Daniel Orr's Blog, page 106

February 22, 1999 – Ethiopian-Eritrean War: Ethiopian forces launch a major offensive into Eritrea

On February 22, 1999, the Ethiopian Army, supported by air, armored, and artillery units, launched a major offensive in the eastern front.  Five days later, the Ethiopians had broken through and captured the Badme area, and had advanced 10 kilometers into Eritrea.  The Eritrean government then announced that it was ready to accept the OAU peace plan, but Ethiopia, which earlier had also
agreed to the proposal, now demanded that Eritrea withdraw all its forces from Ethiopian territory before the plan could be implemented.

Ethiopia, Eritrean, and nearby countries.

(Taken from Ethiopian-Eritrean War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background

In the midst of Eritrea’s independence war, in 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed in a military
coup and a council of army officers called “Derg” came to power.  The Derg regime experienced great political upheavals initially arising from internal power struggles, as well as the Eritrean insurgency and other ethnic-based armed rebellions; in 1977-78, the Derg also was involved in a war with neighboring Somalia (the Ogaden War, separate article).

By the early 1990s, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of Ethiopian rebel groups, had formed a military alliance with the EPLF and separately accelerated their insurgencies against the Derg regime.  In May 1991, the EPRDF toppled the Derg regime, while the EPLF seized control of Eritrea by defeating and expelling Ethiopian government forces.  Both the EPRDF and EPLF then gained power in Ethiopia and Eritrea, respectively, with these rebel movements transitioning into political parties.  Under a UN-facilitated process and with the Ethiopian government’s approval, Eritrea officially seceded from Ethiopia and, following a referendum where nearly 100% of Eritreans voted for independence, achieved statehood as a fully sovereign state.

Because of their war-time military alliance, the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea maintained a close relationship and signed an Agreement of Friendship of Cooperation that envisioned a comprehensive package of mutually beneficial political, economic, and social joint endeavors; subsequent treaties were made in the hope of integrating the two countries in a broad range of other fields.

Both states nominally were democracies but with strong authoritarian leaders, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia and President Isaias Afwerki in Eritrea. State and political structures differed, however, with Ethiopia establishing an ethnic-based multi-party federal parliamentary system and Eritrea setting up a staunchly nationalistic, one-party unitary system.  Eritrea also maintained a strong militaristic culture, acquired from its long independence struggle, for which in the years after gaining independence, it
came into conflict with its neighbors, i.e. Yemen,
Djibouti, and Sudan.

Ethiopian-Eritrean relations soon also deteriorated as a result of political differences, as well as the personal rivalry between the two countries’ leaders.  Furthermore, during their revolutionary struggles, the Eritrean and Ethiopian rebel groups
sometimes came into direct conflict over projecting power and controlling territory, which was overcome only by their mutual need to defeat a common enemy.  In the post-war period, this acrimonious historical past now took on greater significance.  Relations turned for the worse when in November 1997, Eritrea introduced its own currency, the “nakfa” (which replaced the Ethiopian birr), in order to steer its own independent local and foreign economic and trade policies.  During the post-war period, trade between Ethiopia and Eritrea was significant, and Eritrea gave special privileges to the now landlocked Ethiopia to use the port of Assab for Ethiopian maritime trade.  But with Eritrea introducing its own currency, Ethiopia banned the use of the nakfa in all but the smallest transactions, causing trade between the two states to plummet.  Trucks carrying goods soon were backed up at the border crossings and
the two sides now saw the need to delineate the as yet unmarked border to control cross-border trade.

Meanwhile, disputes in the frontier region in and around the town of Badme had experienced a steady increase.  As early as 1992, Eritrean regional officials complained that Ethiopian armed bands descended on Eritrean villages, and expelled Eritrean residents and destroyed their homes.  In July 1994, regional Ethiopian and Eritrean representatives met to discuss the matter, but harassments, expulsions, and arrests of Eritreans continued to be reported in 1994-1996.  Then in April 1994, the Eritrean government became aware that Ethiopia had carried out a number of demarcations along the Badme area, prompting an exchange of letters by Prime Minister Zenawi and President Afwerki.  In November 1994, a joint panel was set up by the two sides to try and resolve the matter; however, this effort made no substantial progress.  In the midst of the Badme affair, another
crisis broke out in July-August 1997 where Ethiopian troops entered another undemarcated frontier area in pursuit of the insurgent group ARDUF (Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front or Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union Front); then when Ethiopia set up a local administration in the area, Eritrea protested, leading to firefights between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces.

Another source of friction between the two countries was generated when, starting in 1993, the regional administration in Tigray Province (in northern Ethiopia) published “administrative and fiscal” maps of Tigray that included the Badme area and a number of Eritrean villages that lay beyond the 1902 colonial-era and de facto “border” line.  Since the 1950s, Tigray had administered this area and had established settlements there.  In turn, Eritrea declared that the area had been encroached as it formed part of the Eritrean Gash-Barka region.

Badme, a 160-square mile area that became the trigger for the coming war, was located in the wider Badme plains, the latter forming a section of the vast semi-desert lowlands adjoining the Ethiopian mountains and stretching west to the Sudan.  During the early 20th century when the Ethiopian-Italian border treaties were made, Badme was virtually uninhabited, save for the local endemic Kunama tribal people.  The 1902 treaty, which became the de facto
border between the Ethiopian Empire and Italian Eritrea in the western and central regions, stipulated that the border, heading from west to east, ran starting from Khor Um Hagger in the Sudanese border, followed the Tekezze (Setit) River to its confluence with the Maieteb River, at which point it ran a straight line north to where the Mareb River converges with the Ambessa River (Figure 32).  Thereafter, the border followed a general eastward direction along the Mareb, through the smaller Melessa River, and finally along the Muna River.  In turn, the 1908 treaty specified that the border along the eastern regions would follow the outlines of the Red Sea coastline from a distance of 60 kilometers
inland.  These treaties have since been upheld by successive Ethiopian governments, whose maps have followed the treaties’ delineations to form a border that is otherwise unmarked on the ground.

February 21, 1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China

In August-October 1969, for China’s leader Mao Zedong, the potential threat of war with the Soviet Union produced a major shift in his view regarding China’s security: that the Soviet Union, not the United States, posed the immediate danger to China.  Furthermore, until then, Mao believed that the United States and the Soviet Union were working together to destroy China.  Mao soon heeded his military’s counsel that political, ideological, and military competition between the Americans and
Soviets prevented them from aligning their forces against China.

By 1969, Mao’s hard-line Marxist views had changed dramatically, this shift also being influenced by the negative effects of China’s long period of diplomatic isolation from the international community.  Mao became convinced that China’s security was best served with an alliance of convenience with the United States, which he saw as the lesser danger.  Mao remarked that it was better “to ally with the enemy far away … in order to fight the enemy who is at the gate”.  Furthermore, in 1968, the United States decision to withdraw its forces from the Vietnam War was received positively by the Chinese government.

In the midst of the Sino-Soviet split, the United States also wanted to establish diplomatic ties with China, in order to play the two communist giants against each other.  The United States would thereby weaken communism generally, and also undermine the ambitions of its rival, the Soviet Union.  Then in 1969, the government of newly elected U.S. President Richard Nixon secretly prepared to foster rapprochement with China.  During the course of the year, the United States issued a number of diplomatic feelers, e.g. that the U.S. government would lift trade and travel restrictions to China; that the United States encouraged communication with China; and that China emerging from isolation would benefit Asia and the world community.

The breakthrough came from an unlikely source: at an international table tennis competition in Japan
in April 1971, American and Chinese athletes developed a bond of friendship, which led to the U.S. table tennis players visiting China (the first Americans to do so under communist rule) that same month, on the invitation of the Chinese government.  This series of events, called the “ping-pong diplomacy”, paved the way for opening secret diplomatic-level communications between the two countries, leading
to Henry Kissinger, U.S. National Security Adviser, making two trips (the first being secret) to China in 1971, where he met with Premier Zhou Enlai.  In these meetings, Kissinger gave the following assurances: that the United States would work for China’s entry to the United Nations (China was admitted to the UN in October 1971, replacing the
Republic of China (Taiwan), which was expelled); that the United States would provide China with American-Soviet dealings; and that U.S. forces gradually would be withdrawn from the Vietnam War.

Kissinger’s trips set the stage for President Nixon’s monumental visit to China in February 1972, which together with the announcement of the trip in July 1971, set shock waves around the world.  Closer United States-China relations soon developed, particularly after Mao’s death in September 1976 and the emergence of reformist Deng Xiaoping as the top Chinese leader.  Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in January 1979.  Earlier in 1973, the United States assured Mao of direct American support if the Soviet Union attacked China.

(Taken from Sino-Soviet Border Conflict – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

The United States-China rapprochement caused great concern for the Soviet Union.  Then on the invitation of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, President Nixon visited Moscow in May 1972 (three months after visiting China), where the two sides signed a number of nuclear weapons control agreements, leading to a period of improved relations between the two countries.

Aftermath

The threat of a Soviet-Chinese general war abated
following the informal meeting between Premiers Kosygin and Zhou in September 1969.  However, tensions remained high in the immediate aftermath, and through the 1970s and much of the 1980s.  Even in 1990, when the two countries had moved forward toward achieving a political and territorial resolution, their shared border continued to be heavily militarized: the Soviets had 700,000 troops, or ¼ of its ground forces, as well as ⅓ of its air force, and ⅓ of its navy, while the Chinese had 1 million troops.

Furthermore, talks to achieve a definitive border treaty failed to make progress.  Both China and the Soviet Union shared the credit in North Vietnam’s victory over South Vietnam in April 1975, but the reunified Vietnam soon came under the Soviet sphere of influence, straining Sino-Vietnamese relations.  Then in February-March 1979, during the brief
war between Vietnam and China (Sino-Vietnamese War, separate article), tensions spiked along the
Chinese-Soviet border.  The Soviet Union, apart from raising diplomatic protests, did not intervene militarily for Vietnam, despite a 1978 military agreement between Vietnam and the Soviet Union.

In December 1979, the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequently occupied the country for nearly a decade (until February 1989), which further exacerbated Soviet-Chinese relations, as China accused the Soviets of planning to encircle China.  The Soviet-Chinese ideological clash also
extended to various conflicts in Africa, e.g. Rhodesian Bush War, Angolan Civil War, Ogaden War, etc.

By the early 1980s, China had effectively abandoned Marxism-Leninism and the communist tenets of class warfare and world revolution, and had adopted a mixed, semi-capitalist economy.  China’s relations with the West also improved.  And with these reforms de-emphasizing communism as paramount in China’s foreign policy, Chinese-Soviet tensions eased.  In 1982, with Brezhnev calling for improved ties and the Chinese government responding favorably, vice-ministerial levels and trade relations were restored between the two countries.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, started to implement major political, social, and economic reforms in the Soviet Union, which soon led to profound and dramatic national, regional and international political and security consequences.  By 1989, Eastern Bloc countries had discarded socialism and state-controlled economies, and were adopting Western-style democracy and free market economies.  By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and its Cold War rivalry with the United States ended.

Gorbachev also initiated reconciliation with China, which the latter received favorably.  Relations
between the two countries improved considerably, particularly after the Soviet Union removed what the Chinese government called the “three obstacles” to
Chinese-Soviet relations: Soviet forces were withdrawn from Afghanistan; the Soviet Union ended its support for Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia; and the Soviet Union and China signed an agreement which reduced their forces at the border.

At the same time, border talks between the two countries accelerated toward the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s.  China promised to honor the 19th century treaties, and negotiations focused only on the currently disputed areas comprising some 35,000 square kilometers.

In May 1991, China and the Soviet Union signed a final border agreement, which delineated much of the frontier along the eastern region.  The border agreement gave China a net territorial gain of 720 square kilometers.  The thalweg principle, or the median line of a water channel, was used to set the border line.  As a result, in the Argun River where 413 disputed islands were located, China gained 209 islands, while Russia retained 204.  In the Amur River where 1,680 disputed islands were located, China
gained 902 islands while Russia retained 708.  In the Ussuri River where 320 disputed islands were located, China gained 153 islands while Russia retained 167.  Border lines also were set along Lake Khanka and the Granitnaya and Tumen rivers.  In October 2003, a supplementary border agreement was signed, which resolved ownership of three other islands (which were not covered in the 1991 agreement).  Of these islands, Damansky/Zhenbao Island, the site of the 1969 clashes, was awarded to China.

Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, three former Soviet states in Central Asia, Kazakhstan Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, became independent countries, and also inherited from Russia the disputed western border with China.  Negotiations were held to resolve the issue.  In 1994, in the Kazakhstan-China border agreement, of the 944 square kilometers of disputed territory, China gained 406 square kilometers (43%), while Kazakhstan retained 538 square kilometers (57%).  In Tajikistan, where much of the former Soviet-Chinese disputed border was located, a border agreement with China was signed in 2002; 1,000 square kilometers of territory in the Pamir mountain region was transferred to China, while 28,000 square kilometers were retained by Tajikistan.  In 2004, in the China- Kyrgyzstan border treaty, China gained 900 square kilometers in the Uzengi-Kuush mountain area, or some 32% of the disputed area.

February 20, 1964 – Sand War: The Organization of African Union (OAU) negotiates a ceasefire between Algeria and Morocco

On February 20, 1964, the Organization of African Union (OAU) negotiated a ceasefire between Algeria and Morocco, ending fighting in the Sand War. A demilitarized zone (DMZ) was established to separate the opposing forces, which withdrew to pre-war positions. A peacekeeping force from Ethiopia and Mali was deployed at the DMZ to enforce the ceasefire.

The Sand War was fought between Algeria and Morocco.

(Taken from Sand War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

As early as July 1962 when Algeria had just gained its independence, Moroccan forces infiltrated into Algerian Colomb-Bechar, declaring it as part of Moroccan territory before withdrawing back to Morocco.  Then by the second half of 1963, the Moroccan government began carrying out propaganda attacks against Algeria, accusing it of committing acts of aggression, airspace and territorial
violations, and expelling Moroccan nationals. 
Algeria responded with a propaganda blitz of its own directed against King Hassan II, accusing the monarch of inciting war, repressing his own people, and denying Algerians their hard-won freedom.

In early October 1963, Moroccan auxiliary troops crossed the “border” from Tagounit and seized Hassi-Beida and Tinjoub, two towns that formed part of the disputed Sahara region and was situated strategically along the road between Colomb-Bechar and Tindouf.  On October 8, an Algerian counter-attack recaptured the two towns.  Six days later, October 14, Moroccan forces, this time from the regular army, attacked again, expelling the Algerian troops and wresting back control of the towns.  The Algerians responded by
capturing Ich, a small Moroccan border town which had little strategic value but was purposed by the Algerians to be used as a bargaining point in post-war
negotiations.  Fighting also broke out in other places, notably in Tindouf and Figuig.  Combat action was characterized with the Moroccan Army deployed in
regular military formations and using conventional methods and combat equipment, including heavy weapons, while Algerian forces were organized into
small guerilla units (carried over from the independence war) using asymmetric, hit-and-run warfare with mostly light weapons.  The well-armed and better trained Moroccans gained the upper hand in combat but Egypt’s military assistance to Algeria
allowed the war to settle into a stalemate by early November 1963.

The Algerian government appealed to the Organization of African Union (OAU) for mediation, particularly invoking the 1964 OAU guideline which stipulated that member countries must respect colonial-era borders (which was intended to prevent conflicts between modern-day states).  In turn, Morocco appealed to the United Nations (UN), invoking UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 which, among other things, states that the process of decolonization must not infringe on an existing state’s territorial integrity, which in the case of historical lands claimed by Morocco, were violated during the French colonial period.

Morocco had achieved a strategic victory but acquiesced under strong international pressure and withdrew from its captured territories.  Under OAU mediation and with peacekeepers from Ethiopia and Mali deployed along the “border”, a ceasefire was implemented and a demilitarized zone established after the belligerents withdrew to pre-war positions.  In February 1964, a formal ceasefire came into effect.

Aftermath The two sides re-established diplomatic relations following an Arab League-sponsored summit held in Cairo, Egypt in January 1964.  In border talks that took place also in 1964, both sides agreed that the disputed areas would remain with Algeria (in effect, affirming Algeria’s succession to the colonial-era borders) in exchange for Morocco and Algeria sharing the wealth of a jointly established iron-ore industry in the Tindouf region.  In 1969, a treaty of solidarity
and cooperation signed at Ifane led to improved relations, which in turn led to an agreement signed in Tlemcen, Algeria in 1970 that was aimed at establishing a definitive border.  In 1972, the Algeria-Morocco border agreement was released, but which was ratified by Morocco only in May 1989.

In 1976, tensions flared again (that almost led to war) between the two countries over Western Sahara, a recently decolonized Spanish possession located south of Morocco and west of Algeria (see Western Sahara War, separate article).

February 19, 1943 – World War II: The start of the Battle of Kasserine Pass

On February 19, 1943, Axis and Allied forces began the five-day Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia.  German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, leading the Axis forces comprising German Afrika Korps and Italian units, intended to punch a hole in the Allied lines through the Kasserine Pass, a gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. On February 20, his forces broke through, throwing back the inexperienced American forces a distance of 80 km west of Faid Pass, inflicting heavy casualties and destroying or capturing substantial Allied equipment.

American forces soon rallied, and with reinforcing British units, managed to break the Axis attack and hold the exits on the mountain passes in western Tunisia.

Territories involved in the battles for North Africa and the Horn of Africa.

(Taken from Italian Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

In East Africa, the Italian Army achieved success initially, launching offensives from Italian territories of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland and driving away the British from British Somaliland, and seizing
some border regions in British-controlled Sudan and Kenya (Figure 34).  At this stage of World War II, Britain’s overseas possessions were extremely vulnerable, as British efforts were diverted to the homeland to confront the ongoing German air offensives (Battle of Britain, separate article).  But with the Luftwaffe scaling down operations in Britain
as 1941 progressed, the British soon counter-attacked in East Africa, throwing back the Italians and regaining lost territory, and then capturing Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland, and forcing the surrender of the remaining Italian forces in East Africa.

In North Africa, which was a major battleground in World War II, the Italian Army also achieved some success initially, launching from Libya and advancing 62 miles (100 km) into British-administered Egypt
in September 1940, while taking advantage of the desperate situation of the British in the ongoing Battle of Britain.  In December 1940, the British counter-attacked and threw back the much larger Italian forces into Libya, taking some 130,000 Italian prisoners and advancing 500 miles (800 km) to El
Agheila.  Now poised to expel the Italian Army from North Africa altogether, the British were forced to halt their offensive to transfer some of their troops to Greece, to help contain a new Italian offensive there.

The pause allowed Hitler to come to the aid of his
beleaguered ally Mussolini, in February 1941, sending the first units of the German Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel, to fight alongside the Italian
forces, which also were bolstered by reinforcements arriving from Europe.  A see-saw battle ensued for over a year, with one side pushing the other hundreds of miles through the desert, and then the other side launching a counter-offensive that threw back the other and penetrating deep into enemy territory.

Then in October-November 1942, the British 8th Army decisively defeated the German-Italian force at the Second Battle of El Alamein, forcing the Axis to retreat 1,600 miles (2,600 km) to the Libya-Tunisia border.

Also in November 1942, an American-British force landed at Morocco and Algeria, which were administered by Vichy France.  After a short period of fighting, the Americans and British succeeded in persuading French forces there to switch sides to the Allies.  American-British-French forces from the west and the British 8th Army from the east then attacked and encircled the German-Italian forces in Tunisia, and in May 1943, expelled the Axis from North Africa.  As a result, Italy lost all its African territories.

February 18, 1932 – Japan establishes Manchukuo, a puppet state in northern China

To provide legitimacy to its conquest and occupation of Manchuria, on February 18, 1932, Japan established Manchukuo (“State of Manchuria”), purportedly an independent state, with its capital at Hsinking (Changchun).  Puyi, the last and former emperor of China under the Qing dynasty, was named Manchukuo’s “head of state”.  In March 1934, he was named “Emperor” when Manchukuo was declared a constitutional monarchy.

Manchukuo was viewed by much of the international community as a puppet state of Japan, and received little foreign recognition.  In fact, Manchukuo’s government was controlled by Japanese military authorities, with Puyi being no more than a figurehead and the national Cabinet providing the front for Japanese interests in Manchuria.

Japan controlled the South Manchuria Railway from Ryojun (formerly Port Arthur) to Mukden and further north by the time of its invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

(Taken from Japanese Invasion of Manchuria – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background

To protect Japanese personnel and their interests, including the territory and railway, the Japanese military formed the Kwantung Army in 1906, which soon became dominated by radical officers who desired that Japan took a more aggressive foreign policy.  Japanese troops protecting the railway were confined to a prescribed zone on both sides of the
tracks, and by agreement were not allowed to operate beyond this perimeter.

In the late 1920s, the Kwantung Army drew up a plan to annex the whole of Manchuria for Japan, but this was contingent only if China provoked a war that could justify such an invasion.  The deteriorating China-Japan relations were exacerbated by the intensely anti-foreign, particularly anti-Japanese, policies of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government. 
Japan, having gained territories and concessions in Northeast China through treaties, complained of many violations being committed by the Chinese,
including infringing on Japanese rights and interests, interfering with Japanese businesses, boycotting Japanese goods, evicting and detaining Japanese
individuals and confiscating their properties, and cases of violence, assault, and battery.

In 1928, China ended over a decade of political fragmentation and achieved reunification under
Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang (KMT) government (previous article).  Japan had opposed China’s reunification, viewing this as a threat to its ambitions in Manchuria.  Elements of the Kwantung Army assassinated the leading Manchurian warlord, Zhang Zuolin, who had maintained a fragile but workable relationship with the Japanese.  Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Zuolin’s son, succeeded as the leading Manchurian warlord, whom the Japanese hoped to win over.  Instead, the young warlord recognized Chiang’s authority over Manchuria, and asked for financial assistance from the Nationalist government to construct railway and port facilities in Manchuria.  The Nationalist government soon established civilian authority in Manchuria, setting up local administrative offices in the cities and towns.  In April 1931, the Chinese government announced its intention to reclaim foreign-held concessions, properties, and infrastructures.  Chiang, after reunifying China,
had long sought to renegotiate with the foreign powers for the end of the Qing-era “unequal treaties”.

The Japanese naturally were alarmed, as the proposed projects by China threatened to compete directly with the existing Japan-controlled rail and port facilities.  Back at home, Japan experienced rapid population growth pressures, a massive earthquake in 1923 that killed over 100,000 people, and economic difficulties in the Showa crisis (1927) and then the ongoing worldwide Great Depression.  Japan’s political system also was highly unstable, as successive governments owed their existence to and were controlled by the Japanese military establishment.

In mid-1931, two incidents further aggravated relations between Japan and China.  First, in late June, a Japanese Army officer, Captain Shintarō Nakamura, and his crew, conducting intelligence work in a remote area in Manchuria, were captured and
executed by troops loyal to warlord Zhang Xueliang.  A few days later, on July 1, 1931, when local Chinese farmers in Wanpaoshan village, Manchuria, attacked newly settled ethnic Korean farmers over a dispute on irrigation rights, Japanese police intervened and protected the Koreans.  The second incident triggered widespread anti-Chinese riots in Korea, which was then a Japanese possession.  The two incidents, particularly the Nakamura murder, also fueled
Japanese public anger against China, and the Japanese military pressed its government to undertake stronger punitive actions against China.

Two years earlier, in 1929, a number of Japanese officers of the Kwantung Army, particularly Colonel Seishirō Itagaki and Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara among others, had began preparing a contingency plan for a Japanese full-scale conquest of Manchuria. 
Taking advantage of Japanese public anger brought about by the two recent incidents, Colonel Ishiwara traveled to Tokyo and presented the now completed
contingency invasion plan to the Japanese Military High Command, which the latter approved.  In Ryojun (Port Arthur), Kwantung Army commander Shigeru Honjo also agreed to carry out the contingency plan,
subject to the Chinese military precipitating a major incident that could justify a Japanese invasion.

However, the Japanese government, which maintained a conciliatory policy on its relations with China, issued instructions to the Kwantung Army’s investigation of the Nakamura incident, to proceed more diplomatically, which was a setback to officers who wanted to provoke a confrontation that would lead to war.  Then when the Japanese military high command in Tokyo sent a high-ranking officer to Manchuria to provide counsel on the Nakamura murder negotiations with the Chinese, the plotters decided to take action.

February 17, 1979 –Sino-Vietnamese War: China invades Vietnam

By February 1979, 30 divisions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA, China’s armed forces) were massed along the border.  On February 15, 1979, China announced its plan to attack Vietnam.  Also on that day, China’s 1950 “Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance” with the Soviet Union ended, thus freeing China from its obligation to pursue non-aggression against a Soviet ally.  Because of the threat of Soviet intervention from the north, on February 16, Chinese authorities declared that it was also prepared to go to war with the Soviet Union.  By this time, the bulk of Chinese forces (some 1.5 million troops) were concentrated along the northern border, while 300,000 Chinese civilians in these border regions were evacuated.

On February 17, 1979, some 200,000 PLA troops, supported by armor and artillery, attacked along two fronts across the 1,300-kilometer China-Vietnam border.  China officially announced that its offensive was a “self-defense counterattack” to “teach Hanoi a lesson”. The Sino-Vietnamese War had
begun.

(Taken from Sino-Vietnamese War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background

In late December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia,
and within two weeks, its forces toppled the Khmer Rouge government, and set up a new Cambodian government that was allied with itself (previous article).  The Khmer Rouge had been an ally of China,
and as a result, Chinese-Vietnamese relations deteriorated.  In fact, relations between China and Vietnam had been declining in the years prior to the invasion.

During the Vietnam War (separate article), North Vietnam received vital military and economic support from China, and also from the Soviet Union.  But as Chinese-Soviet relations had been declining since the early 1960s (with both countries nearly going to war in 1969), North Vietnam was forced to maintain a delicate balance in its relations between its two patrons in order to continue receiving badly needed weapons and funds.  But after the communist victory
in April 1975, the reunified Vietnam had a gradual falling out with China over two issues: the persecution of ethnic Chinese in Vietnam, and a disputed border.

Following the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese central government in Hanoi launched a campaign to break down the free-market economic system in the former South Vietnam to bring it in line with the country’s centrally planned socialist economy.  Ethnic Chinese in Vietnam (called Hoa), who controlled the South’s economy, were subject to severe economic measures.  Many Hoa were forced to close down their businesses, and their assets and properties were seized by the government.  Vietnamese citizenship to the Hoa was also voided.  The government also forced tens of thousands of Hoa into so-called “New Economic Zones”, which were located in remote mountainous regions.  There, they worked as peasant farmers under harsh conditions.  The Hoa also were suspected by the government of plotting or carrying out subversive activities in the North.

As a result of these repressions, hundreds of thousands of Hoa (as well as other persecuted ethnic minority groups) fled the country.  The Hoa who lived in the North crossed overland into China, while those in the South went on perilous journeys by sea using only small boats across the South China Sea for Southeast Asian countries.  Vietnam also initially refused to allow Chinese ships that were sent by the Beijing government to repatriate the Hoa back to China.  The Hanoi government also denied that the persecution of Hoa was taking place.  Then when the Hanoi government allowed the Hoa to leave the
country, it imposed exorbitant fees before granting exit visas.  Furthermore, North Vietnamese troops in the northern Vietnamese frontier regions forced ethnic Chinese who lived there to relocate to the Chinese side of the China-Vietnam border.

Vietnam and China also had a number of long-standing territorial disputes, including over a piece of land with an area of 60 km2, but primarily in the Gulf
of Tonkin, and in the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.  The dispute over the Spratly and Paracel Islands became even more pronounced after it was speculated that the surrounding waters potentially contained large quantities of petroleum resources.

The Vietnamese also generally distrusted the Chinese for historical reasons.  The ancient Chinese
emperors had long viewed Vietnam as an integral part of China, and brought the Vietnamese under direct Chinese rule for over a millennium (111 B.C.–938 A.D.).  Then during the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese accepted Chinese military support with some skepticism, and later claimed that China provided aid in order to bring Vietnam under the Chinese sphere of influence.  Furthermore, China’s improving relations with the United States following U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972 also was viewed by North Vietnam as a betrayal to its reunification struggle during the Vietnam War.  In May 1978, with Cambodian-Vietnamese relations almost at the breaking point, China cut back on economic aid to Vietnam; within two months, it was ended completely.  Also in 1978, China closed off its side of the Chinese-Vietnamese land border.

Meanwhile, just as its ties with China were breaking down, Vietnam was strengthening its relations with the Soviet Union.  In 1975, the Soviets provided large financial assistance to Vietnam’s post-war reconstruction and five-year development program.  Two events in 1978 brought Vietnam firmly
under the Soviet sphere of influence: in June, Vietnam became a member of the Soviet-led Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and in November, Vietnam and the Soviet Union signed the “Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation”, a mutual defense pact that stipulated Soviet military and economic support to Vietnam in exchange for the Vietnamese allowing the Soviets to use air and
naval facilities in Vietnam.  The treaty also formalized the Soviet and Chinese domains in Indochina, with Vietnam aligned with the Soviet Union, and Cambodia aligned with China.

China now saw itself surrounded by the Soviet Union to the north and Vietnam to the south.  But Vietnam also saw itself threatened by hostile forces in the north (China) and southwest (Cambodia).  Vietnam then made its move in late December 1978, when it invaded Cambodia and conquered the country in a lightning offensive.  Chinese authorities were infuriated, as their ally, the Khmer Rouge regime, had been toppled by the Vietnamese invasion.  Since one year earlier (1978), tensions between China and Vietnam had been rising, causing
many incidents of armed clashes and cross-border raids.  In January 1979, the Hanoi government accused China of causing over 200 violations of Vietnamese territory.

By February 1979, 30 divisions of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA (China’s armed forces) were massed along the border.  On February 15, 1979, China announced its plan to attack Vietnam.  Also on that day, China’s 1950 “Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance” with the Soviet Union ended, thus freeing China from its obligation to pursue non-aggression against a Soviet ally.  Because of the threat of Soviet intervention from the north, on February 16, Chinese authorities declared that it was also prepared to go to war with the Soviet Union.  By this time, the bulk of Chinese forces (some 1.5 million troops) were concentrated along the northern border, while 300,000 Chinese civilians in these border regions were evacuated.

February 16, 1974 – Second Iraqi-Kurdish War: The Iraqi government offers a revised autonomy plan to Iraqi Kurds

In June 1973, Mustafa Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and representing the Iraqi Kurdish people, made a formal claim to Kirkuk, a major city in northern Iraq. But in December of that year, the Iraqi government released a revised Kurdish autonomy plan that did not include Kirkuk.   As expected, Barzani rejected the proposal, and negotiations resumed in January 1974.  Then on February 16, 1974, as the four-year deadline approached to implement Kurdish autonomy as stipulated in the Iraqi-Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970, the government released yet another autonomy plan which, like the previous proposals, granted broad political, social, and economic concessions to the Kurds, but did not include Kirkuk.  The government also declared that it would carry out the plan on March 11, 1974.

Aware that Barzani would reject the proposal, the Iraqi government went ahead with implementation, forming a Kurdish provincial council and legislative assembly with the cooperation of Kurdish factions that opposed Barzani.  On March 12, 1974, the
government gave Barzani 15 days to accept the plan.  Barzani ignored the ultimatum.

The Kurds’ combat capability centered on the paramilitary organization called Peshmerga, which was controlled by Barzani.  War broke out on March 12, 1974, one day after the autonomy law came into effect.  Anticipating the resumption of hostilities, both the Iraqi Armed Forces and Peshmerga had amassed weapons during the intervening period.

Iraq and other countries in the Middle East.

(Taken from Second Iraqi-Kurdish War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background

In 1961, war broke out between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish rebels because of the Iraqi government’s inaction regarding the autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan (previous article).  Ten years of fighting led to
inconclusive results, forcing the government to offer the Kurds a new proposal for autonomy.  Negotiations held between Mustafa Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) representing
the Kurds, and Iraqi Vice-President Saddam Hussein, led to the establishment of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in March 1970 under the Iraqi-Kurdish Autonomy Agreement.

The agreement, which gave broad national and regional political, economic, and social concessions to the Kurds, was scheduled to be implemented in four years, i.e. starting in March 1974, subject to the results of a population census to determine the territorial extent of the new Kurdish autonomous region.  The census itself immediately became the subject of contention, specifically with regards to the
oil-rich region of Kirkuk (which contributed 40% of Iraq’s oil production).  Barzani was adamant in his claim that Kirkuk formed part of the Kurdish people’s traditional homeland and thus must be included in the autonomous region.  The Iraqi government and Barzani agreed to defer carrying out the census and
instead negotiated the other, less contentious points; as a result, the census was not undertaken.

Iraq showing location of Iraqi Kurdistan (shaded).

A previous population census for Kirkuk, taken in 1957, had shown that within the city, Kurds did not form the largest ethnic group (Turkish speakers – 37.5%, Kurds – 33%, Arabs – 22%); they did, however, across the province (Kurds – 48%, Arabs 28%, Turkmen – 21%).  (Another population census, conducted in 1965, was rejected outright by the KDP and thus not seriously taken up in the discussions.)  Soon thereafter, Barzani accused the government of carrying out policies that deliberately resettled ethnic Arabs from other parts of the country into economically important areas of Kurdistan in order to alter the population ratios to the disadvantage of the local Kurdish population.  This Arab influx ostensibly formed part of the government’s so-called “Arabization” programs and took place in Kirkuk, as well as other oil-rich areas such as Khanaqin and Sinjar. 

In June 1973, Barzani made a formal claim to Kirkuk. But in December of that year, the Iraqi government released a revised Kurdish autonomy plan that did not include Kirkuk.   As expected, Barzani rejected the proposal, and negotiations resumed in January 1974.  Then on February 16, 1974, as the four-year deadline approached to
implement Kurdish autonomy as stipulated in the Iraqi-Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970, the government released yet another autonomy plan which, like the previous proposals, granted broad political, social, and economic concessions to the Kurds, but did not include Kirkuk.  The government also declared that it would carry out the plan on March 11, 1974.

Aware that Barzani would reject the proposal, the Iraqi government went ahead with implementation, forming a Kurdish provincial council and legislative assembly with the cooperation of Kurdish factions that opposed Barzani.  On March 12, 1974, the
government gave Barzani 15 days to accept the plan.  Barzani ignored the ultimatum.

The Kurds’ combat capability centered on the paramilitary organization called Peshmerga, which was controlled by Barzani.  War broke out on March 12, 1974, one day after the autonomy law came into effect.  Anticipating the resumption of hostilities, both the Iraqi Armed Forces and Peshmerga had amassed weapons during the intervening period.

On February 15, 1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War: China announces its plan to attack Vietnam

By February 1979, 30 divisions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA, China’s armed forces) were massed along the China-Vietnam border.  On February 15, 1979, China announced its plan to attack Vietnam.  Also on that day, China’s 1950 “Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance” with the Soviet Union ended, thus freeing China from its obligation to pursue non-aggression against a Soviet ally.  Because of the threat of Soviet intervention from the north, on February 16, Chinese authorities declared that it was also prepared to go to war with the Soviet Union.  By this time, the bulk of Chinese forces (some 1.5 million troops) were concentrated along the northern border with the Soviet Union, while 300,000 Chinese civilians in these border regions were evacuated.

On February 17, 1979, some 200,000 PLA troops, supported by armor and artillery, attacked along two fronts across the 1,300-kilometer China-Vietnam border.  China officially announced that its offensive was a “self-defense counterattack” to “teach Hanoi a lesson”. The Sino-Vietnamese War had
begun.

(Taken from Sino-Vietnamese War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Background

In late December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia,
and within two weeks, its forces toppled the Khmer Rouge government, and set up a new Cambodian government that was allied with itself (previous article).  The Khmer Rouge had been an ally of China, and as a result, Chinese-Vietnamese relations deteriorated.  In fact, relations between China and Vietnam had been declining in the years prior to the invasion.

During the Vietnam War (separate article), North Vietnam received vital military and economic support from China, and also from the Soviet Union.  But as Chinese-Soviet relations had been declining since the early 1960s (with both countries nearly going to war in 1969), North Vietnam was forced to maintain a delicate balance in its relations between its two patrons in order to continue receiving badly needed weapons and funds.  But after the communist victory in April 1975, the reunified Vietnam had a gradual falling out with China over two issues: the persecution of ethnic Chinese in Vietnam, and a
disputed border.

Following the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese central government in Hanoi launched a campaign to break down the free-market economic system in the former South Vietnam to bring it in line with the country’s centrally planned socialist economy.  Ethnic Chinese in Vietnam (called Hoa), who controlled the South’s economy, were subject to severe economic measures.  Many Hoa were forced to close down their businesses, and their assets and properties were seized by the government.  Vietnamese citizenship to the Hoa was also voided.  The government also forced tens of thousands of Hoa into so-called “New Economic Zones”, which were located in remote mountainous regions.  There, they worked as peasant farmers under harsh conditions.  The Hoa also were suspected by the government of plotting or carrying out subversive activities in the North.

As a result of these repressions, hundreds of thousands of Hoa (as well as other persecuted ethnic minority groups) fled the country.  The Hoa who lived in the North crossed overland into China, while those in the South went on perilous journeys by sea using only small boats across the South China Sea for Southeast Asian countries.  Vietnam also initially refused to allow Chinese ships that were sent by the Beijing government to repatriate the Hoa back to China.  The Hanoi government also denied that the persecution of Hoa was taking place.  Then when the Hanoi government allowed the Hoa to leave the
country, it imposed exorbitant fees before granting exit visas.  Furthermore, North Vietnamese troops in the northern Vietnamese frontier regions forced ethnic Chinese who lived there to relocate to the Chinese side of the China-Vietnam border.

Vietnam and China also had a number of long-standing territorial disputes, including over a piece of land with an area of 60 km2, but primarily in the Gulf
of Tonkin, and in the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.  The dispute over the Spratly and Paracel Islands became even more pronounced after it was speculated that the surrounding waters potentially contained large quantities of petroleum resources.

The Vietnamese also generally distrusted the Chinese for historical reasons.  The ancient Chinese
emperors had long viewed Vietnam as an integral part of China, and brought the Vietnamese under direct Chinese rule for over a millennium (111 B.C.–938 A.D.).  Then during the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese accepted Chinese military support with some skepticism, and later claimed that China provided aid in order to bring Vietnam under the Chinese sphere of influence.  Furthermore, China’s improving relations with the United States following U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972 also was viewed by North Vietnam as a betrayal to its reunification struggle during the Vietnam War.  In May 1978, with Cambodian-Vietnamese relations almost at the breaking point, China cut back on economic aid to Vietnam; within two months, it was ended completely.  Also in 1978, China closed off its side of the Chinese-Vietnamese land border.

Meanwhile, just as its ties with China were breaking down, Vietnam was strengthening its relations with the Soviet Union.  In 1975, the Soviets provided large financial assistance to Vietnam’s post-war reconstruction and five-year development program.  Two events in 1978 brought Vietnam firmly
under the Soviet sphere of influence: in June, Vietnam became a member of the Soviet-led Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and in November, Vietnam and the Soviet Union signed the “Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation”, a mutual defense pact that stipulated Soviet military and economic support to Vietnam in exchange for the Vietnamese allowing the Soviets to use air and
naval facilities in Vietnam.  The treaty also formalized the Soviet and Chinese domains in Indochina, with Vietnam aligned with the Soviet Union, and Cambodia aligned with China.

China now saw itself surrounded by the Soviet Union to the north and Vietnam to the south.  But Vietnam also saw itself threatened by hostile forces in the north (China) and southwest (Cambodia).  Vietnam then made its move in late December 1978, when it invaded Cambodia and conquered the country in a lightning offensive.  Chinese authorities were infuriated, as their ally, the Khmer Rouge regime, had been toppled by the Vietnamese invasion.  Since one year earlier (1978), tensions
between China and Vietnam had been rising, causing many incidents of armed clashes and cross-border
raids.  In January 1979, the Hanoi government accused China of causing over 200 violations of Vietnamese territory.

By February 1979, 30 divisions of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA (China’s armed forces) were massed along the border.  On February 15, 1979, China announced its plan to attack Vietnam.  Also on that day, China’s 1950 “Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance” with the Soviet Union ended, thus freeing China from its obligation to pursue non-aggression against a Soviet ally.  Because of the threat of Soviet intervention from the north, on February 16, Chinese authorities declared that it was also prepared to go to war with the Soviet Union.  By this time, the bulk of Chinese forces (some 1.5 million troops) were concentrated along the northern border, while 300,000 Chinese civilians in these border regions were evacuated.

February 14, 1918 – Finnish Civil War: Finland asks Germany to intervene; three weeks later, German advance units land on Åland Islands

The February 1918 German offensive had major repercussions for Finland, as the German-Russian rivalry in World War I spilled over into Finland and soon merged with the Finnish Civil War.  Germany had backed White Finland by providing weapons and sending Finnish Jäger soldiers to provide training for the Finnish (White) Army in order to undermine Soviet Russia, which supported socialist Red Finland. 
But following a request by the White government on February 14, 1918 for direct assistance, on March 5, 1918 Germany intervened by landing advance units
on Åland Islands in preparation to an amphibious landing on the Finnish mainland.

Just as Germany’s involvement increased, Soviet Russia, complying with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, withdrew its remaining forces in Finland.  By the end of March 1918, the Finnish Civil War had turned invariably in favor of the White forces, brought about also by other reasons: General Mannerheim proved to be a proficient commander; the Jäger and Swedish officers had raised the competence and morale of the Finnish (White) Army; and modern German weapons were arriving in greater quantities.  Meanwhile, the Red Guards, already weakened by the withdrawal of the Russian Army, also suffered from a chronic lack of capable military and political leadership, inadequate training, and weapons shortages.  Furthermore, Red
Guard field officers were voted into their positions by consensus among rank-and-field soldiers (rather than competence), which compromised discipline and reduced resoluteness in battle.

White Finland and Red Finland in the Finnish Civil War.

(Taken from Finnish Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Aftermath of the Finnish Civil War

In May 1918, the victorious conservative government
returned its capital to Helsinki.  Because of the German Army’s contribution to the military success and under the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk,
Finland came under Germany’s sphere of influence, much like the other Russian territories ceded to Germany, i.e. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus,
Ukraine, and Russian Poland.  Finnish-German relations drew even closer with the signing of bilateral military and economic agreements.  In
October 1918, German hegemony was furthered when the Finnish Parliament, dominated by monarchists, named a German Prince, Friedrich Karl, as King of Finland.

However, the Western Front of World War I was still being fought.  After a failed German offensive in March 1918, the Allies counterattacked, pushing back the German Army all across the front.  By November 1918, the German Empire verged on total collapse, both from defeat on the battlefield and by political and social unrest caused by the outbreak of the German Revolution.  On November 9, 1918, the
German monarchy ended when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne; an interim government (which soon turned Germany into a republic) signed the Compiègne Armistice on November 11, 1918, ending
World War I.

In the aftermath, Germany was forced to relinquish its authority over Eastern Europe, including Finland.  In mid-December 1916, with the departure of the German Army from Finland, the Finnish parliament’s plan to install a monarchy with a German prince fell apart.  Finland held local elections in December 1918, and parliamentary elections in March 1919, paving the way for the establishment of a republic, which officially came into existence with the ratification of the Finnish constitution in July 1919.  Also in July, Finland’s first president, Kaarlo
Juho Ståhlberg, was elected into office.

Earlier in May 1919, the United States and Britain
recognized Finland’s independence; other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,
and Greece already had recognized Finland’s
sovereignty a few months earlier.  On October 14, 1920, Finland and Soviet Russia formally ended hostilities in the Treaty of Tartu (in Tartu, Estonia) that also established a common Finnish-Russian border.

The civil war left a lasting, bitter legacy in Finland.  The widespread violence perpetrated by both sides of the war aggravated the already socially divided Finland, as nearly every Finn was affected directly or indirectly.  This polarization led to non-compromise and encouraged radicalization of elements of the right and left, into fascists and communists, respectively, in the following years.  Ultimately, however, political moderation prevailed, allowing Finland to emerge united politically, socially, and economically.  Furthermore, in the 1930s, the country experienced high economic growth, with traditional industries growing and new ones emerging.  Agricultural reforms also transformed the
countryside – by the 1930s, some 90% of previously landless farmers owned their farmlands.  Also in the 1930s, the growing threats from Germany and the Soviet Union further bound Finns toward nationalist unity.

February 13, 1991 – Gulf War: over 400 are killed in the Amiriyah shelter bombing

On February 13, 1991, U.S. planes dropped two laser-guided bombs on the Amiriyah air-raid shelter in Baghdad, Iraq, killing over 400 civilians. The incident occurred during the Gulf War. The U.S. military
defended the operation, stating that the Amiriyah shelter had activities emanating from it that fit the profile of a military command center.

Map showing Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.

(Taken from Gulf War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait
(previous article), overthrew the ruling monarchy and seizing control of the oil-rich country.  A “Provisional
Government of Free Kuwait” was established, and two days later, August 4, the Iraqi government, led by Saddam Hussein, declared Kuwait a republic.  On August 8, Saddam changed his mind and annexed Kuwait as a “governorate”, declaring it Iraq’s 19th province.

Jaber III, Kuwait’s deposed emir who had fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia in the midst of the invasion, appealed to the international community.  On August 3, 1990, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued Resolution 660, the first of many resolutions
against Iraq, which condemned the invasion and demanded that Saddam withdraw his forces from Kuwait.  Three days later, August 6, the UNSC released Resolution 661 that imposed economic sanctions against Iraq, which was carried out through a naval blockade authorized under UNSC Resolution 665.  Continued Iraqi defiance subsequently would
compel the UNSC to issue Resolution 678 on November 29, 1990 that set the deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait on or before January 15, 1991 as well as authorized UN member states to enforce the withdrawal if necessary, even through the use of force.  The Arab League, the main regional organization, also condemned the invasion, although Jordan, Sudan, Yemen, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) continued to support Iraq.

Iraq’s annexation of Kuwait upset the political, military, and economic dynamics in the Persian Gulf region, and by possessing the world’s fourth largest armed forces, Iraq now posed a direct threat to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.  The United States
announced that intelligence information detected a build-up of Iraqi forces in Kuwait’s southern border with Saudi Arabia.  Saddam, however, declared that Iraq had no intention of invading Saudi Arabia, a
position he would maintain in response to allegations of his territorial ambitions.

Meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney who arrived in Saudi Arabia shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, Saudi King Fahd requested U.S. military protection.  U.S. President George H.W. Bush accepted the invitation, as doing so would not only defend an important regional ally, but prevent Saddam from gaining control of the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest petroleum producer.  With its conquest of Kuwait, Iraq now held 20% of the
world’s oil supply, but annexing Saudi Arabia would allow Saddam to control 50% of the global oil reserves.  By September 18, 1990, the U.S. government announced that the Iraqi Army was massed in southern Kuwait, containing a force of 360,000 troops and 2,800 tanks.

U.S. military deployment to Saudi Arabia, codenamed Operation Desert Shield, was swift; on August 8, just six days after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait,
American air and naval forces, led by two aircraft carriers and two battleships, had arrived in the Persian Gulf.  Over the next few months, Iraq offered the United States a number of proposals to resolve the crisis, including that Iraqi forces would be withdrawn from Kuwait on the condition that Israel also withdrew its troops from occupied regions in Palestine (West Bank, Gaza Strip), Syria (Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon.  The United States
refused to negotiate, however, stating that Iraq must withdraw its troops as per the UNSC resolutions before any talk of resolving other Middle Eastern
issues would be discussed.  On January 9, 1991, as the UN-imposed deadline of January 15, 1991 approached, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Iraq’s Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz held last-minute talks in Geneva Switzerland (called the Geneva Peace Conference).  But the two sides refused to tone down their hard-line positions, leading to the breakdown of talks and the imminent outbreak of war.

Because Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites, were located in Saudi Arabia, King Fahd received strong local and international criticism from other Muslim states for allowing U.S. troops into his country.  At the urging of King Fahd, the United States organized a multinational coalition consisting of armed and civilian contingents from 34 countries which, apart from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait’s (exiled forces), also included other Arab and Muslim countries (Egypt, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Turkey, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh).  A force of about 960,000 troops was assembled, with U.S. soldiers accounting for 700,000 or about 70% of the total; Britain and France also sent sizable contingents, some 53,000 and 18,000 respectively, as well as large amounts of military equipment and supplies.

In talks with Saudi officials, the United States stated that the Saudi government must pay for the greater portion of the cost for the coalition force, as the latter was tasked specifically to protect Saudi Arabia.  In the coming war, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and
other Gulf states contributed about $36 billion of the $61 billion coalition total war cost; as well, Germany and Japan contributed a combined $16 billion, although these two countries, prohibited by their constitutions from sending armies abroad, were not a combat part of the coalition force.

President Bush overcame the last major obstacle to implementing UNSC Resolution 678 – the U.S. Congress.  The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were held by a majority from the opposition Democratic Party, which was opposed
to the Bush administration’s war option and instead believed that the UNSC’s economic sanctions against Iraq, yet barely two months in force, must be given
time to work.  On January 12, 1991, a congressional joint resolution that authorized war, as per President Bush’s request, was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 250-183 and Senate by a vote of 52-47.

One major factor for U.S. Congress’ approval for war were news reports of widespread atrocities and human rights violations being committed by Iraq’s
occupation forces against Kuwaiti civilians, particularly against members of the clandestine Kuwaiti resistance movement that had arisen as a result of the occupation.  Some of the more outrage-provoking accounts, including allegations that Iraqi soldiers pulled hundreds of new-born infants from incubators and then left to die on the hospital floors, have since been determined to be untrue.

Iraq’s programs for developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons were also cause for grave concern to Western countries, particularly since during the Iran-Iraq War (that ended just three years
earlier, in August 1988), Saddam did not hesitate to use chemical weapons, dropping bombs and firing artillery containing projectiles laced with nerve
agents, cyanide, and sarin against Iranian military and civilian targets, and even against his own people, i.e. Iraq Kurds who had risen up in rebellion and sided with Iran in the war.