Haganah: Difference between revisions

The evolution of Jewish defense organisationsorganizations in Palestine and later Israel went from small self-defense groups active during [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule, to ever larger and more sophisticated ones during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate]], leading through the Haganah to the national army of Israel, the IDF. The evolution went step by step from [[Bar-Giora]], to [[Hashomer]], to Haganah, to IDF.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Jewish paramilitary organisationsorganizations in the [[Yishuv|New Yishuv]] (the Zionist enterprise in Palestine) started with the [[Second Aliyah]] (1904 to 1914).<ref>{{cite web|author=Speedy |url=http://thespeedymedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/idfs-history.html#.U4ei6F4ZffM |title=The Speedy Media: IDF's History |publisher=Thespeedymedia.blogspot.com |date=2011-09-12 |access-date=2014-08-03}}</ref> The first such organization was [[Bar-Giora (organization)|Bar-Giora]], founded in September 1907. It consisted of a small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. It was converted to Hashomer ({{lang-he|השומר}}; "The Watchman") in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization which never had more than 100 members.<ref>[[Tom Segev|Segev, Tom]] (2018 - 2019 translation [[Haim Watzman]]) ''A State at Any Cost. The Life of David Ben-Gurion.'' Apollo. {{ISBN|9-781789-544633}} p.96</ref> During [[World War I]], the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the [[Zion Mule Corps]] and the [[Jewish Legion]], both of which were part of the British Army. After the [[1920 Palestine riots|Arab riots]] against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuv's leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a full-scale defense force after the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]] with an organized structure, consisting of three main units—the [[Hish (Haganah corps)|Field Corps]], [[Guard Corps (Haganah)|Guard Corps]], and the [[Palmach]] strike force. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the [[Jewish Brigade]], which was joined by many Haganah fighters. During the 1947–48 civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities in what was still Mandatory Palestine, a reorganisedreorganized Haganah managed to defend or wrestle most of the territory it was ordered to hold or capture. At the beginning of the ensuing 1948–49 full-scale conventional war against regular Arab armies, the Haganah was reorganisedreorganized to become the core of the new Israel Defense Forces.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

On May 14, 1941, the Haganah created the [[Palmach]] (an acronym for ''Plugot Mahatz''—strike companies), an elite commando section, in preparation against the possibility of a British withdrawal and [[Axis powers|Axis]] invasion of Palestine. Its members, young men and women, received specialist training in guerilla tactics and sabotage.<ref>Yigal Allon, ''Sword of Zion''. {{ISBN|978-0-297-00133-1}}. pp. 116, 117.</ref> During 1942 the British gave assistance in the training of Palmach volunteers but in early 1943 they withdrew their support and attempted to disarm them.<ref>Allon, pp. 125, 126.</ref> The Palmach, then numbering over 1,000, continued as an underground organisationorganization with its members working half of each month as [[kibbutz]] volunteers, the rest of the month spent training.<ref>Allon, p. 127.</ref> It was never large—by 1947 it amounted to merely five battalions (about 2,000 men)—but its members had not only received physical and military training, but also acquired leadership skills that would subsequently enable them to take up command positions in Israel's army.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===ReorganisationReorganization===

On May 28, 1948, less than two weeks after the creation of the state of Israel on May 15, the provisional government created the [[Israel Defense Forces]], merging the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi, although the other two groups continued to operate independently in Jerusalem and abroad for some time after.<ref name=Bell /> The re-organisationreorganization led to several conflicts between Ben-Gurion and the Haganah leadership, including what was known as [[The Generals' Revolt]] and the dismantling of the Palmach.