ward, the Egyptians were provided with military aid from the Soviet Union (Smith, 1988, p. 228). In the years immediately preceding the war, both Egyptian and Syrian forces also conducted periodic military exercises along their borders with Israel. Despite these warning signs, Israel was unprepared for the Arab offensive when it occurred on October 6, 1973. This lack of preparation was largely due to the faulty military doctrine which was followed by Israel's leaders at the time. Both the Prime Minister, Golda Meir, and the Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan, had a sense of overconfidence regarding the defensive capabilities of Israel's forces. This overconfidence stemmed from the unqualified successes that Israel had experienced in earlier wars against its Arab neighbors. At the time, Israel's political and military leaders were convinced that "because of the IDF's awesome strength no Arab leader would dare to provoke it into action" (Halabi, 1981, p. 94). Because Israel was unprepared for the Arab attack, the nation suffered great losse
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