The Iran–Iraq War: A Military and Strategic History

How did Saddam lose to the US twice in the span of a month even though he had "modern weapons"Why hasn't Iran under the Clerics overran any of it's neighbors?This book reveals just how much of a laughing stock Iran and Iraq were at the time. Mostly through captured Iraqi documents.It weighs out how these two nations were run by some of the biggest fools in the world.Highlights of both sides. Saddam's Generals didn't train their military divisions for years , and let most of their fighter pilots buy their way into their jobs after failing to qualify to fly.The Iranian Clerics purged most of their high command and Officer corp, they really believed that instead of using Modern Tactics, human wave attacks with untrained conscripts and prayer was their path to victory.This book will take you almost a day by day, month by month as you will witness one of the worst managed and unnecessary wars in Human History. This book is amazing for nerds who like to get into Military History.

The book is about Saddam Hussein's politics not a blow by blow. It shows you a much different view of Iraq's capabilities then what the US Army had you believe. I recommend this book be read in conjunction with a good blow by blow analysis. Highly recommended.

Clear, concise and well written. I think Cyrus in his review sums things up nicely and I'd only disagree with him on the quality of the maps that cover too large an area whereas key conflicts were centered in limited geographical areas that don't show up well on the maps; however, this conflict wasn't like WWII, a war of movement, so my gripe about the maps is rather inconsequential. A lot of research went into this book and it is assembled in a most readable fashion. As I recollect, during the eight years this war ran there was virtually no US coverage of the conflict so this book fills a large void for those interested in events in the Middle East. Verbatim transcripts of Saddam's war councils with his military leaders provides a unique insight into how he viewed himself as a leader - a most grandiose vision - and how he "justified" his various barbaric acts that included lavish use of chemical weapons. As the book covers, one of the key reasons Iraq prevailed was it had continuing access to weapons from the outside world, Iran had virtually none, and the Gulf States, mainly Kuwait, lent Iraq around a billion dollars a month to continue the conflict. At war's end Iraq was bankrupt and owed tens of billions to its backers. One theory (not propounded in the book) explaining Saddam's subsequent invasion of Kuwait was his believe there was a vast treasure trove of gold in the Kuwait central bank; allegedly the first in during the invasion were helicopter-borne troops who landed on the roof of the central bank to seize the goodies, only to find out most of the country's reserves were held in foreign banks.

As the authors mention, there's a lack of in-depth studies on the topic of Iran-Iraq war. This book is mainly based on the documents obtained from Iraqi sources after 2003 US invasion. Therefore, most of the story is being told from Iraq's point of view but wherever possible, information about the Iranian side is also provided. Political background of the conflict is illustrated fair enough to draw an outline for the audience with no or little background. Detailed maps show the operations in different stages of the war in both on the ground and in the Persian Gulf. There are actual conversations between Saddam and his military staff that give better understanding of his somewhat dillusional strategies. It is obvious that the authors have a very strong military insight because of the numerous examples and comparisons with other historical conflicts like World War I & II or Napoleon's wars.I think it would have helped for future studies if more information was added on the Iranian side of the story. For example the Iranian Air Force operation on 23 September 1980 is a famous operation in the history of the war and is called Bow-99, but there's no mention of the name of the operation, only a brief description.Overall, this is a very informative book, one of the best so far, with detailed information on various aspects of the war.

I found the book to be of marginal interest. Nothing new except perhaps an insight into a dictator's mind set. Again plenty other works in the study of a Dictatorship has already revealed the same tendencies. The book also glosses over other very relevant actors.

Still a book

A solid piece of scholarship

Excellent background information- well researched......but a rather ponderous read.

Excellent book and it arrived in days.

It's a great analysis of the war and will be useful in analysing the war both from Iran's and Iraq perspective

I read this book 5 years agoAs a person who was a child in 80s and lived in a city where was the subject of regular Iraqi bombardment, and his whole life was involved with war reading this book was eye openerAbout how war started, how both sides kept its flame burning and how it endedThis book gives a detailed narrative about how Iranian strategy was in war: WWI no mans land war strategyAnd how Iraqis foughtBut it is good to know that the author seems to be prone not to reflect wester countries aids to Iraq during the war.Sadam Hossein couldn’t resist Iran without having access to west’s unlimited supportThe author mentions sources of Iran’s military aids but when it comes to Iraq he doesn’t tell us how and where Iraq got his tanks and Mirage fighters.He mentions USSR as a source of Sadam’a missiles but rarely you come across European countries as the seller is chemical weapons to IraqEven no mention about United nation that didn’t condemn his chemical attack against Kurds and Iranian troops.There are a lot to say about how author became soft about role of west in supporting Sadam HosseinBut I accept this fact that history is written by people who are mostly not impartial

Great book, detailed history, although there is not much said on behalf of Iranian side and is mostly based on Iraqi documents.

Thanks