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After the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia became an integral part of the Soviet Bloc which was heralded by the communist coup d'état in February 1948. Eager to fully use its excess arms manufacturing capacities to earn as much hard currency as possible, communist Czechoslovakia became one of the principal arms suppliers to the Middle East during the Cold War.
Following faltering attempts by Syria to purchase small arms and ammunition from Czechoslovakia in the late 1940s, successful orders were placed in the early 1950s enabling the Syrian Arab Army to build an armoured force around a core of ex-German armoured vehicles of Second World War vintage. These orders were to be followed up later with more for weapons of Czechoslovak and Soviet design that would form the backbone of the Syrian army and air force, including modern artillery, armoured vehicles, small arms, ammunition, and aircraft. The deals were not limited to material items and much training was also supplied, with some contracts even demanding specific named individual trainers.
This volume of Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East is more than just the story of the material items, it tells the story of how the equipment was incorporated into the structure of the Syrian armed forces, how it would be employed through the tumultuous second half of the twentieth century and how some items remain in service to the present day in the current civil war.
Using declassified original documentation, this is the most comprehensive account of Cold War Czechoslovak military involvement in the Middle East ever published.
