History isn't always a straight line. Sometimes it’s a mess of unpaid bills, ego, and a very specific slant-drilling conspiracy that set the Middle East on fire in 1990. If you ask most people why did the Gulf War occur, they’ll probably say something about oil. They aren't wrong. But oil is just the surface. Underneath that, you have a bankrupt Iraqi dictator, a tiny neighbor that refused to budge on debt, and a massive miscalculation that changed the world forever.
Saddam Hussein didn't just wake up one morning and decide to occupy Kuwait for the fun of it. He was desperate. Iraq had just finished a brutal eight-year war with Iran. That war left Iraq with the world's fourth-largest army but a bank account that was completely empty. They owed billions. A lot of that money was owed to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. When Saddam asked them to forgive the debt—arguing that Iraq had protected the entire Arab world from the Iranian Revolution—they basically said no.
The Debt, the Oil, and the "Stolen" Treasure
Money makes people do crazy things. By 1990, Iraq was suffocating under $14 billion of debt to Kuwait alone. Saddam was furious. He felt like the "shield of the Arab world" was being treated like a common debtor. He started accusing Kuwait of some pretty wild stuff. One major claim was that Kuwait was using "slant drilling" to steal oil from Iraq’s Rumaila field.
Think of it like putting a straw in your neighbor's milkshake from across the fence.
Kuwait denied it. Most international observers at the time thought Saddam was just looking for an excuse to get aggressive. But the tension wasn't just about theft; it was about the price of the milkshake itself. Kuwait and the UAE were overproducing oil, which drove prices down globally. For a country like Iraq, which relied almost entirely on oil exports to pay its bills, every $1 drop in the price of a barrel was a disaster. It was costing them billions in lost revenue every year.
Saddam needed the price of oil to go up. Kuwait wouldn't lower production.
A Massive Misunderstanding with the U.S.
One of the strangest parts of this whole timeline is a meeting that happened on July 25, 1990. April Glaspie, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, met with Saddam Hussein. Saddam was already massing troops on the border. During their talk, Glaspie famously said that the U.S. had "no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."
💡 You might also like: Passive Resistance Explained: Why It Is Way More Than Just Standing Still
Saddam took that as a green light.
He honestly thought the Americans wouldn't lift a finger if he moved in. You have to remember, the U.S. had actually supported Iraq during the war against Iran. There was a relationship there, even if it was a weird one. Saddam viewed Kuwait as an artificial country anyway—a "19th province" of Iraq that had been carved away by British colonialists. He figured he was just taking back what was ours, and he thought his "friends" in Washington would look the other way.
He was dead wrong.
The Invasion and the World’s Reaction
On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi Republican Guard crossed the border. It wasn't a fair fight. Kuwait’s military was tiny compared to the Iraqi machine. Within hours, the Emir of Kuwait fled to Saudi Arabia, and Saddam declared Kuwait a province of Iraq.
The world went into a total panic.
This wasn't just about a border dispute anymore. If Iraq held Kuwait, Saddam controlled about 20% of the world’s oil reserves. Even worse, he was sitting right on the border of Saudi Arabia. If he kept going and took the Saudi oil fields, he’d control the global economy. George H.W. Bush didn't mince words. He said, "This will not stand."
📖 Related: What Really Happened With the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
The UN Security Council acted faster than usual. They passed a series of resolutions demanding Iraq get out. They slapped on trade sanctions. But Saddam didn't move. He probably thought the "Vietnam Syndrome" would keep America from actually sending ground troops. He didn't realize that the Cold War was ending and the U.S. was looking to prove it could still lead the world.
Operation Desert Shield vs. Desert Storm
First came Desert Shield. This was the defensive phase. The U.S. and a massive coalition of 35 countries—including Arab nations like Egypt and Syria—sent troops to Saudi Arabia to make sure Saddam didn't keep driving south.
Then came the deadline. The UN told Saddam he had until January 15, 1991, to leave.
He stayed.
On January 17, the air war began. This was the first time the world saw "smart bombs" and stealth fighters on live TV via CNN. It was surreal. For weeks, the coalition hammered Iraqi infrastructure, communications, and troop positions. Saddam tried to break the coalition by firing Scud missiles at Israel, hoping the Arab nations would quit if Israel got involved. Israel stayed out of it. The plan failed.
The 100-Hour Ground War
By the time the ground invasion started on February 24, the Iraqi army was already broken. Many soldiers were starving and exhausted from weeks of bombing. When the coalition tanks rolled in, thousands of Iraqis simply surrendered.
👉 See also: How Much Did Trump Add to the National Debt Explained (Simply)
It was a rout.
The "Highway of Death" became the most haunting image of the conflict. Coalition aircraft caught retreating Iraqi forces on the road from Kuwait City back to Basra. It was a turkey shoot. It was so lopsided that President Bush called a ceasefire after just 100 hours of ground combat. Kuwait was liberated. Saddam was still in power, but his military was a shadow of its former self.
So, why did the Gulf War occur? It was a toxic mix of:
- Economic Despair: Iraq was broke and drowning in debt.
- Resource Conflict: The dispute over the Rumaila oil field and OPEC production quotas.
- Historical Grievance: The Iraqi belief that Kuwait was rightfully theirs.
- Diplomatic Failure: The tragic "green light" Saddam thought he saw from the U.S.
The Long-Term Fallout
We are still living with the consequences. The Gulf War led to permanent U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia, which became a major talking point for extremist groups like Al-Qaeda. It led to a decade of sanctions that devastated the Iraqi civilian population. And, of course, it set the stage for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It’s easy to look back and see it as an inevitable clash, but it was really a series of human errors. Saddam’s arrogance met Bush’s line in the sand.
If you're trying to wrap your head around modern Middle Eastern politics, you have to start here. You can't understand the Iraq War of 2003 or even the rise of ISIS without understanding the debt-ridden, oil-soaked chaos of 1990.
Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts
To truly grasp the complexities of why this conflict happened beyond the surface-level history books, consider these steps for deeper research:
- Read the Glaspie Transcript: Look up the leaked State Department cables of the meeting between April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein. It provides a chilling look at how diplomatic ambiguity can lead to catastrophe.
- Analyze the Oil Maps: Study the location of the Rumaila oil field. Understanding how it straddles the border makes the "slant drilling" accusations much clearer, even if they were used as a pretext.
- Study the Coalition Dynamics: Research how the U.S. convinced nations like Syria—a long-time rival—to join the fight against Saddam. The diplomacy involved was some of the most complex of the 20th century.
- Review the UN Resolutions: Read UN Security Council Resolution 660 and 678. They set the legal precedent for modern international intervention and are still cited in geopolitical debates today.
The Gulf War wasn't just a quick desert skirmish. It was the moment the "New World Order" was born, and its echoes are still being felt in every gas station and every diplomatic office across the globe.