The Road To War
A timeline of the third world war
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Following the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, Lebanon became the home to more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees, abandoning their settlements in Israel and in effect setting the stage for the future conflict. Following the Six Day War of 1967 and the radicalization among Palestinian refugees, the Palestinian Liberation Organization became a powerful militant force, based in Jordan. Following "Black September" in 1971, with the assassination of King Hussein and the overthrowing of the Hashemite dynasty, the PLO leadership took control of Jordan.
By October 1973 a coalition of Arab states (Jordan under the control of the PLO, Syria, and Egypt) launched a surprise attack on Israel, invading the nation through the Golan heights, the Sinai, and the West Bank. After a mere three months of fighting and thousands of casualties on both sides peace was finally made, a stalemate that would lead the world into a world war in just a decade. When the Camp David Accords were signed in 1978 Israel was left in a precarious position, surrounded by an Arab coalition bent of their destruction.
Emboldened by the recent precised victory against Israel, violence between Israel and the PLO peaked during Operation Litani in 1978, provoked by the Coastal Road Massacre which was carried out by Palestinian militants based in southern Lebanon. As a result the United Nations Interim Force was created in Lebanon, and to confirm Israeli withdraw from southern Lebanon to restore international peace and security.
Following relative peace between Israel and Lebanon in 1980-81, the peace was shattered when Israel resumed strikes against targets in southern Lebanon, in an attempt to trigger a war to drive out the PLO from southern Lebanon and restore the peace. In July 1981 a ceasefire had been brokered and the Israeli-Lebanese border experienced a state of peace and calm not seen since 1968. But it was not to last. Following the PLO bombing of Israeli civilian and military targets near the Israeli-Lebanese border in April 1982. As a result of the attacks Israel once again resumed air strikes against Lebanon, culminating in the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in June 1982, in operation "Peace For Galilee."
After Israel's invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut, Syria brought Egypt and Jordan into the war, both invading Israel respectively, and receiving financial support from the Soviet Union while Israel received financial support from the United States. But in October 1983 the war would take a turn for the worst with the PLO bombing of the Beirut Marine Barracks, killing hundreds of French and American servicemen. Through investigation it was found the PLO had been supplied by the Soviet Union with money and resources to launch the attack, although in retrospect it is unlikely the Soviet government was aware of the PLO plans to attack the Marine barracks.
The war finally boiled over in November 1983 when during Able Archer, a NATO war games exercise in Europe, led to fighting in West Germany, which in turn led to a full scale Warsaw Pact invasion of West Germany.
And the rest is history..
