jan 16, 1991 - The Gulf War

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Known as the Persian Gulf War or just the “Gulf War”, happened January 16th 1991 to February 28th, 1991. This was an invasion of Iraq that happened due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein that aimed at taking the country’s large oil reserves and the substantial debt that had been owed to the tiny nation of Kuwait. The UN and the United States responded by the UN banning all trade with Iraq and giving them a deadline to leave Kuwait or suffer consequences. The USA and other countries committed troops to Saudi Arabia to deter Hussein from taking over the oil-rich country that was responsible for much of the oil exports to the world. The American military before their invasion had committed over 250,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. The Iraqis still did not pull out of Kuwait after the UN time period given to them which led to the invasion of Iraq named “Operation Desert Storm”. The first part of the multiple-pronged plan was to gain air supremacy in the area and take strategic targets (Communications, oil, manufacturing plants, etc). The air operation was a great success for the US and their allies as it was said that this neutralized nearly 30 percent of the Iraqi ground forces. There were also naval campaigns that took down the naval defenses that the country held and greatly weakened them there too. Iraq eventually lost the war, but there were many detrimental effects because of it. Before getting pushed out of Kuwait, the Iraqis burnt a lot of Oil facilities that housed Kuwait's Oil and created a huge environmental disaster. This caused Acid rain, temperature change, and bad effects to soldiers and people exposed to the chemicals. Iraq was invaded again 12 years later by the United States under Operation Iraqi Freedom to disarm the country for their "possession" of WMDs (Weapons of Mass destruction).

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