Middle East – Great History

The Gulf War

Due to some territorial disputes, Iraq was thrust into war with Iran, a country that had recently undergone a fundamentalist Islamic revolution. During the fighting, Saddam Hussein deployed chemical weapons on his own people in the Kurdish areas, where Iran’s forces were advancing. At the time, the US, an ally of Iraq, turned a blind eye to these war crimes. However, the war eventually came to an end with no real winner on either side. However, because of the effort it took, Iraq had a lot of countries donate money, weapons and resources. One such country was Kuwait.

Kuwait was an incredibly rich country due to its plentiful oil fields however was currently undergoing a financial recession due to a stock market crash. Kuwait was in desperate need of money so they began asking Saddam Hussein for the money back. However, Iraq was in no position itself to give the money back. Iraq, as well as many other countries in OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) were also frustrated that Kuwait was producing too much oil and overfilling their quotas. Once Kuwait announced it would limit oil production, Hussein found another bone to pick with Kuwait, claiming that they were tapping Iraqi oil fields for their own production.

It is also possible that Hussein had an ulterior motive. Iraq and Kuwait were both formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire until its collapse after World War 1 and Hussein believed that Kuwait was rightful Iraqi territory.

Iraq demanded that Kuwait pay $10 billion to them. In exchange, Kuwait offered only a fraction of that, at $500 million. Outraged by this, Hussein ordered troops to begin invading Kuwait on August 2nd, 1990, around a year and a half before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kuwait, due to its dire lack of military … anything, put up practically no fight. A puppet government was established before Hussein declared that Kuwait was now simply a province of Iraq.

The UN Security Council immediately denounced the invasion unanimously, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. This council included the United States, who believed that Hussein was threatening US oil interests in the region. George H. W. Bush, the then president and former VP to Ronald Reagan and director of the CIA, feared that Hussein may invade Saudi Arabia next, a strong ally of the United States.

Bush managed to bring many other NATO countries on board for an attack if needed, including the United Kingdom, France, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with many others providing support. However, the US would still lead the majority of the effort. Due to Gorbachev’s policies, the US had now become the lone superpower. However, Gorbachev and Bush both agreed that the Iraqi aggression had to be crushed.

[Gorbachev and I] are united in the belief that Iraq’s aggression must not be tolerated. No peaceful international order is possible if larger states can devour their smaller neighbors. [I]f old adversaries like the Soviet Union and the United States can work in common cause, then surely we who are so fortunate to be in this great Chamber—Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives—can come together to fulfill our responsibilities here.
George H. W. Bush, Joint Congress Session, 1990

A trade embargo was then established on August 6th. However, despite all this, Hussein refused to back down, as many Kuwaiti protests occurred, which were often violently crushed. Eventually, an ultimatum was issued to Iraq, for troops to leave Kuwait by January of 1991 or the United Nations (and when I say the UN here, I mean the US but that’s not technically official but we move) would “use all necessary means” to force him out. Hussein, obviously, ignored this ultimatum and, on January 16th, Operation Desert Storm began.

Bombing raids were conducted from the air whilst marines began moving into the Persian Gulf. In an attempt to bring other Muslim majority countries into the war, Hussein attacked Israel with missiles, hoping they would counter attack. Israel did not and Iraq stood alone against the coalition. Soon, ground forces began moving through Kuwait and overwhelmed the Iraqi soldiers. Their vastly inferior technology and weaponry stood no chance against the United States. Iraqi troops began burning oil fields, causing massive air pollution and costing Kuwait $1.5 billion. Instead of choosing to fully invade Iraq, Bush chose to withhold coalition forces, stating that:

“To occupy Iraq would shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us, and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero,”
George H. W. Bush, “A World Transformed”, 1998

The embargo was never lifted on Iraq, which led to poverty and starvation skyrocketing to unforeseen levels. Northern Kurds and southern Shiites (a branch of Islam, like Catholicism or Protestantism in Christianity) both rebelled against Saddam in uprisings that were brutally crushed.

Due to the chemical weapons that were used in the Iran-Iraq War, the United States accused Hussein of hiding WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction), which is a wider umbrella term that includes nuclear and biological weapons as well as chemical. After Hussein denied the United Nations to check for such weapons, Bill Clinton, the president after George H. W. Bush, initiated Operation Desert Fox, which involved the dropping of bombs on Iraqi military sites, in an attempt to destroy any possible WMDs that Iraq may have had. George H. W. Bush’s son, also called George Bush, later invaded Iraq in the Iraq War, with troops not leaving until 2011.

The Soviet-Afghan War

In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan overthrew his own first cousin, the King of Afghanistan, establishing an autocratic one party nation. Despite his many economic reforms, similar to those of his cousins, Khan’s foreign policy strained tension with neighbours and factions within his own country. Eventually, Khan was overthrown and killed by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan lead by Hafizullah Amin in 1978, making Afghanistan a Communist nation.

Insurgent cars arriving at the Presidential Palace, 1978

Soon, the new Communist Afghanistan, with new President, Nur Muhammed Taraki, began facing struggles. They tried to reform women’s rights, mainly to education, make the state more secular and enacted some awful land reforms. Anyone who spoke out about these reforms would be arrested. Soon, uprisings from Islamic Rural areas began occurring and Taraki began losing control of his nation. During the violence, Taraki was killed by Amin, allowing Amin to ascend to power

Meanwhile, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and the rest of the Kremlin did not trust Amin and decided that in order to secure their next door neighbour, not wanting yet another fundamentalist Islamic country on their doorstep like Iran before it, Amin had to die. On December 27th, 1979, Soviet forces raided the palace, killing Amin, putting a Soviet puppet in his place, Babrak Karmal. Whilst Soviet forces did manage to capture key military forts in cities and urban areas, they were unable to secure the insurgents in the mountainous countryside, who would use the mountainous terrain to wage brutal guerilla warfare. These insurgents were called the Mujahideen. And this was just the ticket, the US needed.

Outside of the Warsaw Pact, the international community strongly opposed the invasion, with many other Communist nations such as China, Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan and many more opposing the occupation. However, no-one was a stronger opponent than the United States, who imposed a trade embargo on Soviet products, boycotted the Olympic Games, which were being held in Moscow that year, and, most importantly funded the Mujahideen.

It was the height of the Cold War, and, after the Iran Hostage Crisis, Jimmy Carter had not won a second term. The new “tough on Communism” Ronald Reagan wanted to limit Soviet expansion as much as possible, whilst also wanting to give the Soviets their own Vietnam.

2/2/1983 President Reagan meeting with Afghan Freedom Fighters in the Oval Office to discuss Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan

We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.
Reagan in his 1985 State of the Union address.

Over six years, in Operation Cyclone, the CIA would funnel $3.2 billion worth of weapons, economic help and military training towards the Mujahideen. Pakistan was also a large supporter of the Mujahideen’s efforts against the Soviets, serving as an operational base for the Mujahideen. The British were also a key supplier of finances and weapons, with MI6 assisting from their base in Islamabad.

During the war, atrocities were committed by both sides, with the Soviet Forces engaging in chemical warfare and airstrikes on civilian targets, whilst the Mujahideen brutally tortured captives. These acts forced 4 million citizens to seek asylum and did nothing to help either side.

Soon, the USSR, under the new leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, realised that there was no winning this conflict. It began to slowly withdraw whilst stabilising a Communist government under their new puppet, Mohammad Najibullah, who, despite his decent reforms, did not help the trust in the communist government. They also restricted direct involvement, only training and funding a new Communist Afghan Army, which ultimately resulted in failure.

The Soviet-Afghan War was an absolute catastrophe for the Soviets. It showed the weakness in the Belly of the Bear, and proved that, with time, the Soviet Union could be defeated. Many historians cite the war as laying the groundwork for the collapse of the Soviet Union, only 2 years after the end of the war. The Communist regime eventually collapsed, thrusting Afghanistan into civil war, with one of the factions of the Mujahideen, the Taliban, taking control of the country in 1996 and were not deposed until 2001 during the War in Afghanistan, starting a terrorist insurgency that would last 2 decades, eventually returning to power in 2021 after the American withdrawal from the country. By many scholars, the Taliban and the rule they imposed over Afghanistan, as well as their insurgency, is currently considered to be one of the greatest enemies to the United States and the world at large

A modern day photo of Taliban Insurgents in Afghanistan

The United States respects the people of Afghanistan […] but we condemn the Taliban regime. […] It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder.
George W. Bush addressing Congress

The Iranian Revolution

In 1952, Mohammed Mosaddegh was elected to the office of Prime Minister of Iran by the Iranian People. An openly socialist leader, he increased social security, mandated higher taxes and enacted mass land reforms. The most famous of his policies was to nationalise Iranian Oil. These oil fields were initially owned by the British in Persian land, through the private Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This meant that the fields were now under state ownership, posing a problem to British and American oil interests in the region. On August 19th, 1953, the MI6 and CIA backed a coup in Iran, overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddegh and centralising power under the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been the Shah of Iran in a constitutional standing since the end of the Second World War.

The kings had been absolute rulers of Iran for millennia before a parliament was introduced in 1906. The rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the father of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was widespread with oppression and suppression of minority groups. He was forced to abdicate in 1941 and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took power. After the Second World War, Britain began to allow democracy to have more power in Iran. Once oil was nationalised under Mosaddegh, who was backed by an Iranian Communist party, the coup was orchestrated and democracy died.

Between 1963 and 1975, the Shah was considered to be quite a decent ruler. He reorganised the oil industry, which went from producing $555 million in 1964 to $20 billion by 1976. Much of this money was re-invested into infrastructure and education. The population grew, infant mortality fell and a professional middle class was beginning to develop. However, the problem was these reforms were coming fast and hard. Many universities pumped out graduates quicker than jobs could be made, especially prevalent in the capital city of Tehran, where this effect was most dire. After 1975, the Shah ruled with absolute autocratic power. Many political prisoners were tortured and arrested by a brutal secret police known as the SAVAK. He abolished all political parties, replacing them with the pro-Monarchy, Conservative Liberal Resurgence party.

Many of the positive reforms, however, were largely opposed by Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia Cleric from Qom. He mainly complained that the reforms would give women too many rights, including the right to vote, as well as saying that the government neglected the poor and was strongly opposed to the sale of Iranian Oil to Israel. Khomeini believed that a king was inherently un-Islamic and that he must be deposed. Due to his opposition, he was exiled to Türkiye in 1964. Iran was a powder keg of economic inequality and vast oppression. All it needed was a match.

On January 7th, 1978, an Iranian Newspaper published an article that was highly critical of Khomeini. Small demonstrations began to break out across the country. However, these grew once the army began to fire on protestors. Once more protestors arrived, the army would once again crack down and the cycle would continue. Many had also grown discontent with the West’s influence in Iranian life and society.

American lifestyles had come to be imposed as an ideal, the ultimate goal. Americanism was the model. American popular culture – books, magazines, film – had swept over our country like a flood…We found ourselves wondering ‘Is there any room for our own culture?
A woman interviewed by Michael Axworthy

A confused Shah had no idea why the people were protesting him, suspecting them to either be Communists or controlled by the British. Despite his attempts to appease the people, he was forced to flee to the United States on January 16th, leading to a break down of diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States from then on. Many say that these initial protests were not about fundamental Islam, however, but with a discontent with a decreased standard of living. In the second phase of the revolution, Khomeini moved to establish an Islamic Republic, which involved extreme anti-American fever and the taking of hostages inside the US Embassy in Iran.

Since the revolution, Iran has become a fundamentalist Islamist dictatorship, with the people’s vote in parliament and President ultimately being worthless, when all parliamentary legislation can be superseded by God, embodied by the Supreme Ruler, who, from 1979 until his death, was Khomeini. To ensure the support of an Islamic Republic in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary guards and Hezbollah were created in order to ensure there would be no counter coup. Sharia law was strictly enforced, with those who disobeyed receiving harsh punishments. By at least October of 1979, several hundred people had already been executed. Everything was owned by the state, including the media, who always bowed down to the Supreme Leader. Repression is still rife in Iran, perhaps even more than it was under the Shah, especially in relation to women’s rights, which have been highly supressed.

The Truman Doctrine

In the aftermath of World War 2, many of the war torn countries, such as France and Poland, began to turn to Communism in order to rebuild. Wanting to expand their influence, the Communist USSR, lead by Joseph Stalin, wanted to expand Communism all across Europe. Meanwhile, the United States opposed this, wanting more countries to embrace free market economies, capitalism and democracy. This lead to tensions rising between the two factions who were once allies against the Nazis. This divide between Western Capitalism and Eastern Communism was no clearer than in Greece.

From 1946-1949, Greece was in a civil war, between the Nationalists, backed by the United States, and the Communists. Whilst Harry Truman, President of the United States, feared that the Soviets may back the Greek Communists, Stalin’s focus was more on Turkey, and seeing if they would become a Communist nation, due to their oil production in Iran needing to pass through Turkish waters, requesting a military base in the country and transit rights through the Dardanelles Strait and the Sea of Marmara. Due to the economic impacts of having the water being Soviet Occupied, the United States sought a democracy in Turkey.

Many people feared that the Soviet Union would have a monopoly over the Mediterranean if Greece and Turkey fell to Communism. Truman chose to take action and addressed Congress with his plan on March 12th, 1947

One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.

The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
An excerpt from Truman’s speech to Congress

Truman was very careful to not explicitly name Communism or the USSR, but everyone knew what he was talking about. In order to truly combat communism, Truman, with the advise from Senator Arthur Vandenburg, over exaggerated the crisis, to such a degree where it would scare the American people and get them to side against Communism. Many modern historians cite the Truman Doctrine as the declaration of the Cold War.

The Gallipoli Campaign

As the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, the war against Russia in the Caucuses had reached a stalemate. One thing Russia desperately needed was supplies. First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, believed that they needed to secure the land around the Dardanelles Strait, which would then lead into the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea beyond, allowing a secure supply line to Russia. It could also possibly help the Western Front, by opening up a new front to divert the German forces onto 3 fronts.

The first attempt at securing the strait was on March 18th, 1915 via a naval attack through the straight in an attempt to take out the Ottoman artillery guns. However, Ottoman sea mines had been placed in the strait and that, combined with the Ottoman gun fire, sank 3 battleships and the ships eventually had to retreat. On the 25th of April, 75,000 troops, comprising of French, British, Australian and Kiwi troops, commanded by General Ian Hamilton landed on the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Despite not having proper landing craft, instead having to row over, a decent beach head was formed.

The Anzac forces had landed North of their intended target and were now inside a cove. Due to their valiant efforts, the cove was named Anzac Cove.

British Officers in a trench at Gallipoli

However, once the beach head was formed, trench warfare soon began to set in. What made the trench warfare here worse was the glaring sun and the dysentery epidemic. Hamilton ordered another 60,000 men to attack Suvla Bay from the water. However, due to hesitation from Allied high command, the Ottoman’s had managed to dig defences and the bay was eventually recaptured by Mustafa Kemal Pasha on August 10th. The attempt to break the stalemate was a disastrous failure.

As allied and Ottoman casualties began to increase, the stalemate was no closer to breaking. Eventually, on December 7th, an evacuation was ordered, with the last troops leaving Gallipoli on January 6th of the next year.

Despite its significance in Australian, Kiwi and Turkish history, the Gallipoli campaign is still considered to be one of the greatest catastrophe for the allies during the war. One of the main problems with the campaign was that, despite the Allied advantage, no orders were issued and due to the lack of coordination the allies could not advance. They were instead ordered to dig in, which was considered to be highly counterproductive. The campaign ultimately failed to take the pressure off Russia, which many attribute as the reason of the Russian Revolutions of February and October of 1917.

Casualties

Allies – 220,000
Ottoman – 250,000

The Initial Eastern Offensive

The Russian Army had now fully mobilised, a lot earlier than Germany had expected. Now half their army was trapped in trenches in France whilst the other half dealt with the Russians. The Russian troops made an advance into Prussia but were swiftly crushed at Tannenberg, where 90,000 Russian troops were taken prisoner and an entire army was wiped out. Another victory at Masurian Lakes forces the Russians out of the region.

Further south, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was going bad for Austria-Hungary due to a humiliating loss at the Battle of Cer. An offensive against Russia also fails and the Austro-Hungarians are pushed back, with a siege on Przemysl beginning not long after. The Germans, in an effort to distract the Russian forces, engaged in a series of battles at Lodz in modern day Poland.

Eventually, the Ottoman Empire, a large Middle Eastern Empire spanning Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and parts of Saudi Arabia, join the fighting on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, by sending some ships into the Black Sea, launching naval bombardments on the naval bases of Odessa and Sevastopol, while engaging with ground units on the Georgian border. Due to the vast length and low density of the line, trench warfare never set in like it did on the western front.

Napoleon’s Expedition to Egypt

Napoleon returned to Paris from his campaign in Italy and was lauded as a hero. His campaign was so successful that the French Government believed that Napoleon was capable of an invasion of mainland Britain. However, as the War of the Second Coalition broke out, Napoleon soon realised that the French Navy was nowhere near powerful enough to take on the powerful Royal Navy. Instead, he decided to take out Britain’s supply line to India by taking control of Ottoman Controlled Egypt, whilst also securing the Sultan of the Indian Mysore Kingdom as a potential ally.

By 1798, Napoleon was elected to the French Academy of Sciences, after which he went to Egypt with 40,000 soldiers, and a collection of 167 scientists, mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and geodesists. However, on the way there, he managed to capture Malta, then under the control of The Order of St John of Jerusalem. They put up little fight and Napoleon only lost 3 men. On July 1st of 1798, Napoleon’s forces landed in Alexandria. They combatted the Ottomans on multiple occasions, most notably at the Battle of the Pyramids, which was located approximately 24km (15 miles) from the Great Pyramids of Giza. In the battle, there was less than 30 French casualties compared to the nearly 2,000 they inflicted.

A painting of the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21st, 1798)

Despite this increase to French morale, disaster struck when Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed or captured all but 2 out of 17 French Ships in the Battle of the Nile. After this decisive loss in the Mediterranean Campaign, Napoleon travelled north to Damascus with 13,000 men, capturing the port towns of Gaza, Arish, Haifa and Jaffa. Most notably, Napoleon noticed that, when he attacked Jaffa, the defenders were largely made of Albanian prisoners of war on parole. As a result, when he conquered the town, he ordered the garrison to be executed by bayonet and drowning. Then, all the men, women and children were pillaged, murdered or raped for 2 days and nights.

Napoleon’s army eventually reached the city of Acre. Believing it to be an easy victory, Napoleon decided to only use infantry to attack the city, believing that they would capitulate easily. He believed it would only take two weeks to capture the city before he would then march on Jerusalem. However, after one and a half months, the city stood firm. Many believe this was in part due to the large Albanian population of the city, fearing that they may share the same fate as Jaffa if they fell. Not only that but the British came in to assist, supplying the city’s defences with fresh sailors and marines, and sunk multiple French siege artillery ships. Once the French forces had finally managed to make a break through the wall of the city they discovered that the defenders had built a much deeper wall within. A cold, hungry and plague ridden French Army eventually retreated on May 21st, 1799, after a two month long siege.

A painting of the Siege of Acre (March 20th – May 21st 1799)

Napoleon returned to Egypt, having lost over 5,000 men in the siege, 2,000 of whom had succumbed to the bubonic plague. After this humiliating defeat, Napoleon decided to return to France without his army, fearing that the French Republic may soon collapse. Or was it perhaps him taking advantage of an opportunity?

The Battle of Thermopylae

By 480BC, the Persian Empire was the largest on Earth. Persia, modern day Iran, was a shockingly progressive society for the time. Instead of being great conquerors, they were often seen as great liberators. The founder of the empire, Cyrus, famously freed the Jews from the city of Babylon, a city in modern day Iraq. There were no slaves and all labourers were paid a fair wage given their skill and contribution to a structure.

19 years earlier, pro-democracy uprisings in Ionia were backed by Athens, another democratic state. In response, King Darius invaded Greece but was shockingly defeated at the famous Battle of Marathon by the much smaller Athenian Army.

Swearing revenge, the task of invading Greece was passed down from Darius to his son Xerxes, who soon began marching on Greece, with the largest army at the time of over 360,000 men

Leading the Greek defence was King Leonidas of the Greek City State of Sparta. Sparta is one of the most extreme societies in human history, being a eugenics based warrior state. When children were born, elders would inspect if the child was fit to fight. If not they were thrown off a mountain to die. Boys went off to school to be drilled into becoming soldiers. Men always became soldiers and lived in barracks 24/7; academics often lived in Athens rather than Sparta and all manual labour was done by the slaves called Helots. However, despite their brutal upbringing Sparta had one of if not the greatest infantry armies in the ancient world. Athenian leaders decided to stage a battle at Thermopylae to fend off the Persian Army whilst they prevented naval landings. 7,000 men opposed Xerxes massive army, lead by the famous 300 Spartans.

A map of the area

When the two sides met at the narrow strip of land, one side being a cliff and the other half being an ocean, the Persians immediately fired their arrows, making zero progress against the advanced armour of the Greeks. Eventually, Xerxes ordered his men to melee attack. Due to the hot weather, they were only able to fight in minute long bursts before tiring out. The weak Persian shields stood no chance against the longer Spartan Spears and the type of combat the Persians were used to in their conquest of the vast and open Middle East could not be applied in the narrow passage of Thermopylae.

However, their weak number soon dawned on the Greeks who turned and began to flee. Believing a victory, the Persians charged at the Spartans, breaking formation, before the Greeks turned around massacring the unorganised Persians. Some of Persia’s finest lie dead in the passage. However, a whisper came to Xerxes of another way to attack the Greeks.

An unorganised group of soldiers watched a narrow passage in the mountain. Without a Spartan officer, they had broken ranks after 2 days of nothing. Eventually, they are attacked by the elite Persian Royal Guard and run to the rest of the men. The Greeks are now trapped, the ocean to the north, the cliff face to the south, the large Persian Infantry to the West and the Persian Royal Guard to the East. Leonidas makes a very brave decision. He decides to let the rest of his men leave before the Eastern Guard can form up, whilst keeping behind the 300 Spartans to fend off the Persians, allowing them to escape.

In a last stand of gallantry, the 300 Spartans charge head on at the Persians. They fought until their spears broke and they fought with swords until they were blunt, fighting with bear hands and teeth. However, all of them were eventually wiped out including Leonidas, and Xerxes marched on. This last stand allowed the Athenians to deliver a strong naval victory and, fearing that the crossing into Greece may soon be attacked by Athenian Naval Forces, Xerxes returned home, whereupon his forces were defeated at Plataea by the Spartans.

Herodotus wrote about the battle as well as the rest of the war, in one of the first true history books that was not simply the art of myth making but actual fact. His rousing story birthed the Greek identity, portraying the Greeks as a civilised people and the Persians as evil enslaving monsters. The impact of Thermopylae impacted many wars and civilisation for centuries afterwards.