ABSTRACT
In September 1980 Iraq staged a full-scale invasion of Iran, hoping for a quick and decisive victory. But Iran managed to withstand the Iraqi offensive, and in the ensuing war of attrition between two fully mobilised nation states, the loss of life on both sides reached truly horrific dimenisons and turned the Iran-Iraq war into the first 'Great War' of the Middle East (1980-88). The following chapter will portray certain aspects of the events leading up to the decision of going to war and the war itself, focussing on the dynamics of state-society relations in Iraq, namely the regime’s handling of domestic Shi‘ite and Kurdish dissent, its economic policies under war conditions and the combined effects of these policies on its position within Iraqi society and on the political options at its disposal.
