Cult Of The Offensive Essay

Their lack of fear caused two events to occur. One is the building of its military. To the Israeli’s it was a show of new found power and sovereignty, but to others like Egypt it is a scary thought to have such a powerful neighbor. As a growing threat Egypt and subsequent others were forced to think of worse case scenarios. This is a clear demonstration of a growing security dilemma in the Middle East.
The other is the illusion that they were safe from attacks. Even as the date of the attack grew near, Israeli leaders ignored telltale signs that an attack was imminent. The attack was somewhat unexpected, but was mostly ignored due to the adherence to ‘the conception’ that Egypt would only attack if they could have air superiority and that Syria would only attack if Egypt attacked with them (Bar-Joseph, 136). Prior to the attack there were large joint “Syrian defense activity and …show more content…
The Cult of the Offensive adds another layer to the cause of the war between the Arab nations and Israel. When Egypt named Anwar Sadat president in 1970, he realized that his nation was economically troubled and that it would not be able to continue the fight against Israel (Staff, 1). Sadat needed to come up with a solution that would bring about peace and stability before his nation did not have the power to do so. Having removed over 20,000 Soviet advisers, consulted with the U.S, and created a new alliance with Syria, the window of opportunity was as wide as it possibly could. Analyzing these facts, we can see how the Cult of the Offensive goes hand in hand with a security dilemma. In a different world, one might have seen more diplomatic options when diplomacy with the U.S. became possible. However, in this self-help system, Sadat understood that he needed to take action to address all the fears stated above and that this was as strong as his nation will ever be during his tenure.
What is the Theory of