The Gulf War lasted for about seven months. It started August 2nd 1990 – 28 February 1991. It was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized Coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi army claims that Kuwait was slant drilling for oil in there land but they only wanted Kuwait's resources. The Iraqi army that was lead by Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait. The coalition forces were multi-nations who were led by the U.S. to liberate Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory. The initial attack to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a decisive victory for the Coalition forces.The Coalition ceased their advance, and declared a cease-fire 100 hours after the ground campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, and areas on Saudi Arabia's border. Iraq launched Scud missiles against Coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The war did not come at a cheap price. Many lives were lost and the cost was unimaginable The war costed the Coalition forces more than $60 billion US. The Coalition forces lost 482 soldiers and 776 were wounded. The Iraqi army lost 35,000 soldiers and 20,000 were wounded. 3664 Iraqi civilians and over 1000 Kuwaiti civilians lost their lives because of this war. The main reason everyone was involved was because of the large sums of oil. The UN would not of bothered helping if there was no oil. Almost two-thirds of the world's known reserves of oil are in the Gulf region, under the control of a handful of countries.