Israel. Caught totally unprepared, the attack nearly destroyed Israel and changed the Middle East forever.
This book is the story of those who made the plan, those who executed it, those who inspite of ample warnings ignored it, those who attacked fearlessly and those who, defending their motherland, "fought and fell like lions". This also is a love story of a young bride and groom, tossed into the conflict.
With a fast paced and gripping narrative that gives it the feel of a Dan Brown novel, the author takes us on a historical journey to the Middle East of the 1970s. Israel, triumphant, basking in the glory of its military victory in the Six Day war, is celebrating the wedding of the year, between a young army man and woman, Yossi and Nati. To the entire nation they personify the best of Israel: youthful, brave and victorious. To many, it was not just a wedding celebration, but also "the crowning era of the return to Zion".
Caught up in the carnival atmosphere, Israel fails to hear the slow drumbeats of the approaching war. The Egyptians, seething in their defeat in the Six Day war, are busy plotting vengeance. The chief of staff of the Egyptian army, a pragmatic officer called Saad el Shazly, has in his mind the key to an ingenious strategy. Coordinating with the Syrians who are to the north of Israel, the Arab armies unleash a torrent of destruction on Israel on Yom Kippur.
The ratios are staggering: in the north an Israeli force of 157 faces an onslaught from 1,100 Syrian tanks. In the south, a 100,000 strong Egyptian force with 1550 tanks pound an Israeli force of 436 soldiers and 3 tanks. Stunned, the Israelis react bravely. Some of the individual acts of heroism are mind blowing. In their darkest hour, Israel considers the "Samson option", nuking the population centers of Arab countries.
But within two weeks, the tide turns and the Israelis bravely push back the Syrians and invade Egypt.
While the very first half of the book details the events leading to the war, the second half focuses on the battle mostly from an Israeli perspective. An excellent read. Do check it out.
Rated by buyers -
On 6 October 1973 , on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar , the Arab nations launched a cowardly surprise attack on Israel.
After three days of intense and bloody fighting , Israel was fighting for survival , while Arab armies where closing in on the Jewish heartland , poised to destroy Israel and anihilate her Jews.
In this gripping and skilfully written volume , Howard Blum brings the Yom Kippur War to life , through meticulous research based on declassified Israeli government documents and revealing interviews with soldiers , generals and intelligence operatives on both sides of the conflict.
We are reminded of just how close Israel came to being destroyed , hence a second holocaust.
The author enters the mind of General Moshe Dayan and his review of events during the frightening early days of the war:
"When he reviewed the events that brought him to this point he saw another continuum of Jewish history: a woeful march from Masada , to the Holocaust , to October 7 , 1973 - the destruction of the Jewish state"
We learn therefore how precarious Israel's position is and the reason for this tiny nation having to take all steps neccesary to ensure her security.
Focusing on commanders such as Ariel Sharon and Avigdor Kahalani , and on the Egyptian side Saad El Shazly , we are given an exciting and lively account of the war , always focusing on the human side.
We are also given an insight into the lives of the men and women of Israel who , through their sheer determination to see their country survive , snatched victory from the jaws of a horrible defeat.
The intelligence war is also well detailed.
The author also highlights the sheer numerical superiority of the Arab forces with over 1 million troops , 5000 tanks , more than a 1000 planes and 4 800 in field artillery , compared to Israel's 415,000 troops; 1,500 tanks , 561 airplanes and 945 artillery units.
After the Yom Kippur War , the Arabs realized that it would not be possible to defeat Israel by conventional millitary means and embarked on a two pronged war of terrorism and invidious propaganda against Israel and her people , to prepare for Israel's destruction.
The survival of Israel is indeed a miracle.
Long live the State of Israel.
Rated by buyers 
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The Israeli swagger that became a regional pose following the military victories of 1948 and 1967 quickly became a limp following near defeat at the hands of Egypt and Syria in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Howard Bloom's appropriately-titled chronicle of that October surprise reads like a novel, complete with an amorous young couple whose honeymoon was rudely interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities and a mysterious double agent called 'the In-Law'. Yet the events he describes were all too real.
Though Blum is able to distill the self-denying heroism of Egyptian and Israeli soldiers into page-turning narrative, he reserves harsh invective for the Israeli military and political leadership whose sucess 17 years earlier blinded them to the realities of Egyptian and Syrian military rehabilitation on two of their nation's borders.
Had it not been for Egyptian over-reaching-a breathtaking victory of hubris over battlefield facts-the Jewish 'Third Temple' experiment might well have gone down in flames. The close call stunned Israel and contributed to the volatile mix of military strength and a persistent sense of insecurity that has characterized the state ever since.
Blum is especially compelling when he describes the internecine battles within Egypt's ruling caste and the impossible survival of the Israeli line in the Golan during the hellish tank battles that should have put Syrian tanks in Tel Aviv rather than left them in smoking ruins just miles from Damascus. In its desperation, Israel nearly went nuclear, a scenario almost too dire for contemplation.
Blum's reporting is heavily dependent on personal interviews with those for whom a now settled fact was a minute-by-minute struggle for survival.
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Howard Blum's "The Eve of Destruction" is written in the unique narrative style that similar articles for Vanity Fair and like periodicals have utilized. These include looking at an historical period through the eyes of actual participants from different vantage points, using recently declassified intelligence, sprinkled in with some gossip, speculation, and innuendo. Nonetheless, Blum's book is an easy read that drills into the reader several concepts that he or she is sure to come away with.
Among those themes: (1) the complete aura of self-confidence bordering on conceit among certain Israeli military and political leaders following their smashing victory in the 1967 Six-Day War that the Arabs would not even dare to launch an attack; (2) "The Concept", the plan designed by Egyptian Saad el Shazly which was predicated on crossing the Suez Canal, breaching the Israeli forces on the other side, and then STOPPING rather than continuing to penetrate deep into the Sinai; (3) the reliance on "The Source", an Egyptian spy (double agent?) who assured his Israeli handlers that war would not come; (4) the sense of panic among some Israeli leaders (Moshe Dayan's "Third Temple" cry, Golda Meir's contemplating suicide rather than being the prime minister who oversees Israel being overrun); (5) the valiant, courageous, and indefatigable bravery of men such as Avigdor Kahalani, commander of a tank battalion in the Golan Heights region on the Syrian front.
The central characters continually revisited are Yossi Ben Hannan and his wife, Nati. Ben Hannan was an Israeli celebrity, featured on the cover of LIFE magazine right after the euphoric 1967 War. He and his wife were actually on their honeymoon in India when he made the trek back to Israel (using unconventional means!). Battlefield accounts as seen through various Israeli and Egyptian military men supplement the newlywed's storylines.
Blum is way too critical when he attempts to second-guess military strategy and generals. Military decision-making involves split-second decision-making made in real time, in the heat of battle. Much like a baseball player's batting average, your misses are compared not to a 100% sucess rate, but to historical norms and other battlefield commanders. A hitter who is successful 1/3rd of the time is going to bat .333 and be a star, not someone criticized because he fails 2/3rds of the time. That said, the criticism of Ariel Sharon reeks more of the Vanity Fair mindset to disparage strong military men and conservatives, in this case a career general and former Likud political leader, rather than pointing to specific flaws in his battle strategies. Indeed, the post-war Israeli commissions praised Sharon, even as they whitewashed the judgments of Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan. Dado Elazar, the Chief of Staff, took the blame along with the intelligence services (brokenhearted, Elazar died of heart troubles and depression in 1975).
On the other hand, Blum does give you an in-depth look into the difficulty of the decision making that Israeli leaders had to make. When "The Source" had warned of a possible attack in May 1973, the entire country was put on alert. This is something that we in the United States never have to contend with. However, Israel is a small country (population in 1973: about 4 million) and mobilization and then de-mobilization for false alarms is not only nerve-wracking but also costly in economic terms (most able-bodied young men and women have to leave civilian jobs and report to their units). When you are convinced that you are superior to your enemy, and you have a border-line call about whether he is going to attack, and if a false mobilization will cost your economy a good chunk of yearly production growth, you may decide "eh, what the hell" and downplay it. This is what Israeli intelligence did (for a number of reasons, not just economic) and since the overconfidence was not justified, it had nearly disastrous results.
"The Eve of Destruction" is not a book that introduces any new historical insight. It's a narrative that weaves together articles from Israeli and Arab newspapers, first-person accounts and autobiographies from men involved in the conflict, and recollections from some of the major actors. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at some key individuals involved in the 1973 conflict, this book gives it. If you are looking for a comprehensive account of the 1973 conflict -- like Rabinovich's "The Yom Kippur War" -- you're looking in the wrong place.
My main quibbles with this book: if you are going to utilize narratives of various characters who tell you how they lived through and experienced the 1973 conflict, then you need a "Where Are They Now" section to complete it. What did Yossi and Nati Ben Hannan and all of the other characters do after the war the subsequent 30 years? Blum's post-war summary is woefully short ... Read More
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