On January 17th, 1991, Operation Desert Storm begins. As President Bush braces for high casualties, Saddam Hussein desperately seeks a path to survival. In Baghdad, Coalition air forces rain hell on Iraqi soldiers and civilians alike, while American diplomats scramble to defuse a potential crisis in Israel. US infantrymen come face-to-face with the fourth largest army in the world…with surprising results. As oil wells burn and journalists jockey for access, the war reaches a bloody climax at the “Highway of Death”.  SOURCES: Aburish, Said K. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. 2000. Atkinson, Rick. Crusade: The Untold Story of the Gulf War. 1993. Al-Radi, Nuha. Baghdad Diaries. 1998. Baudrillard, Jean. The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. 1991.  Bergen, Peter L. The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. The Gulf War. 2018. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars. 2004. Coll, Steve. Branigin, William. “US scrambled to shape view of ‘Highway of Death’”. 3.11.1991. Corrigan, Jim. Desert Storm Air War. 2017. Coughlin, Con. Saddam: His Rise and Fall. 2005.  DeGhett, Torie Rose. “The War Photo No One Would Publish”. 8.8.2014. Dunnigan, James F. Macedonia, Raymond M. Getting It Right. 1995.  Engel, Jeffrey A. When the World Seemed New.  Finlan, Alastair. The Gulf War 1991. 2003.  Gordon, Michael R. Trainer, Bernard E. The General’s War. 1995.  “The Gulf War” / FRONTLINE. PBS. Jan 9, 1996. Hallion, Richard P. Desert Storm 1991. 2022.  Hiro, Dilip. Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War. 1991.  Hiro, Dilip. Cold War in the Islamic World. 2018. Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. 1989. Karsh, Efraim. Rautsi, Inari. Saddam Hussein. A Political Biography. 1991. Khadduri, Majid. Ghareeb, Edmund. War in the Gulf, 1990-1991. 1999. Jarecke, Kenneth. Cervenka, Exene. Just Another War. 1991.   Lockwood, Stuart. 2015 June 5. “That’s Me In The Picture”. The Guardian. MacArthur, John R. Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the 1991 Gulf War. 1992.  Mufson, Steven. 1990 Aug 6. “Kuwait Assets Form Vast, Frozen Empire”. The Washington Post. Murray, Williamson. Woods, Kevin M. The Iran-Iraq War. 2014. Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power. 2015. Morris, David J. Storm on the Horizon. 2004.  Riedel, Bruce. Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States. 2019. Swofford, Anthony. Jarhead. 2003.  Woodward, Bob. 1991, May 4. “Regal Audience for a Forceful Presence”. The Washington Post Wyndham, Buck. Hogs in the Sand. 2020.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re a fan of Conflicted, we think you’ll enjoy this special featured episode of The French History Podcast. In this episode, host Dr. Gary Girod breaks down what really happened at the Battle of Poitiers, one of the largest battles in early Medieval Western Europe. But was it the cataclysm so many people think it was?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Iraqi army digs into Kuwait, the world considers how to respond to Saddam Hussein’s breach of national sovereignty. President George H.W. Bush vows that the aggression “will not stand” and begins assembling an international coalition to force a withdrawal. Invited into Saudi Arabia, the recently reformed American military prepares for an eventual confrontation with Iraq’s battle-hardened forces. Meanwhile, a hostage crisis unfolds and a domestic debate threatens to fracture Bush’s Coalition.  SOURCES: Aburish, Said K. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. 2000. Atkinson, Rick. Crusade: The Untold Story of the Gulf War. 1993. Al-Radi, Nuha. Baghdad Diaries. 1998. Baudrillard, Jean. The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. 1991.  Bergen, Peter L. The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. The Gulf War. 2018. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars. 2004. Coll, Steve. Branigin, William. “US scrambled to shape view of ‘Highway of Death’”. 3.11.1991. Corrigan, Jim. Desert Storm Air War. 2017. Coughlin, Con. Saddam: His Rise and Fall. 2005.  Dunnigan, James F. Macedonia, Raymond M. Getting It Right. 1995.  Engel, Jeffrey A. When the World Seemed New.  Finlan, Alastair. The Gulf War 1991. 2003.  Gordon, Michael R. Trainer, Bernard E. The General’s War. 1995.  “The Gulf War” / FRONTLINE. PBS. Jan 9, 1996. Hallion, Richard P. Desert Storm 1991. 2022.  Hiro, Dilip. Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War. 1991.  Hiro, Dilip. Cold War in the Islamic World. 2018. Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. 1989. Karsh, Efraim. Rautsi, Inari. Saddam Hussein. A Political Biography. 1991. Khadduri, Majid. Ghareeb, Edmund. War in the Gulf, 1990-1991. 1999.  Lockwood, Stuart. 2015 June 5. “That’s Me In The Picture”. The Guardian. Mufson, Steven. 1990 Aug 6. “Kuwait Assets Form Vast, Frozen Empire”. The Washington Post. Murray, Williamson. Woods, Kevin M. The Iran-Iraq War. 2014. Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power. 2015. Morris, David J. Storm on the Horizon. 2004.  Riedel, Bruce. Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States. 2019. Swofford, Anthony. Jarhead. 2003.  Woodward, Bob. 1991, May 4. “Regal Audience for a Forceful Presence”. The Washington Post Wyndham, Buck. Hogs in the Sand. 2020.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. The resulting conflict triggered a chain reaction that changed the world. In this first installment in a three-part series, we trace the origins of the Kuwait crisis, chronicle Saddam’s rise to power in Iraq, and explore America’s symbiotic relationship with the Persian Gulf.  SOURCES: Aburish, Said K. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. 2000. Atkinson, Rick. Crusade: The Untold Story of the Gulf War. 1993. Al-Radi, Nuha. Baghdad Diaries. 1998. Charles Rivers Editors. The Gulf War. 2018. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars. 2004. Coll, Steve. Branigin, William. “US scrambled to shape view of ‘Highway of Death’”. 3.11.1991. Corrigan, Jim. Desert Storm Air War. 2017. Coughlin, Con. Saddam: His Rise and Fall. 2005.  Dunnigan, James F. Macedonia, Raymond M. Getting It Right. 1995.  Finlan, Alastair. The Gulf War 1991. 2003.  Gordon, Michael R. Trainer, Bernard E. The General’s War. 1995.  Hallion, Richard P. Desert Storm 1991. 2022.  Hiro, Dilip. Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War. 1991.  Hiro, Dilip. Cold War in the Islamic World. 2018. Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. 1989. Karsh, Efraim. Rautsi, Inari. Saddam Hussein. A Political Biography. 1991. Khadduri, Majid. Ghareeb, Edmund. War in the Gulf, 1990-1991. 1999.  Mufson, Steven. 1990 Aug 6. “Kuwait Assets Form Vast, Frozen Empire”. The Washington Post. Murray, Williamson. Woods, Kevin M. The Iran-Iraq War. 2014. Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power. 2015. Morris, David J. Storm on the Horizon. 2004.  Riedel, Bruce. Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States. 2019. Swofford, Anthony. Jarhead. 2003.  Wyndham, Buck. Hogs in the Sand. 2020.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where does the two-day weekend come from? In this standalone episode of Conflicted, we trace the historical trajectory of that oasis of leisure and free time we call “the weekend”.  From its mystical beginnings in the religions of antiquity to its hard-fought development in Gilded Age America, we’ll untangle the surprising origins of everyone’s favorite part of the week.  SOURCES: Hunnicutt, Benjamin. Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream. 2013. Onstad, Katrina. The Weekend Effect. 2017.  Loomis, Erik. A History of America in Ten Strikes. 2018. Murolo, Priscilla. Chitty, A.B. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend. 2001. Green, James. Death in Haymarket. 2006.  Brecher, Jeremy. STRIKE! 1972.  Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. 1980. Thomas, Gordan. Morgan-Witts, Max. The Day the Bubble Burst. 1979. BBC. (2019, September 5). Who invented the weekend? BBC Bitesize. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Presidential Speeches: Downloadable Data.” Accessed Feb 19, 2023. data.millercenter.org  Captivating History. The Industrial Revolution. 2020.  Grossman, Jonathan. “Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage.” Monthly Labor Review 101, no. 6 (1978): 22–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41840777. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices