Product Description

The Gulf War of 1991 heralded a new type of warfare that was characterised by astonishing speed and high technology with remarkably low numbers of casualties amongst the coalition forces. Just under a million coalition personnel were deployed to the Gulf region to face a variety of threats from extreme temperatures to weapons of mass destruction (biological, chemical and suspected nuclear) and a formidable Iraqi occupation force. This book assesses the defensive Operation Desert Shield (the build up of coalition forces) and the offensive Operation Desert Storm (the liberation of Kuwait) as well as the key personalities on both sides.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #511624 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-20
• Released on: 2003-05-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

From the Publisher
This unique series studies every major war in history looking at all the aspects of war, from how it felt to be a soldier to the lasting impact of the conflict on the world around it.

About the Author
Dr Alastair Finlan teaches in the History Department at the American University in Cairo. Prior to this, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Strategic Studies and International Affairs, Britannia Royal Naval College, of which he is still an Associate Senior Lecturer. He has also lectured at the Universities of Keele and Plymouth.

Customer Reviews

A great place to start
In order to have a good grasp on what's happening in Iraq today, an understanding of the war in 1991 is essential. There's a fair amount of literature on the "first" gulf war, but Finlan's book would be a great place to start if you're not already familiar with the subject.

The Essential Histories series is aimed towards the beginner, with the goal of providing a short and readable account of the main issues surrounding a particular conflict. Finlan's book does a very good job at providing context to the war by covering most of the relevant angles. If the book is to be faulted for anything, it would be that it's heavily skewed towards the military aspect of the war at the expense of the political details. The political background to the war was just as important as the military one and should have been given more attention.

Finlan's treatment of the subject is objective and fair for the most part. While the book is quite short (only 84 pages of text) the purpose of the book is to be introductory, not all inclusive. The only factual innacuracy is that he attributed the 1996 Khobar Towers attack to Saudi dissidents, but it is widely known that Hezbollah, working with Iran, were responsible for the attack.

Anyone desiring a greater understanding of Iraq that doesn't know quite where to start would most likely benefit from this book. For those already familiar with Iraq and its history, this book will not provide anything new.

Mediocre introduction but probably best that can be done in only 96 pages
Most Osprey series booklets are good introductions to the battles/campaigns they cover. However, this one is not. Not that it does not do a good job for its length (96 pages). It is simply that the political history and military campaign (especially the former) are far too complex for 96 pages. It just cannot be done. In addition, but again due to the short length of the book, almost no perspective (political, military or in terms of military personalities [even of Husein]) from the Iraqi side is provided. This is the deepest flaw of book.

Very good summary of the 1991 Gulf War
This book will give you a very good overview of the 1991 conflict in about 90 pages. The events leading to the war, the opposing forces and the description of the operations are clearly exposed. The day-by-day color maps showing the ground war and the progression of the coalition forces are particularly excellent. The chapter on casualties is especially interesting concerning the iraqi combat and civilian losses, considering the discrepancies in numbers previously published (from estimates as low as 750 military deaths to the wild and groundless 200'000 total deaths boasted by some media).