Gulf War,199117 ~ February 28th, the multinational coalition forces led by the United States went to war against Iraq under the authorization of the UN Security Council to restore Kuwait's territorial integrity. Gulf, the abbreviation of Persian Gulf, is located in central West Asia. The countries around the Gulf are the main oil producing areas in the world, and their strategic position is outstanding. 1In August, 990, the Gulf War, the largest local war in the world after the war, broke out in this region. This war has had a far-reaching impact on the establishment of a new international order after the Cold War. At the same time, the new situation and new characteristics of modern high-tech operations have brought many inspirations to military strategy, campaign tactics and army building. 1 990 August1day, Iraq and Kuwait broke up over the oil issue. 1On August 2, 990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and soon occupied all the territory. 1On August 7, 990, the US military set out for Saudi Arabia. 199165438+1October 17 The multinational forces led by the United States bombed Baghdad and the Gulf War broke out. It ended on February 28th of the same year. [Edit this paragraph] The Gulf War was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Historically, due to various reasons, Iraq and Kuwait have disputes over sovereignty and border issues. In the late 1980s, with the end of the Iran-Iraq war and the disintegration of the world bipolar system, the dispute between Iraq and Kuwait became prominent again. As far as Iraq is concerned, the main reason is that it hopes to realize the rapid development of the country under the new international situation, specifically, to solve the problem of seaport that has plagued it for a long time, to forgive the huge debts owed in the Iran-Iraq war and to become a big country in the Gulf region. 1in mid-July, 1990, due to oil policy, territorial disputes, debts and other issues, the disputes between Iraq and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates suddenly became public. 1990 In July, after a series of demands to Kuwait were rejected, Iraq made up its mind to annex Kuwait by force. [Edit this paragraph] Iraq invaded Kuwait on 1990 in the early morning of August 2 1 (Kuwait time). After careful preparation, three divisions of the Iraqi Republic Guard crossed the Iraq-Kuwait border and launched a surprise attack on Kuwait. At the same time, a special operations force carried out a helicopter attack on Kuwait City from the sea. At dawn, two opposing forces began to attack the targets in the city. The Emir of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Sabah, and some members of the royal family fled to a nearby American warship in a hurry. Amir's brother Prince Fahd was killed in the battle to defend the palace. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Iraqi army basically controlled Kuwait City. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Iraqi troops occupied all the territory of Kuwait. And classified Kuwait as its 19 province. [Edit this paragraph] The United Nations response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait caused a great shock all over the world. The United Nations has repeatedly passed resolutions against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and imposed sanctions on Iraq. The strongest reaction is the western countries headed by the United States, which have great economic interests in the Gulf region. On August 2nd and 3rd, US President George H.W. George Herbert Walker Bush presided over a plenary meeting of the National Security Council to study countermeasures. The meeting finally decided to take large-scale military deployment to force Iraq to withdraw its troops and prepare for military strikes when necessary. According to this spirit, the central headquarters of the U.S. military, which is in charge of defense in the Middle East, has formulated the "Desert Shield" action plan. At 2 am (Eastern Time) on August 7, President Bush officially approved the plan. The "Desert Shield" action plan is to deploy troops to the Gulf region in two stages. In the first stage, 240,000 troops and their organizational equipment will be deployed within three to four months (17 weeks), so that the troops of the US military and other troop-contributing countries in the region are roughly equal to those of the Iraqi army. In the second stage, we will continue to increase our troops according to the development of the situation, so that our troops can reach a level sufficient to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. In the first stage of deployment, according to the situation that Iraqi troops may attack Saudi Arabia in a short time, first, rapid reaction forces and air strike forces were deployed in Jubail and Dhahran of Saudi Arabia to establish mobile defense, and the strategy of "exchanging space for time" was adopted to block the possible attacks by Iraqi troops and ensure the subsequent troops to arrive and deploy one after another. After the plan was determined, the US military formulated a specific deployment plan to maximize the dispatch of strategic transportation tools under the jurisdiction of the Transportation Command, mobilize reserve and civilian transportation forces, and recruit and organize reserves. Other troop-contributing countries have also started their own deployment operations. After intense action, the two phases of deployment ended on June 8, respectively, 1 1. At that time, the total strength of the US military in the Gulf region reached 430,000, including 260,000 in the army, 50,000 in the navy, 40,000 in the air force and 80,000 in the marine corps. The main weapons and equipment are: 1200 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles, 1300 combat aircraft, 1500 helicopters and 100 warships. Together with other countries, the total number of troops dispatched reached 500,000. Some non-troop-contributing countries provided weapons and equipment, ships, planes and medical teams. With the deployment of national armies, it is increasingly necessary to establish a unified and coordinated command organization. In mid-August, a coordinated operational command organization was established at the highest level of the multinational force through consultation. In principle, all the troops in the theater are under the unified command of Lieutenant General Khalid, commander of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces, and General schwarzkopf, commander of the US Central Command. However, the armies of various countries receive orders and instructions from their highest authorities. Because of the invasion of troops by the United States and other countries and the economic sanctions imposed by the international community, Iraq has taken corresponding countermeasures. The overall strategic guiding ideology is to delay the outbreak of war, make the Gulf conflict prolonged and complicated, and then divide the military camp led by the United States, break various sanctions against Iraq, preserve vested interests, and at the same time prepare for military defensive operations. To this end, under the banner of "jihad" in diplomacy, it linked the withdrawal of troops with Israel's withdrawal from occupied Arab territories in order to shift the fingers of Arab countries; Economically, adopt the policy of internal austerity and external breakthrough; Militarily, we will step up the expansion of the army and prepare for war, and resume the construction of 24 divisions, bringing the total strength of the army to 77 divisions, with 65,438+200,000 people. At the same time, the deployment of troops in the theater has been strengthened. According to the three lines of defense, 43 divisions, about 540,000 men, 4,280 tanks, 2,800 guns and 2,800 armored transport vehicles were deployed. When the US military began to implement the "Desert Shield" plan, it had predicted that Iraq would refuse to withdraw its troops and drew up a military strike action plan code-named "Desert Storm". On February 20th, 65438, US Secretary of Defense Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Powell approved the plan. The main point of the plan is to carry out offensive operations to achieve: 1. Paralyzing the Iraqi national command; 2. Drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait; 3. Eliminate the Iraqi Republican Guard; 4. Trying to destroy Iraq's ballistic missiles and nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; 5. Help restore the legitimate government of Kuwait. Based on this determination, the following operational plans have been formulated: to carry out multinational, multi-directional, coordinated attacks by sea, air and ground, first destroy Iraq's important military targets by air combat, and then gradually shift the focus of air operations, carry out ground operations in Kuwait theater, destroy the Iraqi Republican Guard, and liberate Kuwait City with Arab troops. The whole battle process is divided into four stages, namely 1. Strategic air strikes; 2. Seize the air superiority; 3. Air strikes against ground forces; 4. Ground offensive operations. 165438+1On October 29th, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 678, setting199115 as the deadline for Iraq's withdrawal. 199111On 9 October, US Secretary of State Baker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz held their last meeting in Geneva before the war. However, both sides agreed that there was no room for compromise and the talks failed to achieve results. At 65438+1October 16 am EDT 10: 30 am, President Bush signed a national security directive to schwarzkopf, commander of the US Central Command, ordering the US military to go to war against Iraq. [Edit this paragraph] Multinational Force Attacks 17 10/7. In the early morning, the US air strikes began. The whole air raid includes the first three of the four operational stages of the "Desert Storm" plan, which is called air combat by the US military. According to the plan, the three stages will be started at the same time, and work together to achieve the set goals one by one. The usual air attack mode is that the electronic warfare planes such as EF-11,EA-6B, EC- 130h open the way first. F- 1 17, f-11daeaf, A-6, A- 10, AV-8B, F- 15E. This is the reason for the attack. The daily number of sorties is 2,000 to 3,000. According to the statistics of the US military in the corner of the Gulf War, at the beginning of the ground attack, more than 25% of the 540,000 Iraqi troops in the Kuwait theater were killed or injured, and the loss of heavy equipment reached 30-45%. In order to carry out ground offensive operations, the army of the US Central Command has also formulated a specific campaign plan, which is the "Desert Saber" plan. The plan is actually part of the "Desert Storm" plan. The plan decided that five military teams would carry out ground combat missions. The U.S. 18 Airborne Forces launched an attack in the west of the whole line, which was responsible for cutting off the contact between Iraqi troops in the war zone and the rear. The seventh army of the United States undertook the main task in the middle of the front line, focusing on eliminating the Iraqi Republican Guard; The right wing of the Seventh Army is followed by the Northern Joint Forces, the Marine Corps of the US Central Command and the Eastern Joint Forces. They will surround Iraqi troops behind Kuwait and in Kuwait City, and contain Iraqi tactical and combat troops. The Arab forces of the northern and eastern joint forces will be responsible for the liberation of Kuwait City. After the plan was drawn up, the multinational force made a large-scale deployment adjustment from June+10/October 17, 65438 to February 24. Hundreds of thousands of people from the two armies of the United States moved more than 200 kilometers and more than 300 kilometers from the original station to the new attack starting point respectively. 19 Russian-made T-72 main battle tank 9 1 At 4 a.m. local time on February 24th, multinational forces launched a large-scale joint attack on the Iraqi army, pushing the Gulf War to the final stage. The multinational forces first launched an attack in the middle of the front line to attract the attention of the Iraqi army headquarters. Subsequently, the east and west ends began to act, causing the west end to "close the door" and the east end to "drive away". In this case, the US Seventh Army, which was in charge of the main attack, launched a decisive attack. First go north, then east, and destroy the main force of the Iraqi army. Facing the attack of multinational forces, the Iraqi army stubbornly resisted, and then gradually retreated to the north and west, and ignited a large number of oil wells in Kuwait oilfield. On the morning of 28th, Kuwait City was completely controlled by Arab forces, and most of the multinational forces completed their respective tasks. In view of this, President Bush issued a temporary ceasefire order at 8: 00 local time. The whole ground attack lasted 100 hour. [Editor's paragraph] After the end of the war and the temporary ceasefire, Iraq indicated that it accepted the ceasefire conditions proposed by the United States and was willing to implement the relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council. On this basis, on April 3, the United Nations Security Council adopted the formal ceasefire resolution in the Gulf, namely resolution 687, with a vote of 12 in favour and 1 against, with 2 abstentions. The Gulf War is over. According to post-war statistics, in this war, 38 of 43 Iraqi divisions were hit hard or annihilated, 62,000 people were captured, 3,847 tanks, 1.450 armored transport vehicles and 29 17 artillery pieces were destroyed or captured. 107 aircraft was shot down, destroyed or captured. A total of 126 people (including 74 Americans) were killed, more than 300 people were injured and 12 people were missing. [Edit this paragraph] The influence of the Gulf War The Gulf War was the first large-scale local war after the collapse of the world bipolar system and the end of the Cold War. It profoundly reflects the changes of various contradictions in the transition of the world to a new pattern, which is the result of the local intensification of these contradictions. It embodies the revolutionary changes in the characteristics of war caused by the development of human social productive forces, especially science and technology, mainly as follows: weapons and equipment are built on the basis of highly intensive technology; The attack mode is no longer based on mass killing, but on the basis of relatively reduced destructive power, highlighting the accuracy of the attack; The scope and process of the whole war are regarded as a complete system, and the synergy and timeliness of the war are unprecedented. It also shows many new characteristics of the combat style produced by the application of new combat means and operational ideas to war, including: air combat has become an independent combat style; Mobile operation is the basic way of offensive operation; Long-range firepower warfare is the main means of engagement; Electronic warfare is an indispensable combat mode of "hard killing"; Night fighting is a new way of fighting. Due to the absolute superiority of multinational forces in quality and technology, the Gulf War has been written into the history of war as a synonym for high-tech local wars. In the Gulf War, the United States used more than 50 military and commercial satellites of 12 class to form a strategic reconnaissance network, which provided 70% strategic information for multinational forces. The multinational force assembled 2790 modern fixed-wing aircraft, 1700 rotary-wing aircraft (including more than 600 attack helicopters), more than 6500 tank armored vehicles, and a large number of self-propelled artillery, rocket launchers, engineering and technical support vehicles, etc. Although the multinational force is not superior to the Iraqi army in number comparison, the proportion of personnel is 1/2.4, the proportion of artillery is 1/2.4, and the proportion of tanks is11.44, but the number of modern equipment mobilized by the multinational force is many times higher than that of the Iraqi army: the number of new aircraft is/kloc. Among the more than 80,000 tons of ammunition airdropped in the Gulf War, precision-guided weapons only accounted for 7% of the total airdropped, but the hit rate was as high as 90%. More than 3,700 Iraqi tanks and 2,000 armored vehicles were destroyed and captured. The powerful influence of technology on the war embodied in the Gulf War indicates the arrival of another new era: in the face of troops with superior quality, simple quantitative comparison has lost its meaning; The application of all kinds of military high-tech leads to a lot of information acquisition, which also makes it difficult for the opposite enemy to use tactics. In addition, during the Gulf War, the multinational forces used a large number of depleted uranium bombs and burned a large number of refineries and chemical plants. The long-term ecological and environmental impact on the local area can not be ignored.