Triumph Without Victory: The History of the Persian Gulf War

by U.S. News and World Report (Editor), US News and World Report St

A revealing, behind-the-scenes account of the Persian Gulf conflict includes a discussion of why Saddam Husein sought to conquer Kuwait, the disagreement among presidental advisors over the war, and the anti-Iraq coalition

Genres: Military History, History

508 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 1992

Reviews

[Joseph Stieb]

This is a cool concept for a book: it's US News putting together its reporting from the war, plus a bunch of postwar research and interviews. There's a fair amount of material in here I was unfamiliar with even though I'm now approaching double digits for books on the PG War. The account is easy to follow, thoroughly but not excessively detailed, and fair in its criticism. It does fall into a fairly straightforward account of the fighting itself in the last 150 pages or so, but there's not so much military narrative that a lay person can't figure out what is happening. I recommend this book for someone looking for a comprehensive and not terribly long (400 pages) account of the war who also wants a balance between political and military history. Gordon and Trainor's account is way more military oriented, while Bush and Scowcroft's is almost totally political (as is Woodward's the commanders).

The thesis of this book is basically that even though Bush did virtually everything right politically and militarily in this conflict, the US was still left with a highly incomplete victory in the end. SH survived, as did the core parts of his military (Republican Guard units). The US was constrained by the coalition, the UNSC resolutions, and its own better judgement about getting stuck in Iraq. Nevertheless, they couldn't get a clean break from Iraq, as the Kurdish and Shia refugee crises and the WMD issue kept the US engaged in a quasi war with Iraq for the next decade that never really cool off. I won't say that this volume really spells out this thesis really well. They aren't blaming the Bush team for this end point, although I can think of a few things they didn't think through all the way. I find the idea of triumph without victory compelling because it shows that very soon after the stunning military triumph of Desert Storm, the ambiguity of the postwar political situation became the world's biggest asterisk on the military victory. This is a key theme in my research and it was cool to see it spelled out here.

[Robert Snow]

A quick first history of the First Gulf War, a good behind the scenes look at this 100 hour war.

[Steve]

This is a "second draft" of history for the First Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991.