Gulf War
The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.
| Gulf War | |||||||||
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Clockwise from top: USAF F-15Es, F-16s, and an F-15C flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells; British troops from the Staffordshire Regiment practicing casualty evacuation; camera view from a Lockheed AC-130; the Highway of Death; and M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Coalition:
| Iraq | ||||||||
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Over 950,000 soldiers 3,113 tanks 2,200 artillery pieces 1,800 aircraft |
1,000,000+ soldiers (~600,000 in Kuwait) 5,500 tanks 700+ aircraft 3,000 artillery systems | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Total: 13,488 Coalition: |
Total: 175,000–300,000+ Iraqi: 20,000–50,000 killed 75,000+ wounded 80,000–175,000 captured 3,300 tanks destroyed 2,100 APCs destroyed 2,200 artillery pieces destroyed 110 aircraft destroyed 137 aircraft flown to Iran to escape destruction 19 ships sunk, 6 damaged | ||||||||
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Kuwaiti civilian losses: Over 1,000 killed 600 missing people Iraqi civilian losses: 3,664 killed Other civilian losses: 75 killed in Israel and Saudi Arabia, 309 injured | |||||||||
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On 2 August 1990, Iraq, governed by President Saddam Hussein, launched an invasion of neighboring Kuwait and fully occupied the country within two days. Initially, Iraq ran the occupied territory under a puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait" before proceeding with an outright annexation in which Kuwaiti sovereign territory was split, with the "Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District" being carved out of the country's northern portion and the "Kuwait Governorate" covering the rest. Varying speculations have been made regarding intents behind the Iraqi invasion, most notably including Iraq's inability to repay a US$14 billion debt the country had borrowed from Kuwait to finance its prior war with Iran. Kuwait's demands for repayment were coupled with its surge in petroleum production levels, which kept revenues down for Iraq and further weakened its economic prospects; throughout much of the 1980s, Kuwait's oil production was above its mandatory quota under OPEC, which kept international oil prices down. Iraq interpreted the Kuwaiti refusal to decrease oil production as an act of aggression towards the Iraqi economy, leading up to the hostilities.
The invasion of Kuwait was immediately met with international condemnation, including Resolution 660 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and economic sanctions were unanimously imposed on Iraq in its Resolution 661. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and American president George H. W. Bush deployed troops and equipment into Saudi Arabia and openly urged other countries to send their own forces. An array of countries joined the American-led coalition, forming the largest military alliance since World War II. The bulk of the coalition's military power was from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as the largest lead-up contributors, in that order; Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti government-in-exile paid out around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost to mobilize the coalition against Iraq.
UNSC Resolution 678 adopted on 29 November 1990 offered Iraq one final chance until 15 January 1991 to implement Resolution 660 and withdraw from Kuwait; it further empowered states after the deadline to use "all necessary means" to force Iraq out of Kuwait. Initial efforts to dislodge the Iraqis from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991, which continued for five weeks. As the Iraqi military struggled against the coalition attacks, Iraq began to fire missiles at Israel. The coalition did not include Israel, however the Iraqi leadership expected the missile barrage to provoke an independent Israeli military response, which might have prompted the coalition's Muslim-majority countries to withdraw on account of tense relations between Arab nations and Israel. The provocation was unsuccessful; Israel did not retaliate and Iraq continued to remain at odds with most Muslim-majority countries. Iraqi missile barrages against coalition targets in Saudi Arabia were also largely unsuccessful, and on 24 February 1991, the coalition launched a major ground assault into Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. The offensive was a decisive victory for the coalition, who liberated Kuwait and promptly began to advance past the Iraq–Kuwait border into Iraqi territory. A hundred hours after the beginning of the ground campaign, the coalition ceased its advance into Iraq and declared a ceasefire. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas straddling the Iraq–Saudi Arabia border.
The conflict marked the introduction of live 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.