The Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War, also named Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991 and lasted until February 28, 1991. It was waged between UN coalition forces of 34 nations, including the United States as the initial leader, and Iraq. The war began in response to the invasion of Kuwait.
Invasion of Kuwait
On August 2 1990, Kuwait was accused of stealing petroleum from Iraq from slant drilling and Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait. Hussein quickly overran the Kuwait Armed Forces and Kuwait was annexed by Iraq. As former territory to the Basra providence of the Ottoman Empire, after the invasion Kuwait was taken over by Iraqi militia in which becoming the 19th providence of Iraq.
United States Troops in Saudi Arabia
After the invasion, Saudi Arabia declared war against Iraq. George Bush waged war against Saddam Hussein. He sent a large amount of troops into Saudi Arabia to protect them from Iraqi invasions in which this was called Desert Shield. The United States and Saudi Arabian army established an alliance to attack Iraqi troops to stop from more invasions known as Operation Desert Shield. The Iraq militia were defeated easily and fled back to Iraq within a few days.
Operation Desert Storm
Under the comand of U.S General Norman Schwarzkopf, Operation Desert Storm was launched. He ordered a
bombing campaign in Iraq on January 18, 1991 when Iraq refused to withdraw from Kuwait. This destroyed Iraqi military and overall militia attempts. Schwarzkopf led an air attack on Iraq and launched missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia in
attempt to widen the war and break the coalition. Once cease-fire was declared by President George H.W. Bush many of the Iraqi milita fled or surrendered.
Aftermath
A peace conference was held where the cease-fire agreement was established. This guartanteed the liberation of Kuwait. The United States hoped that Saddam Hussein would be overthrown in a coup d'etat whereas the Central Intelligence Agency used its advantages in Iraq to undergo a revolt, however, the Iraqi government defeated the attempt. Therefore, on March 10, 1991 United States troops began to evacuate out of the Persian Gulf.
Casualities
United States:
-148 killed
-458 wounded
-121 died from non-combat
Iraq:
-100,000 Iraqi militia killed
- 2,300 civilans killed