A forty-two-nation coalition reversed Iraq’s grab of Kuwait
The Gulf War matched Iraq against a forty-two-country coalition led by the United States after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait on two August nineteen ninety. Desert Shield built forces from August to January nineteen ninety-one; Desert Storm ran from seventeen January bombing to Kuwait’s liberation on twenty-eight February.
The UN Security Council demanded withdrawal and embargoed Iraq and Kuwait. The alliance—the broadest since World War II—drew most heavily from the US, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Egypt. An ultimatum of twenty-nine November nineteen ninety expired fifteen January nineteen ninety-one authorizing “all necessary means.” Five weeks of air and naval bombardment followed; Iraq fired missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia without splitting Muslim coalition partners. A ground war begun twenty-four February swiftly freed Kuwait.
Aftermath saw Iraqi crackdowns on uprisings until five April nineteen ninety-one, coalition no-fly zones north and south, and UNSCOM inspections of weapons programs. A later US-led invasion in two thousand three opened the Iraq War. Environmentally, Iraqi forces ignited over six hundred oil wells and created what was then history’s largest oil spill; US strikes on chemical sites were later tied to Gulf War syndrome in over forty percent of US veterans.
CNN’s live frontline feeds earned the nickname “Video Game War,” showcasing satellites, precision munitions, and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth jet, plus the largest American tank battles until surpassed later. The six-week campaign thus mixed old-fashioned liberation politics with a televised debut of late-Cold-War hardware.
Money and borders lit the fuse. By the August 1988 ceasefire with Iran, Iraq was deep in debt, owing Kuwait alone about $14 billion, and both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia refused to forgive their loans. Baghdad also argued that Kuwait, once part of the Ottoman province of Basra, belonged to Iraq, and resented a 1922 British-drawn border that left it almost landlocked. Kuwaiti and Emirati overproduction pushed oil toward $10 a barrel against OPEC's $18 target, costing Iraq some $7 billion a year, and Saddam accused Kuwait of slant-drilling into the Rumaila field, a charge local oil workers called fabricated. By 23 July 1990 the CIA was reporting 30,000 Iraqi troops massed at the frontier.
Source: Gulf War
