On This Day: Yom Kippur War 40th anniversary

OCTOBER 6, 1973: The Yom Kippur War began after Egyptian and Syrian-led forces attacked Israel 40 years ago today - and triggered an oil shortage that caused a recession in the West.

The Jewish state was caught off guard because many soldiers were on leave for the Yom Kippur Day of Atonement, which is the most sacred event in Judaism.

Its defences were also minimised because Israel’s leaders thought their Islamic neighbours would never attack while it was also the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

So the Arab forces, which also included smaller Jordanian and Iraqi units, make early gains, including much of the land Israel seized during the 1967 Six Day War.

Fierce fighting ensued, which also raised Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union, which supported the Arabs, and their U.S. rivals, who backed Israel.

In response to American support – including $2.2billion emergency aid and an arms supply airlift - Saudi Arabia and other Arab producers unleashed their “oil weapon”.

The resulting embargo, which was also imposed on Western Europe and Japan, led to oil prices quadrupling overnight from $3 to $12 per barrel and caused a recession.

Yet, despite the military attacks on its own heavily outnumbered forces and economic strikes against her allies, Israel quickly rebounded.

Within three days, the Jewish state had mobilised all her troops and retaken all of the Golan Heights territory that Syria had seized.

Rare British Pathé footage shows Israeli soldiers being dispatched to the Syrian front, where they then launched a devastating counterattack.

Within a week, Israeli forces were 25 miles from Damascus and had begun shelling the Syrian capital.

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Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, fearing Syrian capitulation, decided to push deeper into the Sinai peninsula, which it had lost after the Jewish state invaded in 1967.

But the Israelis – now buoyed by the success with the Syrians and aided by superior weaponry – launched another overwhelming counter-offensive.

By October 25, when the second ceasefire agreement had been signed, Israel’s forces were just 63 miles from Cairo.

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However, despite being compehensively beaten, the Arabs’ confidence had been boosted by its early successes.

It came on the back of humiliation in the Six Day War and the 1948 War, following the birth of Israel.

In 1979 Egypt, which by then had drifted away from the Soviet Union, became the first Arab state to recognise Israel after the two countries signed a peace treaty.

Syria, whose current rebellion-fighting dictator Bashar Assad is the son of wartime leader Hafez Assad, still remains officially at war with Israel.

On the back of the Yom Kippur War, oil prices continued to rise until the mid-1980s.