WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE GULF WAR

WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE GULF WAR

1. THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR

   • 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.

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.