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Iraqi troops invade Kuwait on August 2 1990, taking the emirate in one day. In his report, the BBC's John Simpson explains how the West inadvertently helped bring about the invasion.
Sanctions squeeze
Four days later, the United Nations Security Council demands an "immediate and unconditional" withdrawal of Iraqi troops and orders a trade boycott. And it sets a deadline of January 15 1991 for a voluntary withdrawal from Kuwait.
Air strikes begin
Operation Desert Storm is launched, with air attacks on Iraq and Kuwait. The BBC's John Simpson is in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and witnesses the missile attacks.
Iraqi shelter hit
On February 13, the allies bomb an air raid shelter in a residential area of Baghdad. At least 314 Iraqi civilians are killed. The allies say it was listed as a military installation. Iraqi officials take the BBC's Jeremy Bowen to see the aftermath.
Ten years on-airmen remember
In the opening stages of the war, the lead military role was taken by allied air forces backed up by special forces on the ground. Servicemen talk to the BBC's Paul Welsh about their memories of the first night of attacks a decade ago.
The Iraqi war shrine
The bombed shelter where several hundred civilians perished a decade ago is now a shrine to the dead, whose photographs line the soot-blackened walls. Those who continue to mourn speak to the BBC's Lee-Anne Duncan.
The human cost
The price of the conflict remains high for the people of Iraq, in terms of health scares-due to delpeted uranium weapons- and the economy-due to to sanctions, as the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from Basra in southern Iraq.
Kuwait's missing people
Kuwait has recovered materially, but its people continue to grieve for more than 600 missing and unaccounted for prisoners. Iraq denies that it has any information on their whereabouts, although there have been numerous reported sightings.
Divisions in Kuwait
Since the Gulf War, Kuwait has embraced many of the trappings of the West-but, as the BBC's Frank Gardner reports, there is not the full democracy some had hoped for.
Protests in Iraq
Hundreds of people hold a demonstration in Baghdad on the tenth anniversary of the start of the allied bombing of Iraq, calling for UN sanctions to be lifted. The BBC's Rageh Omaar is in the Iraqi capital.
The tenacious leader
The President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, has been in power since 1979, surviving the war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 as well as the Gulf War. He has stood firm in the face of international sanctions which have devastated the Iraqi economy. Most recently he attempted to quash rumours of ill health by making a televised speech. Reporting from Cairo, the BBC's Frank Gardner reports on reaction to the address.
Click here to watch the speech in full with English translation