This course will provide students with the big picture of Israel’s wars from its founding until today and how Israel’s defense strategies evolved in response. We will delve into: the pre-independence defense organizations that became the IDF; the War of Independence; the Suez Crisis; the Six-day War; the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War; the First Lebanon War and the subsequent operations in Lebanon; the Second Lebanon War and the operations against the wave of terror attacks following Oslo; Israel’s strikes against nuclear programs in Iraq and Syria; and the ongoing Swords of Iron War.

For each war, we will address to the following issues: The regional and international background to war; the immediate causes; the strategies of all belligerents; major events; key debates and strategic decisions of the war and finally the ultimate outcome and lasting significance of each war for Israeli society and strategy. Overall, we will come to appreciate how Israel developed from a small pre-state community fighting for survival to the regional power it has become.