The Iran–Iraq War
A Military and Strategic History

A comprehensive account of the Iran-Iraq War through the lens of the Iraqi regime and its senior military commanders.

Williamson Murray (Author), Kevin M. Woods (Author)

9781107062290, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 September 2014

412 pages, 11 maps 2 tables
22.9 x 15 x 2.8 cm, 0.7 kg

'Williamson Murray and Kevin M. Woods have produced an exceptionally detailed and valuable book on the military dimensions of the Iran-Iraq War. This work has many positive aspects, but its most unique feature is the extensive use of previously unavailable captured Iraq documents … In sum, this book emerges as the definitive work on the Iraqi perspective of the Iran-Iraq war, and is probably the best study on military aspects of the conflict as a whole.' W. Andrew Terrill, Middle East Journal

The Iran-Iraq War is one of the largest, yet least documented conflicts in the history of the Middle East. Drawing from an extensive cache of captured Iraqi government records, this book is the first comprehensive military and strategic account of the war through the lens of the Iraqi regime and its senior military commanders. It explores the rationale and decision-making processes that drove the Iraqis as they grappled with challenges that, at times, threatened their existence. Beginning with the bizarre lack of planning by the Iraqis in their invasion of Iran, the authors reveal Saddam's desperate attempts to improve the competence of an officer corps that he had purged to safeguard its loyalty to his tyranny, and then to weather the storm of suicidal attacks by Iranian religious revolutionaries. This is a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the history of war and the contemporary Middle East.

1. Introduction
2. A context of 'bitterness and anger'
3. The opponents
4. 1980: the Iraqi invasion begins
5. 1981–2: stalemate
6. Defeat and recovery
7. 1983–4: a war of attrition
8. 1985–6: dog days of a long war
9. 1987–8: an end in sight?
10. Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], History of other lands [HBJQ], History [HB]