Apartheid

====Israeli arms sales====
Soviet support for militant anti-apartheid movements worked in the government's favour, as its claim to be reacting in opposition to aggressive communist expansion gained greater plausibility, and helped it justify its own domestic militarisation methods, known as "Total Strategy".<ref name=Onslaught1 /> Total Strategy involved building up a formidable conventional military and counter-intelligence capability.<ref name=Onslaught1 /> It was formulated on counter-revolutionary tactics as espoused by noted French tactician [[André Beaufre]].<ref name=Minter /> Considerable effort was devoted towards circumventing [[International sanctions|international arms sanctions]], and the government even went so far as to develop [[South Africa and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear weapons]],<ref>Von Wielligh, N. & von Wielligh-Steyn, L. (2015). ''The Bomb: South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Programme''. Pretoria: Litera.</ref> allegedly with covert assistance from [[Israel]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Brothers in Arms – Israel's secret pact with Pretoria |url=https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,,1704037,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=7 February 2006 |first=Chris |last=McGreal |access-date=3 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725232738/http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0%2C%2C1704037%2C00.html |archive-date=25 July 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2010, ''[[The Guardian]]'' released South African government documents that revealed an Israeli offer to sell the apartheid regime nuclear weapons.<ref>{{cite news|title=Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons|work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=24 May 2010|first=Chris|last=McGreal|access-date=24 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525212221/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons|archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The memos and minutes that confirm Israel's nuclear stockpile|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-documents|work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=24 May 2010|first=Chris|last=McGreal|access-date=24 May 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100525214324/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-documents|archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Israel denied these allegations and claimed that the documents were minutes from a meeting which did not indicate any concrete offer for a sale of nuclear weapons. [[Shimon Peres]] said that ''The Guardian''{{'}}s article was based on "selective interpretation ... and not on concrete facts."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/middleeast/25israel.html |work=The New York Times |title=Israel Denies It Offered South Africa Warheads |first=Isabel |last=Kershner |date=24 May 2010 |access-date=14 February 2017 |archive-date=30 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630105745/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/middleeast/25israel.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a result of "Total Strategy", South African society became increasingly militarised. Many domestic civil organisations were modelled upon military structures, and military virtues such as discipline, patriotism, and loyalty were highly regarded.<ref name="War">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEQ-Km_KShAC&q=Coventry+Four&pg=PA238|title=War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa|author=Jacklyn Cock, Laurie Nathan|year=1989|publisher=New Africa Books|isbn=978-0-86486-115-3|pages=36–37, 283–289|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709201235/https://books.google.com/books?id=zEQ-Km_KShAC&q=Coventry+Four&pg=PA238|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1968, national service for White South African men lasted nine months at minimum, and they could be called up for reserve duty into their late-middle age if necessary.<ref name=Reflections>{{cite book|last1=Potgieter|first1=Thean|last2=Liebenberg|first2=Ian|title=Reflections on War: Preparedness and Consequences|year=2012|pages=70–81|publisher=Sun Media Press|location=Stellenbosch|isbn=978-1-920338-85-5}}</ref> The length of national service was gradually extended to 12 months in 1972 and 24 months in 1978.<ref name="Reflections" /> At state schools, white male students were organised into paramilitary formations and drilled as cadets or as participants in a civil defence or "Youth Preparedness" curriculum.<ref name="War" /> Compulsory military education and in some cases, paramilitary training was introduced for all older white male students at state schools in three South African provinces.<ref name="War" /> These programmes presided over the construction of bomb shelters at schools and drills aimed at simulating mock insurgent raids.<ref name="War" />

From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, [[Military budget|defence budgets]] in South Africa were raised exponentially.<ref name=Minter /> In 1975, [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Israeli defence minister]] [[Shimon Peres]] signed a security pact with South African defence minister [[P.W. Botha]] that led to $200&thinsp;million in arms deals. In 1988, Israeli arm sales to South Africa totalled over $1.4&thinsp;billion.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/banquos-ghost-israeli-foreign-policy/|title=The Banquo's Ghost of Israeli Foreign Policy|journal=[[The Nation]]|date=14 May 2010|last1=Blumenthal|first1=Max|access-date=13 December 2018|archive-date=11 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811024245/https://www.thenation.com/article/banquos-ghost-israeli-foreign-policy/|url-status=live}}</ref> Covert operations focused on espionage and domestic counter-subversion became common, the number of [[special forces]] units swelled, and the [[South African Defence Force]] (SADF) had amassed enough sophisticated conventional weaponry to pose a serious threat to the "[[front-line states]]", a regional alliance of neighbouring countries opposed to apartheid.<ref name=Minter />