Operation Desert Storm

The Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990–28 February 1991) was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of approximately 30 nations led by the United States and mandated by the United Nations in order to liberate Kuwait.

The conflict is known by numerous alternative names that reflect the historical, political, and journalistic views of different groups and regions. These include Gulf War, Persian Gulf War, War in the Gulf, 1990 Gulf War, Second Persian Gulf War (to distinguish it from the Iran-Iraq War), Gulf War Sr. or First Persian Gulf War (to distinguish it from the 2003 Iraq War), Liberation of Kuwait, and War of Kuwait. Operation Desert Storm was the U.S. name of the airland operations and is often used to refer to the conflict.

It was actually the second of three Persian Gulf Wars fought between western allies and a theoretically independent Iraq. The first , also known as the Anglo-Iraqi War, had been fomented by Nazi Germany (which supplied aircraft in Iraqi markings with German crews) to draw Allied forces away from campaigns for the Mediterranean and the Western Desert during the parallel Second World War. In that tradition, many historians label it, therefore, as the Second Gulf War (although, for the British Army, it also brought back memories of the Great War Mesopotamian campaign).

Five days after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the United States started to deploy Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard units to Saudi Arabia with the Saudi doubted allegation that Iraq was preparing to invade their country (Operation Desert Shield), while at the same time urging other countries to send their own forces to the scene. U.S. coalition-building efforts were so successful that by the time the fighting (Operation Desert Storm) began on January 17, 1991, twelve countries had sent naval forces, joining the local navies of Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states, as well as the huge array of the U.S. Navy, with no fewer than six aircraft-carrier battle groups; eight countries had sent ground forces, joining the local troops of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the seventeen heavy, six light, and nine marine brigades of the U.S. Army, with all their vast support and service forces and four countries had sent combat aircraft, joining the local air forces of Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine aviation, for a grand total of 2,430 fixed-wing aircraft. Against them, the Iraqis deployed only a few gunboats and small missile craft to match the coalition's armada; but on the other hand, some 1.2 million ground troops with about 5,800 tanks, 5,100 other armored vehicles, and 3,850 artillery pieces made for impressive ground strength. With 750 fighters and bombers, 200 other aircraft, and elaborate missile and gun defenses, Iraqi air strength also seemed formidable. However, the tanks used by Iraqis were mostly copies of 50 year old Soviet design and the shells these tanks used had Chinese steel penetrators or Soviet penetrators, which were decommissioned in 1970's, because they were outdated then (in 1970's). The same situation held for other branches of Iraqi military.

The war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, following Iraqi contentions that Kuwait was illegally slant-drilling petroleum across Iraq’s border. The invasion was met with immediate economic sanctions by the UN against Iraq. Hostilities commenced in January 1991 (this is the date most people associate with the start of the Gulf War), resulting in a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal coalition deaths. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. Iraq also launched missiles against targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel.