Warmatrix

American F-14 flies over burning oil wells

The Gulf War was a very one-sided war over oil, in which oil-powered aircraft played an important role. It saw the first widespread use of the Global Positioning System, stealth bombers, precision bombs and live television coverage.
After the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq was burdened with heavy debts, mostly to Saudi-Arabia and Kuwait. Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein first tried to compel his creditors to cancel the debts, but they refused. Quarrels over oil production levels and slant-drilling into the Rumalia oilfield soured the relations further. Saddam Hussein decided to solve his problems by using his still strong army to annex Kuwait. In early August 1990 CE 88,000 battle-hardened Iraqi troops, spearheaded by commandos, thundered into Kuwait in a well-planned operation. One pincer aimed directly for the capital Kuwait City, while another attacked from the west and the navy shelled the coast from the sea. The Kuwaiti army numbered only 16,000 men. It was defeated after two days. Some troops surrendered, others fled to Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations condemned the attack; the Arab League was divided; peace talks led to nothing. Because Saddam Hussein now controlled both the Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil supplies and threatened Saudi Arabia, response to Saudi and Kuwaiti pleas for help was quick. Within days, the USA started Operation Desert Shield, rushing in a large number of troops to defend Saudi Arabia against a possible Iraqi follow-up attack. That attack never came, though in the first weeks the aggressor had the military supremacy to do it. A broad coalition of 34 countries to oppose Iraq was set up, with the USA as the senior party, contributing 3/4 of the soldiers. The United Nations passed a resolution that demanded that Iraq withdrew before mid January 1991 CE. The USA briefly considered economic sanctions, but quickly decided on war instead.
A day after the deadline had expired, Operation Desert Shield was switched to Operation Desert Storm, an offensive that had been planned for months. It started with a bombing campaign that targeted Iraq's air force and air defenses; command and communication structure; weapons and production facilities; supply and escape routes. Despite strong air defenses, near total air superiority was achieved quickly. Both stealth bombers and conventional bombers were very effective, destroying many targets with minimal losses. Precision-guided munitions, despite being new, immature and not as accurate as the military tried to make the world believe, accounted for the vast majority of hits on target. Some of the strikes were reported live on television by a handful of reporters in Baghdad. The Iraqis lost 50% of their tanks, 30% of their infantry fighting vehicles and 60% of their artillery, though the losses were very unevenly distributed over their forces.
In the meanwhile Iraq tried to get Arab countries, vital for both political credibility and military bases, out of the coalition by trying to draw Israel in. Scud missiles were launched at Israel. Many feared that they would be armed with chemical warheads, yet this was not so. The USA put pressure on Israel not to retaliate and bolstered its air defenses with Patriot anti-missile missiles, which later proved to be very inaccurate, though did provide a feeling of security at the time. Thus, a psychological attack was thwarted by a psychological defense.
On the ground, a strong coalition army was built up to almost 800,000 men and women. The Iraqi forces, now some 400,000 strong, 150,000 of whom in Kuwait, dug in. Despite their rapid conquest of Kuwait they were not as strong as they appeared to be. Many units were understrength; anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns were in short supply; equipment was somewhat obsolete and lacked night-fighting capability. The soldiers were hammered for weeks on end by artillery and bombers and started to run out of food and water. Desertion and retreats lowered their number, possibly by half near the end of the bombing campaign. Despite that, in late January, they mounted a probing attack into Saudi Arabia near Khafji. It was quickly repulsed with high losses on the attacking side.
In late February, the main counterattack on the ground was launched. Remnants of the Kuwaiti army advanced to Kuwait city to liberate it. But most coalition forces moved into into southwestern Iraq instead, bypassing the main defense and turning right later. Coalition tanks, stronger and with better trained crews, raced through the desert and swept aside limited Iraqi resistance. Many conscripts surrendered outright; the Republican Guard fought back but was ill prepared after the bombings. Within two days, the Iraqi army abandoned its positions in Kuwait and retreated back north, after setting more than 700 oil wells ablaze, causing an environmental disaster. They were relentlessly bombed on the main Iraq-Kuwait highway, which earned the nickname 'Highway of Death'.
Within four days, the coalition advanced to 240 kilometers of Baghdad, then halted and turned back because a peace agreement was made. The Iraqi army lost around 20,000 - 30,000 soldiers killed and twice as many wounded; 3,500 civilians were killed. The Iraqis also lost a lot of equipment and suffered heavy damage to their infrastructure from the bombings. 1,600 Kuwaitis lost their lives, almost all civilians. The coalition had 380 casualties, half of them from friendly fire and accidents. The surprisingly low casualties boosted American morale and made commander Norman Schwarzkopf a hero.
The counterattack could have toppled the Iraqi government, but that was not its aim. This was a nasty surprise for the Iraqi shiites in the south and Kurds in the north, who had started a rebellion to free themselves of Saddam Hussein. With only token support, it failed to take hold and was ruthlessly squashed by the Iraqi army. Saddam Hussein remained in power until 2003 CE, when a much smaller western coalition overran his country.