On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait and quickly took control. Hussein then declared Kuwait an annexation of Iraq, which would help Iraq's falling economy by giving them easy access to ports in the Persian Gulf. But the United Nations (UN) refused to recognize Kuwait as a part of Iraq.

Within days, the United States, along with the United Nations, demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal. The US and other nations that were members of the UN sent troops to Saudi Arabia within days. In November 1990, the UN approved the use of force to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait if they did not withdraw by January 15, 1991. By January 1991, over 500,000 allied troops were in Saudi Arabia and through the Gulf region's countries.

Hussein still refused to withdraw his troops, and a team force led by the United States military attacked industrial targets in Iraq and Kuwait on January 16, 1991, January 17 in Iraq.

On February 23 (February 24 in the war zone), allied forces launched a ground attack in Kuwait, quickly defeating Iraqi troops. Two days later, Iraqi forces began withdrawing from Kuwait.

On February 26, US and Allied Arab forces, along with the Kuwaiti Resistance, took control of Kuwait City and air forces slaughtered the retreating Iraqi army. In southern Iraq, Allied forces waited at the Euphrates River near Basra. Internal problems broke out inside Iraq itself about Saddam Hussein's army. On February 27, President Bush ordered a cease-fire and the remaining Iraqi troops were allowed to go back to Iraq. On March 3, 1991, Iraq accepted the cease-fire and the fighting ended. The fighting may have ended, but the war and the consequences of it would continue on.