Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East Volume 2

During the Cold War, communist Czechoslovakia was one of the largest arms exporters to the Middle East among the Soviet Bloc countries. The second volume of this mini-series describes the history of arms exports from Czechoslovakia to Egypt including related military assistance.

Although Egypt had expressed interest in buying Czechoslovak arms just before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, no deliveries were eventually made. The reason was the preferences of Prague, which fully supported Israel. The situation began to change from July 1950 when Czechoslovakia banned exports of its weapons to the Jewish country. These developments culminated in September 1955, when the first huge Czechoslovak-Egyptian arms deal was concluded. As a proxy of Moscow, Prague delivered impressive quantities of armament and ammunition together with spare parts, logistics, and support equipment.

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