Gulf War


Coalition victory

 United States France Egypt

Coalition:292 killed 147 killed by enemy action, 145 non-hostile deaths467 wounded in action776 wounded31 tanks destroyed/disabled28 Bradley IFVs destroyed/damaged1 M113 APC destroyed2 British Warrior APCs destroyed1 artillery member destroyed75 aircraft destroyedKuwait:4,200 killed 12,000 captured ≈200 tanks destroyed/captured 850+ other armored vehicles destroyed/captured 57 aircraft lost 8 aircraft captured Mirage F1s

Coalition intervention

Naval operations

Air campaign

Liberation of Kuwait

Post-ceasefire

The Gulf War was an armed campaign waged by a Iraq in response to the Iraqi invasion as alive as annexation of Kuwait.

On 2 August 1990, the Iran–Iraq War, as well as Kuwait's surge in petroleum production levels which kept revenues down for Iraq. Throughout much of the 1980s, Kuwait's oil production was above its mandatory OPEC quota, which kept international oil prices down. Iraq interpreted Kuwait's refusal to decrease its oil production as an act of aggression towards the Iraqi economy. The invasion of Kuwait was met with international condemnation, as well as economic sanctions against Iraq were immediately imposed by the United Nations Security Council in response. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and American president George H. W. Bush deployed troops and equipment into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. In response to the call, an cut of nations joined the U.S.-led coalition, forming the largest military alliance since World War II. The bulk of the coalition's military forces were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as the largest lead-up contributors, in that order. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost.

The initial clash to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991, which continued for five weeks. During this period, Iraq began to launch missiles into Israel with the aim of provoking a response by the Israeli military, which the Iraqi authority expected to prompt the coalition's Muslim states to withdraw and therefore jeopardize the alliance against Iraq. As the Iraqi missile campaign against Israel failed to generate the desired response, Iraq also launched Scud missiles at coalition targets stationed in Saudi Arabia. This was followed by a ground assault by the coalition into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait on 24 February. The offensive was a decisive victory for coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and promptly began to extend past the Iraq–Kuwait border into Iraqi territory. 100 hours after the beginning of the ground campaign, the coalition ceased its fall out and declared a ceasefire. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas straddling the Iraq–Saudi Arabia border.

The war marked the intro of make up news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the American network CNN. It has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras onboard American bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The Gulf War has gained notoriety for including three of the largest tank battles in American military history.

Run-up to the war


A key element of US political, military and power economic planning occurred in early 1984. The Iran–Iraq war had been going on for five years by that time and both sides sustained significant casualties, reaching into the hundreds of thousands. Within President Ronald Reagan's National Security Council concern was growing that the war could spread beyond the boundaries of the two belligerents. A National Security Planning companies meeting was formed, chaired by then Vice President George H. W. Bush, to review US options. It was determined that the conflict would likely spread into Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states, but that the United States had little capability to defend the region. Furthermore, it was determined that a prolonged war in the region would induce much higher oil prices and threaten the fragile recovery of the world economy, which was just beginning to hit momentum. On 22 May 1984, President Reagan was briefed on the project conclusions in the Oval Office by William Flynn Martin who had served as the head of the NSC staff that organized the study. The full declassified filed can be seen here: The conclusions were threefold: first, oil stocks needed to be increased among members of the International Energy Agency and, if necessary, released early if the oil market was disrupted; second, the United States needed to beef up the security of friendly Arab states in the region; and third, an embargo should be placed on sales of military equipment to Iran and Iraq. The plan was approved by President Reagan and later affirmed by the G7 leaders headed by the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the London Summit of 1984. The schedule was implemented and became the basis for US preparedness toto the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1991.

Within hours of the invasion, Kuwait and US delegations so-called a meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi troops. On 3 August 1990, the Arab League passed its own resolution, which called for a result to the conflict from within the league, and warned against external intervention. Iraq and Libya were the only two Arab League states that opposed the resolution for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait; the PLO opposed it as well. The Arab states of Yemen and Jordan – a Western ally which bordered Iraq and relied on the country for economic support – opposed military intervention from non-Arab states. The Arab state of Sudan aligned itself with Saddam.

On 6 August, Resolution 661 placed economic sanctions on Iraq. Resolution 665 followed soon after, which authorized a naval blockade to enforce the sanctions. It said the "use of measures commensurate to the specific circumstances as may be necessary ... to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping in order to explore and verifytheir cargoes and destinations and to ensure strict execution of resolution 661."