Gulf War Events

1984 Jan 1 Lee Greenwood Releases "God Bless the USA"
"God Bless the USA" is an American patriotic song written by country musician Lee Greenwood. The first Greenwood album it appears on is 1984's You've Got A Good Love Comin'. It reached nu...
1990 Aug 2 Saddam Hussein Launches the Invasion of Kuwait
The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait which resulted in the seven-month long Iraqi occupatio...
1990 Aug 2
11:00AM
 UN Security Council Passes Resolution 660, Condemning the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait
United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 was adopted by the UN Security Council on 2 August 1990. The resolution condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanded a withdrawal of ...
1990 Aug 7 US Initiates Operation Desert Shield
Acting on the policy of the Carter Doctrine, and out of fear the Iraqi army could launch an invasion of Saudi Arabia, U.S. President George H. W. Bush quickly announced that the U.S. woul...
1990 Aug 23 Saddam Hussein Appears on Iraqi State Television with Western Hostages
On 23 August 1990 President Hussein appeared on state television with Western hostages to whom he had refused exit visas. They were seen as human shields, though Saddam Hussein denied the...
1990 Oct 10 Nayirah Tearfully Describes Iraqi Atrocities in Occupied Kuwait
Although there were human rights abuses committed in Kuwait by the invading Iraqi military, the ones best known in the US were an invention of the public relations firm hired by the gover...
1990 Nov 29 UN Security Council Resolutions Authorize the Use of Force to Expel Iraq from Kuwait
A long series of UN Security Council resolutions and Arab League resolutions were passed regarding the invasion. One of the most important was Resolution 678, passed on 29 November 1990 g...
1991 Jan 12 US Congress Authorizes the Use of Force to Expel Iraqi Troops from Kuwait
On 12 January 1991 the United States Congress authorized the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. The votes were 52-47 in the US Senate and 250-183 in the US House of Repres...
1991 Jan 16 The Gulf War Begins
The origins of the Gulf War began many years before the US officially declared it early in 1991. Iraq and Kuwait had tensions that traced back to the 1930s, and the two countries had been...
1991 Jan 17
2:38AM
 Operation Instant Thunder, the Coalition Air Campaign Against Iraqi Forces, Begins
A day after the deadline set in Resolution, the coalition launched a massive air campaign which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm with more than 1,000 sorties l...
1991 Jan 18 Saddam Hussein Orders the Launch of SCUD Missiles Against Israel
If Iraq was to be forced to obey UN resolutions, the Iraqi government made it no secret that it would respond by attacking Israel, a state that was allowed to ignore them without any acti...
1991 Jan 21 Iraqi Forces Cause the Gulf War Oil Spill
On January 21, 1991, Iraqi forces opened valves at the Sea Island oil terminal and dumped oil from several tankers into the Persian Gulf. The apparent strategic goal was to foil a potenti...
1991 Jan 29 Battle of Khafji
On January 29, Iraq attacked and occupied the lightly defended Saudi city of Khafji with tanks and infantry. However, the Battle of Khafji ended when Iraqis were driven back by Saudi and ...
1991 Feb 13 US Air Force Destroys the Amiriyah Blockhouse, Killing 408 Civilians
The Amiriyah shelter massacre was the killing of more than 408 civilians on February 13, 1991 during the Gulf War, when an air-raid shelter ("Public Shelter No. 25") in the Amiriyah neigh...
1991 Feb 22 Iraq Agrees to a Soviet Proposed Cease-Fire Agreement
On February 22, 1991, Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed cease-fire agreement. The agreement called for Iraq to withdraw troops to pre-invasion positions within six weeks following a total ...
1991 Feb 24 Coalition Forces Enter Iraq
Shortly after the SCUD attack which killed 28 US troops in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. VII Corps assembled in full strength and, spearheaded by the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cav...
1991 Feb 25 Iraqi Missile Strike Kills 28 US Reservists
On the evening of February 25, 1991, an Iraqi scud missile plunged into a barracks/warehouse used to house U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 475th Quartermaster Group in Dhahran, Saudi A...
1991 Feb 26 Iraqi Troops Begin Retreating From Kuwait
The Coalition advance was much swifter than US generals had expected. On February 26, Iraqi troops began retreating from Kuwait, setting fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they left. A long co...
1991 Feb 28 George H.W. Bush Declares Kuwait Liberated
Exactly 100 hours after to ground campaign began, Iraq retreated from Kuwait City, and US President George H.W. Bush declared an end to offensive combat operations in the Gulf.