ABSTRACT
The Iran-Iraq war has been the longest and one of the most impenetrable inter-state conflicts since the Second World War. While ebullient revolutionary Iran rejected the dictates of prudent statecraft in favour of the propagation of a messianic message, oblivious to the consequences for its neighbours, Iraq, infatuated by its new regional status, decided to seize the military opportunity. The Iraqi leadership’s belief that the incursion into Iran would be a walkover, leading to a speedy victory, stemmed not only from faulty military intelligence, as well as a profound ignorance of history and of the nature of the foe, but also from an inflated sense of Iraq’s capabilities. The conduct of the war militarily, and the demands made on the people and the society in its name, acutely reflect the cohesion and integrity of state and nation.
