The Israeli Army: 1948-1973

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How, in the span of a single generation, did a people that once had no soldiers become a nation of soldiers? How did a nation whose founding fathers were near-pacifists become so thoroughly militarized?

Edward Luttwak and Daniel Horowitz's The Israeli Army: 1948-1973 tells the story of the army in a country that had no real military traditions of its own and did not import those of other countries. Instead, the Israeli military grew rapidly from an underground force into a disciplined modern army, evolving under the continuing pressure of a bitter conflict, and shaped also by internal political pressures. The Israeli Army has had — and continues to have — a tumultuous and controversial history.
The Israeli Army: 1948-1973 traces the development of the Israeli Army since its beginnings — the successes of the Haganah in 1948 — through a period of disorganization and demoralization in the 1950s, to the modern army of the 1960s, built by Dayan. Here is the story of the 1967 War that so altered Israel's view of itself, and the world's view of that small nation. This volume concludes on the eve of another war, that of October 1973, and it is left to the forthcoming companion volume to bring the story to the present day.

In a time of continued turmoil in the Middle East, The Israeli Army: 1948-1973 is a timely book about the people and ideas that have shaped Israeli military history.