Pounding Their Feet’

Israeli Military Culture as Reflected in Early IDF Combat History

Bibliographic Data

ID11157801
AuthorsGil-li Vardi (Leverhulme Trust, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume31
Issue2
Pages295-324
Publication date2008-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Strategic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2390 • E-ISSN: 1743-937X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402390801940476
OpenAlexW2067084348
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited13

How did the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) organisational and military culture shape their understanding of security threats, perceptions of warfare, and instinctive responses to security challenges? Israel's early military history is marked by the stubborn persistence of accepted patterns of thought and action. In the first twenty years of its existence, the IDF habitually came to sacrifice both political and military long-term and medium-term considerations in favour of the superficial, short-term satisfaction of its drive for action. The Israeli Army as an institution separated military actions from their political implications, and all too often, granted itself freedom of action at all levels of command. That myopic pattern led to recurring raids and minor operations during the 1950s, and contributed notably to the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967

Action (physics · Ancient history · Battlefield · Grand strategy · Instinct · Military history · Military theory · Military threat · Political science · Politics · Globalization and Cultural Identity · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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