14. Hussein Referred To The First Gulf War As "The Mother Of All Wars"... And Claimed Right Until His Death That Iraq Won The Conflict
The First Gulf War - involving both "Operation Desert Shield" and "Operation Desert Storm" - saw a US-led coalition force from 34 nations push Iraq out of Kuwait following Hussein's invasion of his Middle-Eastern neighbour. Lasting between August 1990 and February 1991, the US pushed the Iraqis out of Kuwait and back behind their borders in a humiliating defeat for Hussein. Yet this conflict - that Hussein referred to as "The Mother of All Wars" - was something that the Iraqi claimed until the day he died that his nation had triumphed in. Hussein was unable to accept the Iraqis had lost, and used propaganda to proclaim that they had in fact claimed victory in the war.