6–25 Oct 1973 — Egypt storms across the Suez Canal; Israel recovers and crosses the canal in turn. Both superpowers airlift arms to their allies and go on nuclear alert. OPEC then uses oil as a weapon, and its price quadruples.
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Between 1947 and 1975 roughly ninety new states emerged as European empires collapsed. Their leaders had to find resources and security in a world where Washington and Moscow competed for influence. At Bandung in 1955, many rejected the demand to join either camp. The Non-Aligned Movement grew from the ambition to retain room for independent decisions. India, Egypt, Yugoslavia and others could seek aid and arms from rival powers; each side’s desire for influence gave poorer states something with which to bargain.
Why it happened — Decolonization and bipolarity, mutually radicalizing. The imperial powers had exhausted resources, faced nationalist movements and suffered wartime defeats that weakened their prestige. Singapore was…
The turn — October 1973 — the war that moved the pivot. Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal in October 1973, challenging Israel’s reputation for invincibility. Israel counter-crossed and nearly…
What it changed — Communism’s maximum map — and its hollowness. From 1975 to 1979, Indochina, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Nicaragua moved into the communist column. For Moscow, the expanding map…
