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Recommended: Iran - Iraq war
In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran because of a territorial dispute. This led to a long drawn out war that cost many lives and billions of dollars in damages, with either side unable to claim victory. This paper will focus on the three things that distinguish this war from previous wars. First, it was an excessively protracted and attritive war, lasting eight years, essentially destabilizing the region and devastating both countries. Second, it was a disproportionate war in regards to the means employed by either side. Iraq was supported by Kuwait, the United States, and several other Western European countries, allowing them to acquire advanced weapons and expert training (History.com staff, 2009). Lastly, this war used three modes of warfare not seen in previous wars: ballistic-missile attacks, the use of chemical weapons, and attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf (History.com staff, 2009). The Protracted War The Iraq-Iran War lasted eight years, lasting longer than either world wars. Because of Iraq's central location and limited access to the gulf, Iraq was forced to cross other countries' land to pipe its oil, making its oil fields extremely vulnerable (Iran-Iraq War Documentary, 2013). Iraq was determined to establish itself by neutralizing its closest rival, Iran. Oil and territory were their main objective. Iraq's plan was to invade Iran in several areas including Bakhtaran, Dezful, Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, and Abadan (Hiro, 1989). These areas spread from north to south. Iraq's strategic plan was to protect its northern oil fields; cut a vital road to Tehran; cut communication between northern and southern Iran; to take over strategic oil fields in the Arabian Peninsula (Hiro, 1989). Iraqi forces moved qui... ... middle of paper ... ...ted Iraq pressured him to accept a cease-fire. After eight years of fighting and millions of casualties the borders remained unchanged. Works Cited Hardy, R. (2001, Sept 22). The iran-iraq war: 25 years on . BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4260420.stm Hiro, D. (1989). The longest war: The iran-iraq military conflict. London, England: Psychology Press. History.com staff. (2009). Iraq-iran war. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/iran-iraq-war Iran-Iraq War. (2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. Perrimond, G. (1999, April 14). The threat of theatre ballistic missiles. TTU Europe, DOI: TTU Europe Sheridan, C. (Writer) (1995). The war between iran and iraq [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHwvmZXyro Willet, E. (2004). The iraq-iran war. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
The Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm, the Persian Gulf War, The First Gulf War or The Kuwait War. Was a war that started 2 August 1990 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The war lasted to 28. February 1991, when President Bush declared a ceasefire. The war ended unofficially the 26th, when the Iraqi troops started to withdraw from Kuwait, after finishing their mission. The Coalition air forces continued to follow and bomb the Iraqi troops, even after the retreat started. They kept killing Iraqi troops, and a Highway 8 became known as the “Highway of Death”.
In 1991, Saddam Hussein decided to declare massive aggression on the countries bordering Iraq. The most affected country was Kuwait. Due to the nature of their ties with the United States, Iraq had a well organized and equipped army that was capable of causing massive instability in Kuwait. The United States could not let this happen because of the importance of Kuwait to the US. Kuwait and the US were heavily involved in the oil business with Kuwait being one of the biggest oil suppliers in the world to the US. The aggression by Saddam Hussein to Kuwait was also a major threat to other Arab nations in the region that had formed trade ties with the US. The involvement of the US in this aggression became the first major predicament that President Bush faced regarding foreign policies and relations. The US could not allow Saddam to take over the Arab nations as that would pose a major threat to the supply of oil to the US. In addition, Iraq would have control over 20% of the world’s major oil supplies in the world. As a result President Bush responded to the Iraq despot’s power play with Kuwait to mobilize a global coalition with Arab nations in “Operation Desert Storm” that repelled Saddam Hussein’s aggression in 1991 (Crab and Mulcahy 255).
In September 1980, a very destructive war with Iran was started by Saddam Hussein. This was a result of an invasion in Iran. This invasion spurred an eight year war. Saddam used c...
Lee, Roger A. “The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991).” The History Guy. 14 Aug. 2001. 3
The Iraq war, also known as the second Gulf War, is a five-year, ongoing military campaign which started on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops. One of the most controversial events in the history of the western world, the war has caused an unimaginable number of deaths, and spending of ridiculous amounts of money. The reason for invasion war Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, which eventually was disproved by weapons inspectors. Many people question George W. Bush’s decision to engage a war in Iraq, but there might be greater reason why the decision was made. The ideas of George W. Bush might have been sculpted by one of the greatest works of all time, "The Prince."
Iran's main arguments for conflict were to either capture Iraqi oilfields thereby giving them bartering chips to secure the heavy firepower that Iraq had and Iran desperately needed, or to attack the Iraqi artillery that had laid a continuous barrage onto the Iranian civilian area since the commencement of the war (Hiro, 1991). Option two became the primary strategy due to the high amount of emotion from the Iranian leaders, the worrying that national unity would disintegrate if a ceasefire was to be enacted, and the fact that oil was now a commodity and the revenue was beginning to rise promptly.
Soldiers falling, bullets flying, tensions rising, the Persian Gulf War was a significant war in terms of modern American history. The Cold War was a time of unease throughout the nation, from the end of World War Two in 1945 to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. After the Vietnam War ended poorly in the early 1970s, the United States remained out of war for another 20 years. When Iraq was threatening to invade Saudi Arabia in late 1990, the United States knew it had to intervene. After roughly two decades without war, America did not know how it’s military ranked up on an international level, especially against an Iraqi military that was the second largest in the world (Smith 2013). Soon after the stockpiling of coalition forces in the Middle East, the invasion of Iraq began. Weakening targets first with naval strikes, the ground forces invaded the Iraqi forces and liberated Kuwait. As soon as it started, the war ended in favor of the coalition forces. Due to the excellent preparations prior to the war, the United States led a swift battle against Iraq, which led to a successful outcome and restored faith in American citizens.
The war between Iraq and Iran initiated in 1980 and it lasted eight years (3). The invasion of Kuwait started on the second of August 1990. There are reasons and consequences for this invasion that I am going to talk about in this essay
Iraq’s economic system was crippled by the Iran and Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War and the UN embargo. The country has yet to recover from its 1980 levels when Iraq was the second largest economy is the Arab world (Khadduri,
The war in the Persian Gulf was a war of religious favor, cruel leadership, and greed. Desert Storm or more commonly known ass The Golf War was the same type of war that had accrued in this area for many years except for one fact. In Operation Desert Storm, it was a mix of sophisticated technology and the combined leadership and cooperation from the coalition that was used to end the war in a quick and timely manner. Which in the end probably saved thousands of lives.
Iraq’s history is one of both prosperity and violence, and dates back to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. While dominated by a variety of civilizations, the region enjoyed a relatively stable society. Since the birth of Islam, the religion has been the dominant cultural belief of the region, and has made its way into the laws and ruling of the region. (InDepth Info, 2010)
2. Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh, The Gulf Conflict: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order, 1990–1991
It was originally assumed that the SDI program was a virtually perfect defense against a large intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, attacks, which required very competent weapons. An ICBM has three levels of flight; the boost phase, the midcourse phase, and the terminal phase. With the SDI program, a space-based directed energy, or a laser, weapon would be used to destroy ICBM’s in the boost phase. Ground-based, space-based lasers or continental weapons could be used to destroy ICBM’s in midcourse, and ground-based beam weapons and missile interceptors could be used to destroy ICBM’s in the terminal phase. But as the goals of the program have evolved toward more realistic ambitions, the requirements for highly competent weapons diminished. Therefore, the initial focus on space-based directed energy weapons gradually shifted toward interest in ground-based kinetic energy weapons.
In 1980, the militant state of Iraq, led by President Saddam Hussein invaded the Republic of Iran. Predicted to be an overwhelming victory for Iraq, the war took a different turn. It was an even battle, one that lasted eight years. After these eight years, the Iraqi economy was in a dire situation. Iraq's oil business was losing to other Arab countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who were producing more oil for less money. Iraq needed more oil money to support the massive military it had amassed. On August 2, 1990, Iraq decided to invade Kuwait so that they could obtain Kuwait's oil and possibly gain access to the Saudi oil fields. This led to political conflict that eventually started the Gulf War between the US-led UN Coalition forces and Iraq. Although the US was successful in forcing Iraq to retreat from Kuwait, they made a poor exit which allowed Iraq to keep much of their military and left Hussein in power, which in turn caused many problems in the years to come.
Iraq’s economy system was disastrously crippled by the Iran and Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War and the UN embargo. The country has yet to recover from