Gulf War: Liberation of Kuwait
The Gulf War (August 1990-February 1991) began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 — motivated by Kuwait's disputed oil extraction from the shared Rumaila field, Iraq's $80 billion debt to Gulf states, and Saddam Hussein's calculation that the post-Cold War US would not intervene. He calculated wrong. The US assembled a 34-nation coalition, secured UN Security Council authorisation (UNSC 678), and launched Operation Desert Storm on 17 January 1991. Six weeks of air campaign followed by 100 hours of ground combat destroyed the Iraqi army and liberated Kuwait, at a cost of 383 coalition dead and an estimated 20,000-35,000 Iraqi military dead. The Bush administration halted the offensive before reaching Baghdad, calculating that toppling Saddam would fracture the coalition, destabilise the region, and require an occupation the US was unprepared for. This decision — widely criticised in 1991, endorsed in retrospect after the 2003 Iraq War — illustrated the distinction between strategic objectives (liberate Kuwait) and ideological objectives (regime change), and the costs of confusing them.
- Year: 1991 CE
- Category: Military
