Hussein built up the Iraqi military and
began a war with Iran in 1980.
The Iran-Iraq war lasted for eight years and cost
hundreds of thousands of lives on each side, including
both soldiers and civilians.
Two years after the war with Iran ended,
Hussein was looking elsewhere for new
territorial gains.
KUWAIT
Saddam Hussein decided
that he had no other
option but military might
After invading Kuwait the UN declared
Iraq’s actions as invalid and economic
sanctions were put in place.
so he stationed 100,000 troops
on the border and in early
August invaded Kuwait
UN INVOLVEMENT
By
November
Iraq was still
in control of
Kuwait .
On 16th January Iraqi forces
were still in Kuwait and a
coalition force made up of 34
countries started Operation
Desert Storm
the UN drew up
Resolution 678 in
which Iraq was given
a deadline to leave
Kuwait.
THE HISTORICAL CLAIM
Until the end of the first world war
Kuwait had officially been a part of
the Turkish Empire.
The British had accepted responsibility for
Kuwait's boundaries with Iraq.
Both King Ghazi in the late 1930's and
President Qassem in 1961 had demanded the
incorporation of Kuwait into Iraq
IRANIAN GOVERNMENT
The seeds for the Gulf War
were laid decades before the
first military action occurred.
By the late 1970s, a leading
Ba'athist politician, General
Saddam Hussein, became the
official president of Iraq,
In the 1960s, a coup d'etat, or seizure of power,
occurred in Iraq, and the Ba'athist political party took
power.
FINANCIAL CRISIS
During this war Iran was
not only attacking Iraq
but also attacking oil
tankers from Kuwait at
sea too
To support the ending of the war
Kuwait financially aided Iraq by
lending the country 14 Billion US
Dollars.
Iraq tried to convince Kuwait to dissolve the debt as Iraq
had done Kuwait a favour by being at war with Iran,
Kuwait declined and this caused a rift between the two
countries.
Iraq then asked other OPEC
countries to reduce oil productions,
Kuwait opposed this.