1. The First Gulf War

was the war against Iraq by the multinational force in 1991. The first Gulf War accelerated the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar pattern, and objectively favored the trend toward multipolarity. The performance of the USSR in the Gulf crisis and war showed that it had ceased to exist as a pole in the bipolar pattern, and the former superpower could only leave things as they were.

2. The Second Gulf War

Generally refers to the 2003 Iraq War, which is also known as the Second Gulf War because it is a continuation of the Gulf War. It was a military operation launched against Iraq on March 20, 2003 by a joint force dominated by British and American troops, and the United States unilaterally carried out a military strike against Iraq, bypassing the United Nations Security Council on the grounds that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction and secretly supporting terrorists.

3. The Third Gulf War

is a book published by China Friendship Publishing Company in January 2003, written by Ruan Jishan, He Liangliang and Chen Xiaonan. The book contains talks on the issue of the Gulf situation by experts on American issues, senior commentators and anchors of Phoenix Satellite Television.

The main contents include: analyzing the U.S.-Iraq conflict from the basic strategy; burning Baghdad; and explaining Bush's "reversal" process in an all-round way.

The oil-rich, strategically important Gulf region has always been treacherous, and in 1991, the region erupted into the Gulf War, which shook the world. After 12 years, the Iraq War broke out there again. In both wars, the United States and Iraq played a leading role. Iraq was the target both times, and the United States was the dominant player in carrying out the strikes against Iraq both times.

The intrinsic connection between these two wars is that the U.S.-Iraqi conflict has been intensifying instead of dissolving after the Gulf War. However, the two wars differed significantly in many ways. Comparing these differences, people will find that the Iraq war was a war that should not have happened. In terms of war triggers, the immediate cause of the Gulf War was the August 1990 invasion and annexation of Kuwait by Iraq.

Iraq's invasion not only illegally deprived Kuwait of its sovereignty and independence, but also made the countries of the region directly feel their own existential crisis. The United States and other Western countries were y concerned about the threat to their oil supply lifelines. In order to end Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and secure its own interests, the United States led a multinational force to launch the Gulf War.

In comparison, there was no obvious trigger for the U.S. and Britain to start the Iraq war this time. Their main reason was to accuse Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction and secretly supporting terrorism. However, this accusation was not accepted by the international community. In fact, many countries around the globe strongly questioned it, especially the majority of the Security Council members who clearly opposed the use of force and favored the continuation of weapons verification against Iraq and the resolution of the crisis through political means.

From the perspective of the background of the war, at the time of the Gulf crisis, the United States' position as the sole superpower had just taken shape. At that time, it pursued a security strategy of "deterrence" and "containment" of its enemies. Today, the United States' superpower status has been significantly strengthened, and it has demonstrated a clear tendency towards unilateralism in international relations.

Particularly after the "9-11" incident, the U.S. government has adjusted its security strategy, taking the fight against terrorism as one of its top priorities and openly declaring that it will adopt a "pre-emptive" military strategy against some hostile countries. Against this background, the war in Iraq finally broke out on March 20th. In terms of the objectives and authorization of the war, the main purpose of the Gulf War was to drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait, not to overthrow the Saddam regime.

And in the current war in Iraq, the only countries directly involved in the war, besides the United States, are very few countries such as Britain and Australia. NATO countries such as Germany, France and Belgium, on the other hand, are opposed to providing military support to the United States within the NATO framework to use force against Iraq. I am afraid that the high cost of this war can only be borne by a few countries such as the United States and Britain.

The two wars are also different in terms of combat difficulty. In the Gulf War, the military objectives of the multinational force were limited to driving the Iraqi army out of Kuwait and did not touch the survival of the Iraqi government, so the Iraqi army put up some resistance but did not fight to the death. In the Iraq War, on the other hand, the U.S. goal was to overthrow the current Iraqi regime, which pushed the Iraqi leadership into a corner.

Therefore public opinion is that the Iraqi army is likely to fight to the death, and the US and British military attack may be met with fierce resistance. After the outbreak of the Iraqi war, the US and British forces went into a joint ground and air campaign after only one day of air strikes, mainly because the Iraqi army's deployment this time was more decentralized, and it was difficult to eliminate the Iraqi army and carry out an occupation of the country by air strikes alone.

In addition, if the air strikes are carried out in a single-minded manner, resulting in a large number of civilian casualties, this war, which is not authorized by the United Nations, will provoke a greater wave of global anti-war. In many ways, the war in Iraq should never have happened. The reality, however, is that the flames of war are burning on Iraqi soil, causing serious concern around the world.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Gulf War

Baidu Encyclopedia - Second Gulf War

Baidu Encyclopedia - Third Gulf War

Xinhua.com - Gulf War Prompts PLA to Catch Up

People's Daily Online - From the Gulf War to the War with Iraq