Six Day War as an ATL

[lerk]

The Six Day War was in my opinion the strangest war in modern times. How can a small country such as Israel, which barely was 20 years old, defeat most of their neighbors (and even countries that aren't there neighbors), and not only that, manage to capture some land from one of their neighbors? Of course, there are many reasons for this, but on the surface it sounds ASB.

Let's say that the Six Day War never happened ITTL, and that some time in the future someone writes a TL called the Six Day War which basically describes what happened in the war IOTL. How will it be received?

 

[andys]

That all depends on if the Arabs ITTL have been exposed as being as generally militarily incompetent as they were OTL, (Jordanians more or less excepted, although they also got their collective arses handed to them on a plate). If they have been so exposed, it's entirely believable.

Remember that OTL before the war broke out, the general expectation was that Israel was going to be wiped out.

 

[Simon]

Probably widely mocked as a complete Israel-wank. The late lamented Alison Brooks of SHWI fame wrote a short piece along these lines in the form of a book review of an alternative history novel about an imaginary 'Falklands Conflict' pointing out how unbelievable it all is. You can find a copy here.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

Remember that OTL before the war broke out, the general expectation was that Israel was going to be wiped out.

It appears that was the public opinion and the opinion among both Arab and (some) Israeli leadership but a BBC article on the war suggested that the great powers had a different take on it:

Western powers had no doubt which side in the Middle East was stronger on the eve of war in 1967. The US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff judged "that Israel will be militarily unchallengeable by any combination of Arab states at least during the next five years.'... In a report on the Israeli army in January 1967, the British defence attaché in Tel Aviv assessed that "in command, training, equipment and services the Israel army is more prepared for war than ever before. Well-trained, tough, self-reliant, the Israeli soldier has a strong fighting spirit and would willingly go to war in defence of his country."

Jordan's king was also of that opinion. "(King Hussein) told the historian Avi Shlaim: "I knew that war was inevitable. I knew that we were going to lose. I knew that we in Jordan were threatened, threatened by two things: we either followed the course we did, or alternatively the country could tear itself apart if we stayed out.'"

 

[lerk]

It appears that was the public opinion and the opinion among both Arab and (some) Israeli leadership but a BBC article on the war suggested that the great powers had a different take on it:

Western powers had no doubt which side in the Middle East was stronger on the eve of war in 1967. The US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff judged "that Israel will be militarily unchallengeable by any combination of Arab states at least during the next five years.'... In a report on the Israeli army in January 1967, the British defence attaché in Tel Aviv assessed that "in command, training, equipment and services the Israel army is more prepared for war than ever before. Well-trained, tough, self-reliant, the Israeli soldier has a strong fighting spirit and would willingly go to war in defence of his country."

Jordan's king was also of that opinion. "(King Hussein) told the historian Avi Shlaim: "I knew that war was inevitable. I knew that we were going to lose. I knew that we in Jordan were threatened, threatened by two things: we either followed the course we did, or alternatively the country could tear itself apart if we stayed out.'"

However strong Israel may have been seen, Israel winning in just six days against their bigger neighbors would be seen as absurd!

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

However strong Israel may have been seen, Israel winning in just six days against their bigger neighbors would be seen as absurd!

To the public, but it seems that the outcome of the war was thoroughly expected by Western and Israeli military officials. Meir Amit the head of Mossad traveled to the US to secretly discuss the war beforehand. "McNamara asked only two questions. 'How long?' I said it would take a week. 'How many casualties?' I said less than the war of independence, which was 6,000."

If the Six Day war never happened, in retrospect it would probably be credited to diplomacy, Egypt backing down, and the deterrent strength of the the Israeli military. Here's the BBC history article I quoted: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39960461

 

[Alanith]

History is Bats of a Extraterrestrial variety... till it happens.