The course and outcome of Operation Desert Storm 1991, including the air campaign, the ground offensive, the role of new military technology, the Highway of Death, and the decision to end the war on 28 February 1991

What this dot point is asking

NESA expects you to explain how Operation Desert Storm expelled Iraq from Kuwait, what military and technological features made the victory so rapid, and why the war ended on 28 February 1991 with Saddam still in power. Strong answers integrate the air campaign, the ground campaign, the role of new technology, the Highway of Death controversy, and the Bush 41 decision to halt at the Kuwaiti border.

The answer

Coalition forces

Operation Desert Shield (from 7 August 1990) deployed Coalition forces to Saudi Arabia. At the war's start, the Coalition had around 700,000 personnel, of whom 540,000 were US. Other major contributors: Saudi Arabia (100,000), Britain (53,000), Egypt (36,000), France (18,000), Syria (14,000), Kuwait (7,000), and 30 other states.

Command structure: US Central Command (CENTCOM) under General H. Norman Schwarzkopf based at Riyadh, with Lt Gen Chuck Horner running the air war, Lt Gen Frederick Franks commanding VII Corps, and Lt Gen Gary Luck commanding XVIII Airborne Corps.

The air campaign (17 January to 23 February 1991)

The air war opened with F-117A Nighthawks attacking Baghdad command centres at 03:00 Gulf time on 17 January 1991. Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the USS San Jacinto and other vessels at the same hour. The first wave destroyed the Iraqi integrated air defence system.

Coalition aircraft flew around 100,000 sorties in 38 days. Key technologies and units:

• F-117A Nighthawk. First operational stealth aircraft. Flew around 1,300 sorties against strategic Iraqi targets without loss.
• Tomahawk cruise missiles. 297 launched from US Navy ships against fixed strategic targets in Baghdad.
• GBU-10/12/16 laser-guided bombs. Famous CNN footage of bombs entering Iraqi ventilation shafts.
• B-52G bombers. Dropped around 30 per cent of Coalition tonnage on Iraqi army units.
• A-10 Thunderbolt II. Anti-tank close air support. Destroyed around 1,000 tanks and artillery pieces.

The Iraqi air force flew 121 aircraft to Iran (24 January onwards) to escape destruction.

The Scud diversion

Iraq fired around 88 Scud-B and al-Husayn missiles between 17 January and 25 February. 42 hit Israel; 46 hit Saudi Arabia. The largest single casualty was the Scud hit on a US Army Reserve barracks at Khobar Towers, Dhahran, on 25 February 1991, killing 28 American soldiers.

Strategic purpose: Saddam wanted to provoke Israeli retaliation, which would have shattered the Arab Coalition. The Bush administration deployed Patriot PAC-2 missiles to Israel. Israeli restraint, secured by Bush directly, was a major diplomatic achievement.

The ground campaign (24-28 February 1991)

Schwarzkopf's "left hook" plan used Marine and Arab forces to fix Iraqi defences while VII Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps swept west, north, and then east through the empty desert of southern Iraq to envelop the Republican Guard.

G-Day was 04:00 Gulf time on 24 February 1991. The 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions and the Tiger Brigade breached the Iraqi border defences within hours.

The key engagements were on 26 February. The Battle of 73 Easting saw the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment under Captain H.R. McMaster's Eagle Troop destroy elements of the Tawakalna Republican Guard division: around 50 T-72 tanks destroyed in 23 minutes against zero US losses. The Battle of Medina Ridge (27 February) saw 1st Armored Division destroy around 186 Iraqi tanks and 127 armoured vehicles against four US losses.

The Republican Guard divisions (Tawakalna, Medina, Hammurabi) lost most of their armour. The Hammurabi escaped north of Basra and would later be used to crush the 1991 Shia uprising.

The Highway of Death

Iraqi forces began retreating north from Kuwait City on Highway 80 on the night of 25-26 February 1991. Coalition aircraft (A-10s, F-15Es, F-18s) and helicopters attacked the retreating convoys. Around 2,000 vehicles were destroyed on Highway 80 and the parallel Highway 8 by 27 February.

The Highway became known as the "Highway of Death." Photographs and television footage of charred bodies produced international debate over whether the attacks were legitimate or excessive. Powell and Bush were sensitive to the imagery.

Ending the war

Powell and Bush decided to halt. Bush announced the ceasefire on television on 27 February at 21:00 Washington time. The cessation of offensive operations took effect at 08:00 Gulf time on 28 February 1991, exactly 100 hours after G-Day. The Safwan ceasefire talks (3 March 1991) saw Schwarzkopf and Khalid bin Sultan meet Iraqi Lt Gen Sultan Hashim Ahmad, with Iraq agreeing to all UN resolutions.

UN Security Council Resolution 687 (3 April 1991) imposed the ceasefire terms: Iraqi disarmament of WMD and long-range missiles, return of Kuwaiti property and prisoners, payment of reparations, maintained sanctions until disarmament was verified.

Costs

Coalition combat deaths: 240 (146 US, 47 from friendly fire or accidents). British losses: 47. Iraqi military deaths are uncertain: estimates from 8,000 (Beth Daponte 1993) to 25,000-50,000 (DIA contemporary).

Iraqi civilian deaths: around 3,000 direct casualties from air strikes, plus higher indirect deaths through 1991.

Environmental costs: retreating Iraqi forces set 605 of Kuwait's 749 oil wells on fire from 22 February. The last fire was extinguished on 6 November 1991. Around 11 million barrels were released into the Gulf in the largest oil spill in history.

Timeline

Historiography

Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor (The Generals' War, 1995) is the standard operational history.

Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh (The Gulf Conflict 1990-1991, 1993) is the diplomatic standard.

Rick Atkinson (Crusade, 1993) is the major journalistic account.

Andrew Bacevich (America's War for the Greater Middle East, 2016) sees Desert Storm as the start of a 25-year cycle rather than a discrete victory.

How to read a source on this topic

Sources commonly include CNN's "Live from Baghdad" coverage of the opening air strikes, the General Schwarzkopf "mother of all briefings", Patriot intercept footage, the Highway of Death photographs, and the Bush 41 victory speech.

First, note the media framing. This was the first 24-hour cable news war.

Second, weigh later disclosures. The Patriot interception rate, initially claimed at 90 per cent, was later revised down sharply.

Common exam traps

Treating air power as the whole war. The air campaign degraded but did not destroy the Iraqi army. The ground campaign was needed and was decisive.

Forgetting Schwarzkopf's deception. The Marine amphibious force off Kuwait was a feint.

Misdating the ceasefire. 28 February 1991, 100 hours after G-Day. The formal UNSCR 687 terms came 3 April 1991.

In one sentence

Operation Desert Storm expelled Iraq from Kuwait through a 38-day air campaign opening 17 January 1991 that established total air supremacy and degraded the Iraqi army, followed by a 100-hour ground campaign (24-28 February 1991) in which Schwarzkopf's "left hook" envelopment destroyed the Republican Guard at 73 Easting and Medina Ridge before President George H. W. Bush ordered the ceasefire at 08:00 Gulf time on 28 February 1991 with the UN mandate fulfilled, Kuwait liberated, and Saddam still in power.