ABSTRACT
Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait at 4.00 a.m. on 2 August 1990. Within twenty-four hours Kuwaiti military resistance had effectively ceased, the Kuwaiti government had fled to Saudi Arabia and Iraqi troops amassed on the Kuwait-Saudi border. With a rapid and effective military operation Saddam Hussein had presented the world with a fait accompli and the Iraqi military occupation of Kuwait lasted 210 days. It effectively ended with the cessation of military operations by the UN Coalition forces on 27 February 1991. That six-month period saw a most remarkable constellation of events-some of the most remarkable since 1945.
