Persian Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War, lasted from 1990 - 1991, it consisted of nearly 20 countries which include Canada, USA, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Morocco, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Argentina, Italy, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Czech & Slovak Federative Republic.

On August 2nd, 1990, the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait, his intention was to acquire the country’s large oil reserve and also eliminate a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait. On August 3rd the United Nations Security Council called for Iraq to remove its forces from Kuwait but the Iraqi government refused. On the 6th of August the UN urged a worldwide ban on trade with Iraq. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait endangered other nearby nations with oil reserves, such as Saudi Arabia.

At the time Saudi Arabia was the largest producer and exporter of oil, this encouraged NATO backed Western European Countries to rush troops and defensive resources into Saudi Arabia. Egypt and multiple other Arab nations joined the NATO forces and the anti-Iraq movement. Iraq was also building its own military forces in Kuwait. This was known as Operation Desert Storm. On November 29 the UN authorized the use of military force by any nation if Iraqi forces did not remove itself from Kuwait by January 15 1991. By January 1991 the allied (NATO) troop counts had skyrocketed to a mass 700, 000, the largest being US with 540 000. Stubbornly Saddam continued to remove his troops from Kuwait. The fighting officially started on January 16th 1991, with United States air campaign. The massive bombardment of Iraqi forces destroyed their air defenses. The allies then focused on destroying Iraq’s communication networks, Government buildings, oil refineries, munitions factories and also important access bridges. By February the allied forces were sending troops into Kuwait and southern Iraq by ground. The allies smashed through defenses and destroyed valuable military equipment.

Operation Desert Sabre was a ground offense lead by the allies, it started in northeast Saudi Arabia, then to Kuwait, and then pushed to southern Iraq. On February 24th, three days after allied forces began this offense, they had already retaken the entire city of Kuwait. The main armoured division drove 200 kilometers west of Kuwait and attacked Iraq’s armoured reserves. By February 28th U.S President George Bush declared a ceasefire but the Iraqi Resistance was in shambles.

For many years to come the U.S. and other nations followed up with inspections and air patrols over Iraqi territory. On March 20th 2003 after the horrendous 911 attacks George W. Bush blames Iraq for this tragedy and launches another offensive against Iraqi forces known as the Iraq war.