History UsefulNotes / TheGulfWar

* Robert [=McAllister=] in ''BrothersAndSisters'' is a Gulf War veteran, injured in that conflict. He won a medal that he doesn't feel he fully deserved- he froze in combat.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'''s Finn was told by his mother that his dad died while fighting in the Gulf War. [[spoiler: Except he didn't. He was dishonorably discharged and died of an overdose while back in America.]]

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Several references to the conflict are made throughout the series. In the fourth season episode "Mr. Rabb Goes to Washington", rumors are spread on a cable news network ([[AlphabetNewsNetwork ZNN]]) that Sarin nerve gas was used by U.S. Marnes during the invasion of Kuwait in 1991.

* In the 1997 pilot of ''Series/StargateSG1'', Samantha Carter is introduced with a mention that she "logged over one hundred hours in enemy airspace during the Gulf War". In the 1999 episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S2E16AMatterOfTime A Matter of Time]]", Jack O'Neill mentions that a failed mission resulted in him spending four months in "some stinkin' Iraqi prison", implying that he also fought in this war.

The Gulf War lasted from August 1990 to March 1991.

Abridged, following a brutal eight-year war with Iran, UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein sought to recoup Iraq's finances by invading Kuwait and securing its oil, and was ejected by a United Nations coalition led by the United States.

A fuller history can be found in UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar, as it was the final "UsefulNotes/ColdWar" conflict.

* In the 1997 pilot of ''Series/StargateSG1'', Samantha Carter is introduced with a mention that she "logged over one hundred hours in enemy airspace during the Gulf War".

Abridged, following a brutal eight-year war with Iran, SaddamHussein sought to recoup Iraq's finances by invading Kuwait and securing its oil, and was ejected by a United Nations coalition led by the United States.

* SETA Corporation's ShootEmUp/[[SimulationGame Fighter Sim]] ''[[VideoGame/ASPAirStrikePatrol A.S.P. Air Strike Patrol]]'' (AKA ''DesertFighter''), despite the deliberate use of fake names. [[OutsideContextProblem Among other things.]] Notably averts the FollowTheLeader trend mentioned below; part of the game's main mechanics involve managing public opinion while not wasting supplies (fuel/aircraft/ammo) and quickly destroying enemy targets as much as possible. [[NintendoHard This is harder than it sounds.]]

* SETA Corporation's ShootEmUp/[[SimulationGame Fighter Sim]] ''[[VideoGame/ASPAirStrikePatrol A.S.P. Air Strike Patrol]]'' (AKA ''DesertFighter''), despite the deliberate use of fake names. [[OutsideContextVillain Among other things.]] Notably averts the FollowTheLeader trend mentioned below; part of the game's main mechanics involve managing public opinion while not wasting supplies (fuel/aircraft/ammo) and quickly destroying enemy targets as much as possible. [[NintendoHard This is harder than it sounds.]]

Abridged, SaddamHussein launched an invasion of Kuwait to acquire control of its oil and was ejected by a United Nations coalition led by the United States.

* Cherry (of all characters) in "Sgt. Cherry and her Squealing Commandos" in ''CherryComics''. (And, yes, it was a satire.)

!!'''Tropes Involved with this War'''

* TheAlliance
* AirstrikeImpossible: Several took place in the Gulf:
** The RAF attacked Iraqi airfields using the [[RecursiveAmmo JP233 cluster bomb]][[note]] A weapon the USAF thought too dangerous to use [[/note]] -- which had to be delivered straight and a few hundred feet over the massive Iraqi runways, under enemy fire. No aircraft were lost while using [=JP233=].
** A flight of USAF B-52 bombers flew 14,000 miles from their base in the US to Iraq and back again, returning 35 hours later.
* AmericaSavesTheDay: Justified; the US Military did almost all of the work, and 75% of the Coalition forces were American.
* UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery
* BatmanGambit: The Coalition massed naval assets in the Gulf, and pounded Iraqi defenses along the coast, implying an impending [[SemperFi massed amphibious assault]]. Once the Iraqis had committed to defending against that, in came the famous "[[CurbStompBattle Left Hook]]" land invasion via Saudi Arabia.
* BigDamnHeroes: The Western and the Arabic allies.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: It was this to some extent in the US. A quick, short victorious war won in a landslide by the American democracy, utterly defeating the Iraqi dictatorship and liberating Kuwait. It gets considerably less "white" on the American side when one considers that Kuwait wasn't all that free under its own government, and that we left the Iraqi dictator in power, at least for another decade or so.
* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: This was the final time battleships fired their guns in anger. The USS ''Wisconsin'' and USS ''Missouri'' fired Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as 16" and 5" artillery at Iraqi positions in the Shatt al-Arab delta, totaling over [[MoreDakka 500 tons of ordinance fired, by each ship.]] Also an example of SchizoTech, because the battleships launched remotely-piloted aircraft (the first in the US Navy to do so) to scout targets and assess damage. The incoming fire was [[StuffBlowingUp so devastating]] that some Iraqi positions actually surrendered to the UAV, rather than get blown to smithereens from a ship they couldn't even see.
* UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships: They were the second largest member of the coalition, with the [=1st=] Armoured Division, Naval Units and aircraft drawn from most squadrons of the RAF -- the British naval ship HMS ''Gloucester'' scored the [[ImprobableAimingSkills first ever missile-on-missile kill]], destroying an Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at the USS ''Missouri''--ironically, perhaps the ship least likely to be seriously damaged by a missile -- with a Sea Dart.
* UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks: Yes, they were there too.
* CurbStompBattle: Desert Storm, the actual air and ground assault to liberate Kuwait and destroy Iraqi infrastructure lasted roughly 2 months. The ratio of Iraqis killed to coalition members killed were 300 to 1. [[WakeUpCallBoss Unfortunately, the Iraqi army and independents would learn from their mistakes a decade later.]]
** On an individual level, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_73_Easting Battle of 73 Easting]] is one of the most lopsided victories in the history of war; one regiment of US armored cavalry rolled up the entire Republican Guards armored division they'd been sent to locate like a cheap rug, losing only one vehicle and suffering only one casualty. And in the following Battle of Norfolk the British First Armored Division scattered four Iraqi infantry divisions before crushing a fifth, armored division in place.
* DeathFromAbove: Extensive use of airpower, centralized command and control of the numerous different air forces employed, and state of the art technology (stealth fighters, cruise missiles, and smart bombs) went far to contribute to the above mentioned CurbStompBattle.
* UsefulNotes/EgyptiansWithEagleFighters: The Egyptians were at 20,000 troops the fourth-largest contributors of manpower to the Coalition (after the US, Saudi Arabia, and UK) and second-largest Arab contributors (after the Saudis who, you know, were right there) and fought well. In return, foreign states agreed to relieve much of Egypt's (substantial) debt.
* FriendOrFoe: According to official U.S. Department of Defense records, 367 Americans were killed in the war, 165 of them due to friendly fire. Of the total casualties taken by the whole alliance, only 48 percent were caused by the enemy according to a UsefulNotes/UnitedNations estimate.
* UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades: The French would be glad to know that they're no longer CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys, considering they took part in the war. Not to mention the fact that the bulk of the Iraqi forces choose to surrender than fight at all, which would make them worthy of the title instead.
* GreyAndBlackMorality: From the point of view of most Muslims at least: Genocidal, imperialist dictator seeking more oil revenue to exploit versus Americans fighting to maintain their own stranglehold on Gulf oil and their repressive monarchist cronies.
* HeroBall[=/=]WhatAnIdiot: If UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, or the United Nations, just went the whole way and just overthrown Saddam Hussein, it would had saved his son as well the Kurds, everyone else in Iraq and the whole world a lot of troubles.
** However, most argue that due to pre-existing ethnic tensions between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds in the country, that the occupation would have been just as bloody as the occupation of the 2000s.
** Dick Cheney argued this himself on TV in 1994 [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9YuD9kYK9I]], actually-a massive case of {{Irony}} compared with his [[TheWarOnTerror later stance]] as Vice President.
* NewRomanLegions: Italy took part in this war alongside the USA, Britain, France, and Canada
* {{Prequel}} / {{Foreshadowing}}: To the [[TheWarOnTerror The War in Iraq]]
* {{Qurac}}
* RedShirtArmy: Iraq and to a lesser extent, Kuwait.
* SaltTheEarth: The retreating Iraqi forces set Kuwait's oil wells ablaze, [[ForTheEvulz just because they could.]]
* SemperFi: Invoked. The Coalition made a big deal about deploying Marines (US and British) in the Persian Gulf, making it look like they were getting ready for a direct amphibious assault on the Shatt al-Arab delta (see also BreakOutTheMuseumPiece above). While the Iraqis were preparing for that, the armored columns snuck in the back door through the desert. Cue MassOhCrap.
* {{Sequel}}: To the UsefulNotes/IranIraqWar
* StupidEvil: The Iraqi Army putting out its right flank in the open as if to say,"Oh please attack me your blessedness".
** The Iraqi Army was relying on a trackless, near-impossible to navigate stretch of desert to protect their right flank. A decade prior it might have worked, but thanks to a new piece of technology called GPS...(It should be noted that this tactic wouldn't have worked even against 1940s British Army, which was quite adept in navigating desert by using naval navigating procedures - compass, sextant etc.)
* TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks: The first big story to prove their worth.
* VillainBall: The war was extremely destructive to Saddam's military, so anything that would put a stop to the fighting would be in his best interests. However, whenever a ray of hope seemed to glow, Hussein always unintentionally found a way to snuff it out:
** Saddam fired SCUD missiles at Israel in the hopes that Isreal would join the war, which he hoped would shatter the Coalition. The United States responded by deploying Patriot Missiles in Israel, and sending choppers to hunt SCUD launchers. To protect his launchers, Saddam hid them for a while, which made the Americans think they had destroyed them. When they planned to remove the Patriots from Israel, the Israeli government threatened to declare war on Iraq. Before the Patriots could be removed, Hussein redeployed the launchers and began firing at Israel again. Had he waited a few days, Hussein may have got what he wanted.
** Before the ground assault into Kuwait, the Russian ambassador to the U. N. hoped to bring an end to the conflict by negotiations, which would save Saddam's army. If Saddam would leave Kuwait, the Soviet Union would try to get him a few favors in return. The ambassador's plan involved sympathy for Saddam. The CurbStompBattle was so one-sided that he hoped to tell the world, "Hasn't Saddam suffered enough?" Unfortunately, just before the U.N. session, photographs showed massive oil slick in the Persian Gulf, and multiple oil fields burning in Kuwait. This act of brazen and pointless environmental vandalism enraged the world and all sympathy for Saddam evaporated.
* WhatTheHellHero: Poor intel and planning led to a bombing in Baghdad that killed three hundred civilians in a bunker. The refusal to help the Iraqi insurgents after the end of the War has been considered this as well.
* [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks Yanks with Tanks and Stealth Fighters]]

'''In fiction'''

It began when Kuwait began diagonally drilling for oil into Iraqi territory. UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein told the Kuwaitis to knock it off, and when they didn't, invaded. At first, America was not terribly interested in intervention. However, the Kuwaiti ruling family, using their enormous wealth, hired a PR firm which was successful in drumming up public support. Their campaign climaxed when a Kuwaiti girl was brought before congress to testify about Iraqi atrocities she allegedly witnessed. Unknown to Americans at the time, the girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US, and was not in the country at the time, meaning her testimony was a total fabrication.

Regardless, NATO and it's Arab allies eventually intervened, and the rest is history. The Iraqi army was routed fairly easily and the right of a slave owning monarchy to illegally drill for oil was preserved.

* '''Series/HouseOfSaddam'', chronicling Saddam Hussein's reign, features the Gulf War, although it mostly shows the aftermath.

* Tons and tons and ''[[FollowTheLeader tons]]'' of period arcade action games that all had "WarIsGlorious" as a unifying theme because the relative lack of casualties and the media's portrayal of Desert Storm as a total CurbStompBattle made it acceptable again to believe that war was cool. Primary offenders include ''TotalCarnage'', ''MERCS'', ''Desert Assault'', and many more.

Regardless, the US eventually intervened, and the rest is history. The Iraqi army was routed fairly easily and the right of a slave owning monarchy to illegally drill for oil was preserved.

Abridged, UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein launched an invasion of Kuwait to acquire control of its oil and was ejected by a United Nations coalition led by the United States.

* {{Glee}}'s Finn was told by his mother that his dad died while fighting in the Gulf War. [[spoiler: Except he didn't. He was dishonorably discharged and died of an overdose while back in America.]]

** On an individual level, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_73_Easting Battle of 73 Easting]] is one of the most lopsided victories in the history of war; one regiment of US armored cavalry rolled up the entire Republican Guards armored division they'd been sent to locate like a cheap rug, losing only one vehicle and suffering only one casualty. And it was immediately followed by the Battle of Norfolk, where the British first Armored Division scattered four Iraqi divisions before crushing a fifth.

* UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships: They were the second largest member of the coalition, with the [=1st=] Armoured Division, Naval Units and aircraft drawn from most squadrons of the RAF -- the British naval ship HMS ''Gloucester'' scored the [[ImprobableAimingSkills first ever missile-on-missile kill]], destroying an Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at the USS ''Missouri'' with a Sea Dart.

** On an individual level, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_73_Easting Battle of 73 Easting]] is one of the most lopsided victories in the history of war.

* Major John D. MacGillis from ''Series/MajorDad'' writes a letter to UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush asking to fight in Kuwait.

* AirstrikeImpossible: Of two different forms:
** The first was the RAF's attack on Iraqi airfields using the [[RecursiveAmmo JP233 cluster bomb]][[note]] A weapon the USAF thought too dangerous to use [[/note]] -- which had to be delivered straight and level at low height over the Iraqi runways, under enemy fire. No aircraft were lost using [=JP233=]

* UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships: They were the second largest member of the coalition, with the [=1st=] Armoured Division Naval Units and units drawn from most squadrons of the RAF -- the British naval ship HMS ''Gloucester'' scored the [[ImprobableAimingSkills first ever missile-on-missile kill]], destroying an Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at the USS ''Missouri'' with a Sea Dart.

* UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships: They were present - the British naval ship ''Gloucester'' scored the [[ImprobableAimingSkills first ever missile-on-missile kill]], destroying an Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at the USS ''Missouri'' with a Sea Dart.