Yom Kippur War 1973: what was it, summary of what happened - when does the BBC documentary on it air?

It has been 50 years since the Yom Kippur War which began on 6 October 1973 and ended less than three weeks later.

On that date, as millions of Israelis prayed and fasted while observing Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria launched a massive attack across the Suez Canal into the Sinai desert and in the Golan Heights.

The offensive came as a total surprise to most Israelis as there was a general failure at the highest levels of the government and the military to take the threat of an attack seriously enough.

The origins of the Yom Kippur invasion lay in the Six Day War which began six years earlier in 1967 when Israel crushed the armed forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in six days, sweeping them out of the Sinai, the Golan and the West Bank.

Israel hugely expanded the territories under its control.

The Arab countries were determined to avenge the humiliation they had suffered at the hands of Israel, prompting the Yom Kippur War.

The war lasted for 19 days, concluding with a UN-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on 25 October.

Israel lost more than 2,600 combatants and many more were wounded.

The conflict had global repercussions as the the Arab-dominated Opec, representing the world’s main oil producers, imposed an oil embargo on the West as punishment for supporting Israel.

This saw oil prices triple over the following six months which helped set off an economic crisis in the West that lasted through the 1970s.

While Egypt lost more territory, the long-term outcome was recognition of Israel and a peace between the two that has lasted until this day. But Syria remains Israel’s implacable enemy.

On Saturday 30 September the BBC will air a documentary about the Yom Kippur War on its World Service channel from 12 to 1pm.

Presented by Michael Goldfarb, it will tell the story of the war in which the Israeli and Arab states combatants, as well as the rest of the world, still live with the aftermath today.