Today in History, October 6th
On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, starting the Yom Kippur War. Plus The Jazz Singer and the killing of Anwar Sadat.
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October 6 is best known for 1973, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holy day of Yom Kippur, starting the Yom Kippur War. The date also saw the premiere of The Jazz Singer in 1927 and the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
The big story: The Yom Kippur War begins (1973)
On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria struck Israel on two fronts at once. Egyptian troops pushed across the Suez Canal into Sinai while Syrian forces drove toward the Golan Heights. The timing was deliberate. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and it also fell during Ramadan, and the surprise gave the attackers an early edge. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had earlier sought a settlement that would return land Israel captured in 1967; the war aimed to push a battered but undefeated Israel toward talks on better terms for the Arab side. The Cold War quickly crept in. Moscow resupplied Egypt and Syria, and President Richard Nixon set up an emergency supply line to Israel despite an Arab oil embargo. Israeli forces recovered, crossed the canal and surrounded Egypt’s Third Army before the fighting stopped on October 26. The war was costly for everyone, but it set off a run of agreements that ended with the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
More events on October 6
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 105 BCE | Germanic tribes crushed a Roman army at the Battle of Arausio in southern Gaul. |
| 1866 | The Reno brothers carried out the first train robbery in U.S. history, in Indiana. |
| 1892 | Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the leading poet of Victorian Britain, died at 83. |
| 1908 | Austria-Hungary announced it was annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| 1926 | Babe Ruth hit three home runs in a single World Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals. |
| 1927 | The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, premiered in New York City and ushered in the sound era of film. |
| 1976 | China’s Gang of Four, the radical faction led by Mao Zedong’s widow Jiang Qing, were arrested weeks after Mao’s death. |
| 1981 | Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamist extremists during a military parade. |
| 1993 | Michael Jordan announced his retirement from basketball. He came back in March 1995. |
| 1996 | President Bill Clinton and Bob Dole met for the first debate of that year’s presidential race. |
Born on October 6
- 1887: Le Corbusier, modernist architect and planner (original surname Jeanneret), born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
- 1908: Carole Lombard, star of screwball comedies such as My Man Godfrey, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- 1914: Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer who sailed the raft Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia, born in Larvik, Norway.
- 1917: Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist and cofounder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, born in Montgomery County, Mississippi.
Sources
- Yom Kippur War, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- This Day in History: October 6, History.com
- On This Day: October 6, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Gang of Four, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Michael Jordan, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Le Corbusier, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Carole Lombard, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Thor Heyerdahl, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Fannie Lou Hamer, Biography.com
