Overview Of The Operation Desert Storm
Operation Desert Storm started January 16, 1961. It ended 100 hours later. It all started when the Iraq leader Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion and an occupation of Kuwait. Operation Desert Storm is is the code name used by the military. The president during the time of Operation Desert Storm was George H.W. Bush. The operation was mostly based on getting Iraq out of Kuwait. Iraq had invaded Kuwait months before the United States got involved.
The countries that were involved with Operation Desert Storm were Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. There was around 1,500 - 100,000 Iraq soldiers that died during Desert Storm. There was only 383 Americans soldiers that died during Desert Storm.
One of the reasons Iraq invaded Kuwait was because it was a oil-rich nation. August 7, 1990 George H.W. Bush orders the start of Operation Desert Shield. Around this time, Iraq was starting to form annexes in Kuwait. An annex is when you take control of cities in a different country. The date February 24, 1991 was when the United States started the ground assault in Iraq. Around 670,000 soldiers fought in Operation Desert Storm. More than half of those soldiers were U.S troops. The Operation costed around 61 billion dollars for the United States. For other countries that fought in the Operation, it costed around 50 billion dollars. The Coalition flew over 100,000 sorties (an attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense). They dropped around 88,500 tons of bombs. The Coalition forces pushed the Iraqis from Kuwait, back into Iraq. April 11, 1991 the UN declared that the war in Kuwait had ended. On March 10, 1991 540,000 United States soldiers began to move out of the Persian Gulf. When the ground war started, there were bombing going on for weeks before. When the Iraqis retreated Kuwait, they blew up a lot of their oil wells. The Iraqis did millions of dollars in damage in Kuwait. More than 500,000 United States troops were deployed in Saudi Arabia just in case the Iraqis invaded Saudi Arabia. Operation Desert Storm became the largest air campaign since the conflict over in Southeast Asia. The air attacks lasted about six weeks. Operation was the first time the MIM 104C Patriot missile was used.
Operation Desert Storm happened about 28 years ago. In 1991, Iraq had the 5th largest army in the world. The leader of Iraq thought the Arab states would be ok with Iraq annexing Kuwait. Little did they know, they weren't ok with it at all. Iran annexed Kuwait in just two days. The Coalition built fake bases and units to dupe Iraqis into defending the wrong area. Operation Desert Storm was a pretty cheap was. The Air War was one of the most massive and effective air campaigns ever. Another name used for Operation Desert Storm is The Gulf War. One of the things said when George H.W Bush when he announced Operation Desert Storm was “The world could wait not longer”.
Operation Desert Storm is often remembered for its very successful airstrike attacks that the Coalitions did. The Iraq Leader called the conflict “Mother of all Battles”. Operation Desert Storm lasted 43 days. Another name for Operation Desert Storm is The Gulf War. On August 7, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. On June 19, 1961 British protection ended and Kuwait joined the Arab League. The Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein was making multiple threats on Kuwait before the Iraqis invaded Kuwait. The whole goal for Operation Desert Storm was to withdraw Iraqi forces from Kuwait. At first Saudi Arabia didn’t want any help from the United States. But a little bit later, Saudi Arabia want help in the United States. The Iraqis formed an ocean blockade August 12. The last time the Coalition used this much air support was in World War Two. President George H.W. Bush approval rating jumped up 89% which was rare at that time. It jumped so high because the victory in Operation Desert Storm.
