The Gulf War: 30 Years On
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2021
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
On this day thirty years ago a ceasefire was declared bringing ground operations in the first Gulf War to an end. An overwhelmingly powerful coalition force had stormed across the desert driving Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait and concluding the ground campaign after only 100 hours of fighting. To commemorate this anniversary I am joined on the podcast by General Sir Rupert Smith who commanded the UK 1st Armoured Division during the conflict. We talk about his role during the war, the challenges of command and what we should understand about the changing nature of combat in the modern world.
General Sir Rupert Smith joined the army in the 1960s and served on deployments across the world including Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean, Europe, Malaysia and Northern Ireland where he was decorated for gallantry. In October 1990 he was promoted to Major-General and assumed commanded of the 1st Armoured Division as it was being deployed to the Gulf in anticipation of the war. This was the largest British armoured force deployed in action since the Second World War. After the Gulf War Sir Rupert went on to serve with distinction in Bosnia and wrote a book called The Utility of Force which remains essential reading in military circles.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. This podcast is first broadcast on the |
| 0:04.4 | 28th of February 2021, which means it's 30 years on. From the day President George Bush |
| 0:11.3 | Sr declared a ceasefire, halted ground operations in what's become known as the first Gulf War |
| 0:19.2 | in 1990 after only 100 hours of the ground campaign. Over the previous few days, 30 years |
| 0:27.4 | ago an overwhelmingly powerful US-led coalition force, including Britain and other allies, |
| 0:34.5 | stormed across the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait, driving Saddam Hussein's troops back, leading |
| 0:41.2 | much quicker than everybody expected to the liberation of Kuwait. I'm very glad on this |
| 0:47.4 | podcast to talk to one of the senior British officers who was in command at that time. General |
| 0:55.7 | Siroupert Smith. General Siroupert Smith joined the army in the early 1960s. He served in |
| 1:04.3 | First Place in Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean, Northern Ireland, Europe and Malaysia. He was |
| 1:10.4 | decorated for gallantry in Northern Ireland and then in October 1990 he was promoted to Major |
| 1:15.8 | General, he assumed command of the first armoured division which at that time was in the process |
| 1:20.8 | of being moved to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Gulf War. Rupert, therefore, found himself |
| 1:28.9 | in charge of the largest British armoured force deployed in action since the Second World War. |
| 1:34.8 | He's the perfect guy for me to talk to on this hugely important anniversary, particularly because |
| 1:40.3 | his career didn't stop there. He served with distinction in Bosnia and wrote a book called |
| 1:45.1 | the Utility of Force that remains essential reading in military circles about how war is changing. |
| 1:52.0 | So huge, I want to talk to Rupert Smith on this anniversary. If you want to go and watch |
| 1:55.6 | documentaries about history as well as listen to podcasts about history, please go and check out |
| 1:59.1 | our new history channel, historyhit.tv. It's a subscriber channel with some of the world's best |
| 2:04.8 | documentaries on their new material being added all the time. He was head over to historyhit.tv |
| 2:10.6 | and subscribe. Don't forget, we've got a live tour starting in the autumn, historyhit.com, |
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