All times given are local times at the location being discussed.
July 17: Sadat publicizes his decision to remove Soviet military advisors from Egypt.
July 19: Sadat contacts the United States with a request to begin talks in order to turn over a new leaf in US-Egypt relations.
October 6: Kissinger and Rabin meet in the White House.
October 24: Sadat participates in a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt.
November 14: Dayan meets with Kissinger as well as Rogers in Washington.
December 1: Golda Meir’s “kitchen cabinet” meets to discuss warnings that Egypt will initiate renewed fighting.
December 19: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
December 20: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
December 22: Kissinger and Rabin meet at the White House.
January 12: Sadat and President Tito meet in Yugoslavia.
January 23: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
The Vietnam ceasefire agreement is initialed in Paris.
January 24: Meeting between Kissinger and Rabin at the White House.
January 25: 11:00 President Nixon and Rabin meet at the White House.
16:10 Discussion between Kissinger and Rabin.
January 27: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
February 3: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
February 5: Kissinger and Rabin meet at the White House.
February 6: Kissinger and King Hussein meet in Washington.
February 7: Hafez Ismail visits Moscow and meets with the Soviet leadership.
February 15: CIA director Schlesinger meets with Rabin in Washington.
February 18: Meir and Dayan consult at Glilot.
February 20: Hafez Ismail and British foreign minister Alec Douglas-Home meet in London.
February 21: Kissinger and Rabin meet.
The Israeli Air Force shoots down a Libyan passenger plane over Sinai. One hundred and eight passengers and crew members are killed.
February 22: Kissinger and Rabin meet, then speak later by telephone.
February 24: Telephone conversation between Kissinger and Rabin.
February 25: Kissinger and Hafez Ismail meet secretly in Armonk, New York.
February 26: Second secret meeting between Kissinger and Ismail in Armonk.
18:00 President Nixon and Kissinger meet in the White House.
19:15 Kissinger and Rabin speak by telephone.
February 27: Sadat meets with senior media figures in Cairo.
Meir, Rabin and Zamir meet with Schlesinger in Washington.
11:42 Kissinger and King Hussein meet secretly in Washington.
15:30 Kissinger and Rabin meet.
February 28: Egyptian defense minister Ismail Ali visits Moscow.
08:15 Kissinger, Meir, and Rabin meet at Rabin’s Washington home.
12:30 Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Rush meets with Meir.
16:00 Defense Secretary Richardson meets with Meir.
19:30 Kissinger and Rabin meet at the White House.
23:30 Kissinger and Rabin speak by telephone.
March 1: 09:47 President Nixon and Kissinger meet to prepare for Nixon’s meeting with Meir and Rabin.
10:30 Kissinger and Rabin speak by telephone.
11:00 Nixon and Kissinger meet with Meir and Rabin.
15:06 Kissinger and Rabin speak by telephone.
March 2: Ismail Ali meets with Soviet leaders in Moscow.
March 9: Message from Kissinger to Hafez Ismail.
18:40 Kissinger and Rabin meet; Kissinger outlines to Rabin an agreement with Egypt and a schedule to reach it, and asks for Meir’s consent.
March 10: Meir and Rabin speak by telephone.
15:15 Kissinger and Rabin speak by telephone; Rabin delivers Meir’s negative reply.
March 13: Meir reports to a small group of ministers on her discussions in the United States.
March 20: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
March 22: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
March 26: Sadat makes a speech in Cairo and announces changes in his government.
March 30: Kissinger meets with Dinitz, Rabin’s replacement as Israeli ambassador to the United States.
April 1: Newsweek correspondent de Borchgrave interviews Sadat.
April 6: Kissinger and Dinitz speak by telephone.
April 7: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
April 10: The IDF begins Operation Spring of Youth in Lebanon.
April 11: A message from Kissinger to Ismail is delayed on Meir’s demand.
Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
Ashraf Marwan passes to Israel intelligence information and a warning that Sadat intends to open hostilities in mid-May.
April 12: Ismail receives Kissinger’s message suggesting a date for their next meeting.
April 13: Kissinger and Dinitz speak by telephone.
April 18: “Golda’s kitchen cabinet” meets to discuss warnings that Egypt plans to renew hostilities.
Kissinger and Dinitz meet in the White House.
Sadat presides over an Egyptian cabinet meeting to discuss war against Israel.
April 20: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
April 21: The National Assembly meets in Cairo to discuss war with Israel.
April 23: Ismail sends Kissinger a message to confirm their May meeting.
Sadat meets with Assad in Alexandria to coordinate a war against Israel.
Marwan reports that the war will be postponed to the end of May or the beginning of June.
April 24: Gazit, director general of the prime minister’s office, meets with Soviet representative Yuri Primakov in Geneva.
April 26: Gazit and Primakov meet again.
May 3: Kissinger and Dinitz meet in the White House. Dinitz tells Kissinger about Hussein’s warning to Meir about Egypt’s and Syria’s intention to renew hostilities.
May 7: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
May 8: Kissinger and Soviet foreign minister Gromyko meet in Zavidovo, Soviet Union.
May 9: Hussein meets with Meir and Dayan in Tel Aviv.
Kissinger meets with Soviet leaders in Zavidovo and Moscow.
May 12: Kissinger meets with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban at the White House.
May 13: Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
May 14: The IDF General Staff meets with Dayan in Tel Aviv to discuss Israeli war objectives.
May 15: Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
May 18: Gad Yaacobi communicates Dayan’s intentions regarding a peace treaty to the United States.
Kissinger and Eban meet at the White House.
May 20: Kissinger and Ismail meet near Paris.
May 21: Summary at the IDF General Staff meeting with Dayan regarding preparations for war in the coming months.
May 25: Marwan reports on the postponement of the war.
May 26: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
June 2: Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
President Nixon offers Kissinger the post of Secretary of State.
Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
June 5: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
June 10: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
June 14: Discussion between Kissinger and Dinitz.
Kissinger submits a memorandum to the president regarding summit discussions between Nixon and Brezhnev.
“Golda’s kitchen cabinet” to discuss the US-Soviet summit.
Marwan reports that the war has been postponed to the end of September or the beginning of October.
June 15: Kissinger and Dinitz meet in the White House.
June 18–23: Summit meeting between President Nixon and Secretary-General Brezhnev in Washington.
June 28: Rogers sends a memorandum to Nixon proposing the initiation of a secret political process between Israel and Egypt.
July 1: Joe Alon, Israeli air attaché, is murdered near Washington.
July 3: Kissinger and Dinitz meet in San Clemente, California.
July 4: Kissinger and Dinitz speak by telephone.
July 6: Dayan and Elazar decide to reduce compulsory IDF service.
July 7: Message from Kissinger to Ismail.
July 11: Message from Ismail to Kissinger.
July 13: Hafez Ismail visits Moscow and meets with Brezhnev.
July 16: Sadat’s speaks in Egypt to the National Assembly regarding the situation following the summit meeting between Nixon and Brezhnev.
July 20: Kissinger and Dinitz meet in the White House.
August 3: Kissinger and Dinitz meet in the White House.
August 8: Kissinger and Dinitz speak by telephone.
August 10: Israel intercepts an Iraqi passenger plane in an attempt to capture George Habash, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
August 12: Israel decides to end the war deployment according to the “Blue-White Plan.”
August 13: Kissinger transmits a message to Ismail via the Iranian ambassador in Washington in another attempt to set a secret political process in motion.
August 14: Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
August 15: Kissinger meets with the Iranian ambassador in Washington.
Kissinger and Dinitz speak by telephone.
August 16: Marwan and King Faisal’s advisor meet in Cairo.
August 17: Marwan leaves for Libya on a mission for Sadat and meets with Qaddafi.
Marwan returns to Cairo, then leaves for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Kissinger and Eban meet at Dinitz’s home in Washington.
August 20: Kissinger and Dinitz meet.
August 21: Senior representatives of the Syrian army arrive in Alexandria for discussions of the Supreme Joint Council of the Armed Forces in order to coordinate plans for the war.
August 24: Sadat and Marwan meet with King Faisal in Saudi Arabia.
Sadat and Marwan meet with Emir Khalifa in Qatar.
August 25–26: President Sadat and President Assad meet in Baludan near Damascus.
Marwan meets with Qaddafi in Cairo, then leaves for Damascus to meet with Sadat and Assad.
August 30: Kurt Waldheim, secretary-general of the United Nations, visits Jerusalem and meets with Meir.
September 2: Marwan reports on Sadat’s trip; he says that war is planned only toward the end of the year. He also provides details to the Mossad of Libyan-operated terrorists’ plans to use missiles to shoot down an El Al plane in Rome.
September 4: The Central Committee of the Israeli Labor Party adopts the “Galili Document,” the governing party’s policy for settling the territories occupied in 1967.
September 8: Kissinger and Dinitz meet.
September 10: Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
Dinitz leaves for consultations in Israel.
Sadat, Assad, and King Hussein meet in Cairo.
September 12: Sadat and Assad determine October 6 as the date for initiating the war. Sadat reports to his close associate, journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, that war will begin the following month.
September 13: Thirteen Syrian MiGs are shot down during an air skirmish above northern Syria. Israel loses one Mirage.
September 14: Ma’ariv publishes Dayan’s political intentions regarding a peace agreement with Egypt.
September 15: Kissinger meets with the Iranian ambassador at the White House.
September 17: First of three strategic discussions in the IDF general staff with Dayan in Tel Aviv.
September 20: The US embassy in Tel Aviv issues a report on Dayan’s political intentions.
September 22: Kissinger is appointed US secretary of state.
Sadat and Assad give their armies’ chiefs of staff the date of the opening of hostilities—October 6.
September 23: Dinitz returns to Washington after a series of consultations in Israel.
September 24: Second discussion in the IDF general staff, dealing with strategic thinking. This time Zvi Zamir, director of the Mossad, also participates.
Kissinger gives a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Kissinger receives a memorandum from his assistant Bill Quandt dealing with the chances for an Israeli-Arab agreement.
September 25: King Hussein meets Meir at Glilot.
Kissinger meets with Arab foreign ministers in New York.
September 26: Eve of Rosh Hashanah.
The London Times reports on Kissinger’s plan for an agreement between Israel and Egypt.
In Tel Aviv, Dayan and IDF General Staff hold a series of discussions about the military situation. Dayan visits the Golan Heights and publicizes the military situation to representatives of the press.
September 27: First day of Rosh Hashanah.
Egypt proclaims a full military call-up exercise, the twenty-third in nine months.
September 28: Third anniversary of Nasser’s death.
Nixon and Kissinger meet in the White House with Gromyko, who warns of a flare-up in the Middle East.
September 29: Terror attack in Austria against a train carrying Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union.
Sadat assembles the National Security Council and reports that war will break out in the near future. He does not cite a date.
Sadat informs Vinogradov, Soviet ambassador in Cairo, that Egypt is about to break the ceasefire with Israel. Marwan does not report this until the night of October 5.
September 30: Meir leaves for Strasbourg for discussions at the European Council.
Kissinger and Dinitz meet at the White House.
The IDF General Staff meets to discuss the situation at the Syrian front.
October 1: After making a speech at the European Council, Meir leaves for Vienna to deal with the closing of the immigrant transit camp.
October 2: Dayan and Elazar meet to discuss the security tension.
October 3: Libyan prime minister Abdel Salem Jaloud visits Egypt and meets with Sadat and Marwan.
Ismail Ali leaves for Damascus to coordinate the time the war is to begin.
Marwan leaves for Libya to coordinate moves connected to the war initiative.
“Golda’s kitchen cabinet” meets to discuss the military situation.
October 4: The Egyptians update Vinogradov on the date the war will begin.
Dayan holds consultations in his office about the security tension.
The IDF General Staff meets to discuss army discipline.
Marwan leaves Libya for Paris and reports on preparations for war. Asks to meet Zamir on the following evening in London.
Reports begin arriving in Israel in the evening that the Soviet advisors’ families are being evacuated from Egypt and Syria.
Journalist Yosef Harif reports in Ma’ariv on Dayan’s attitude toward political steps after the Israeli elections; the US embassy in Israel reports this to Washington.
October 5: Yom Kippur Eve.
08:25 Discussion in Elazar’s office.
09:00 Discussion in Dayan’s office.
09:45 Discussion in Meir’s office.
11:30 The Israeli government meets, with a number of ministers absent.
12:30 The IDF General Staff holds an urgent discussion in Tel Aviv.
Kissinger meets with Egyptian foreign minister Zayyat in New York.
17:30 Message from Meir to Kissinger delivered to the White House.
22:00 In London, Zamir meets Marwan, who tells him that the war will begin on the following day at sunset.
October 6:
In Israel:
02:30 Zamir reports that war will break out that evening.
03:50 Zamir’s message is communicated to Meir and Dayan.
05:00 Elazar meets with Zeira and Peled.
05:50 Dayan meets with Elazar.
08:05 Consultation in Meir’s office.
10:15 Meir meets with the US ambassador Keating.
11:00 Dayan participates in a consultation at the IDF command post.
12:00 Government ministers meet in Meir’s Tel Aviv office.
13:50 First sightings of Egyptian attack planes. The attack begins.
14:05 Alert sirens heard in Israel.
In New York (six hours behind Israel and Egypt):
06:30 Kissinger is informed that war will break out in the coming hours and calls Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the United States.
06:55 Kissinger telephones Mordechai Shalev, Dinitz’s deputy.
07:00 Kissinger speaks with Zayyat.
07:25 Zayyat speaks with Hafez Ismail in Cairo.
07:35 Kissinger speaks again with Zayyat.
07:45 Kissinger speaks again with Shalev.
07:47 Kissinger speaks again with Dobrynin.
08:15 Kissinger speaks again with Zayyat and learns from him that war has broken out.