The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.

On 2 August 1990, Iraq, governed by President Saddam Hussein, invaded neighboring Kuwait and fully occupied the country within two days. The invasion was primarily over disputes regarding Kuwait's alleged slant drilling in Iraq's Rumaila oil field, as well as to cancel Iraq's large debt to Kuwait from the recently ended Iran-Iraq War. After briefly occupying a rump puppet government, known as the "Republic of Kuwait", Kuwait's sovereign territory was split into the "Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District" in the north, which was absorbed into Iraq's existing Basra Governorate, and the "Kuwait Governorate" in the south, which became Iraq's 19th governorate. The invasion of Kuwait was immediately met with international condemnation, including UN Security Council Resolution 660, which demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait, and the imposition of comprehensive international sanctions against Iraq with the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 661. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and American president George H. W. Bush deployed troops and equipment into Saudi Arabia and urged other countries to send their own forces. An array of countries joined the American-led coalition, forming the largest military alliance since World War II. The bulk of the coalition's military power was from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt as the largest lead-up contributors, in that order. Additionally, Saudi Arabia and the Kuwaiti government-in-exile paid out around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost to mobilize the coalition against Iraq.