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Conventional War and the Development of 'New' Wars, 1976-2000 » The First Gulf War and Nuclear Submarines

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B6, Key topic 4

How the air campaign, stealth aircraft, precision bombs and satellites won the first Gulf War (1991)
Why the ground war lasted only about 100 hours
How nuclear submarines fired cruise missiles at Iraq
How warfare changed, and stayed the same, between 1976 and 2000

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Conventional war still mattered

This lesson is part of the Paper 2 Section B breadth study on the changing nature of warfare, 1919-2011. Remember, conventional warfare means armies, navies and air forces fighting with ordinary, non-nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons were not used after 1945, so big wars were still fought this way. The biggest example of these years was the first Gulf War. On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded its small neighbour Kuwait. A coalition of more than 30 countries, led by the USA, then sent forces to free it.

Key terms:

Coalition: a group of countries fighting together for a shared aim.
Stealth aircraft: an aircraft shaped and coated so that radar finds it very hard to detect. It is not invisible.
Precision-guided bomb: a bomb steered onto its target, for example by following a laser beam.
Satellite: a machine in orbit round the Earth, used for photographs, communications and navigation (GPS).

The air campaign, from 17 January 1991

The war began with about five weeks of air attacks. The aim was to destroy Iraq's air defences, then its command centres, communications and finally its army. The coalition quickly gained control of the air and flew over 100,000 flights.

✈️ Stealth aircraft

The American F-117 Nighthawk attacked Baghdad on the first night, where the air defences were strongest. Radar could barely detect it, and none was shot down.

💣 Precision bombs

Laser-guided bombs hit bridges, bunkers and headquarters with little waste. Pictures from bomb cameras were shown on television. Only a small share of the bombs were guided, but they were used on the most important targets.

Satellites and the short ground war

Satellites photographed Iraqi positions and carried communications. GPS receivers told troops exactly where they were in the empty desert, so they could move at night and in sandstorms.

The ground war began on 24 February 1991. Part of the coalition attacked Kuwait head-on, while the rest swung far to the west through the desert to get behind the Iraqi army. Weeks of bombing had left that army cut off from its commanders and short of supplies. American Abrams and British Challenger tanks with thermal sights could hit Iraqi tanks from long range, even at night. The ceasefire came on 28 February, after about 100 hours, and Kuwait was free. Coalition deaths were in the low hundreds, while Iraqi losses were many times higher.

Nuclear submarines and cruise missiles

A nuclear-powered submarine can stay underwater for months and is very hard to find, as HMS Conqueror showed in the Falklands. In 1991 submarines were used in a new way: to attack the land. American submarines, such as USS Louisville in the Red Sea, fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iraq, along with ships in the Gulf. The missiles flew low for hundreds of miles, and no pilot was put at risk.

Drawing together 1976-2000

Land: Soviet tanks and helicopters could not beat guerrillas in Afghanistan (1979-89), but coalition tanks swept aside the Iraqi army in 1991.
Sea: carriers and nuclear submarines mattered in the Falklands (1982), and by 1991 submarines could strike the land.
Air: the Gulf air campaign showed that control of the air could decide a war.
Weapons: Stinger missiles, Exocets, Tomahawks and precision bombs gave a big advantage to whoever had them.

What changed: technology allowed attacks from far away with great accuracy. What stayed the same: wars were still won by controlling the air and ground, and guerrilla fighters could still defeat a superpower.

Common mistakes

Saying the ground war was long. It took about 100 hours, because the air campaign had already weakened Iraq.
Saying that stealth aircraft are invisible. Radar finds them very hard to detect.
Saying that air power alone freed Kuwait. Ground troops were still needed.
Mixing up the first Gulf War (1991) with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Exam-style question

How far did new technology change the way wars were fought in the years 1979-91?

You may use the following in your answer:

Stinger missiles in Afghanistan
stealth aircraft and precision bombs in the Gulf War

You must also use information of your own. [16 marks]

Remember: the USA supplied Stinger missiles to the mujahideen in 1986, and the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989; on 4 May 1982 an Argentine Exocet missile sank HMS Sheffield.

Model answer

New technology changed warfare a great deal in these years, but it did not decide every war.

In 1991 technology was decisive. On 17 January stealth F-117s attacked Baghdad on the first night of the air campaign and none was shot down. Precision-guided bombs destroyed command centres, and satellites and GPS let coalition tanks cross the desert and swing round the Iraqi army. Nuclear submarines and ships fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraq. Five weeks of bombing left Iraq so weak that the ground war ended in about 100 hours, on 28 February.

Technology also helped weaker forces. The Stinger, supplied to the mujahideen in 1986, shot down Soviet helicopter gunships, which had been the Soviet army's best weapon against guerrillas, and the Soviets withdrew in 1989. In the Falklands in 1982 a cheap Exocet missile sank the modern destroyer HMS Sheffield. Yet technology helped Britain too, as Sea Harriers won control of the air and the nuclear submarine Conqueror sank the General Belgrano on 2 May.

However, much stayed the same. The Soviets had tanks, helicopters and the latest equipment in Afghanistan, but they still lost to guerrillas who knew the mountains and had local support. British troops still had to march across East Falkland and fight for Port Stanley, and in 1991 ground troops were still needed to free Kuwait. Even 'Star Wars', announced in 1983, produced no working defence, and the nuclear arms race was ended by the INF Treaty of 1987, a political agreement rather than a technical one.

Overall, technology changed how wars were fought to a large extent, because it let armies strike accurately from far away. My test is whether it decided the outcome. It did in the Gulf, but in Afghanistan and the Falklands it worked alongside, and sometimes was beaten by, courage, ground forces and local support.

What lifts it to the top level: it covers land, sea and air, uses facts not in the bullets, weighs change against continuity, and reaches a judgement using a stated test.

Exam tip

Name the test for your judgement, such as "did it decide the outcome?", and use it in the conclusion. Include at least one point that is not in the bullets.

Recap

The first Gulf War (1991) began with a five-week air campaign using stealth aircraft, precision bombs and satellites.
The ground war began on 24 February and ended after about 100 hours with Kuwait freed.
Nuclear submarines fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at land targets in Iraq.
From 1976 to 2000 technology allowed accurate attacks from far away, but guerrilla fighters and ground troops still mattered.

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