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The 20th century is replete with long and bloody wars, including, of course, two World Wars. But there was another one, called the longest conventional war of the 20th century, which had killed between 1 and 2 million people and cost an estimated $350 billion in total across its eight-year duration. Despite this, it has largely been overlooked by the public. This episode begins our series on the Iran-Iraq War of 1980 to 1988. And you know what else has been overlooked by the public? The massive amount of content in a certain well known video game. Why
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All that's left is for you to use our link or QR code to get started. BACKGROUND Even before the Islamic revolution, Iran and Iraq had a very tense relationship, competing for regional supremacy in the Middle East and the Gulf area. On top of that, the sides disputed over the Shatt al-Arab waterway and its usage. The Shatt al-Arab is a strategically important waterway and part of the border between Iraq and Iran, and it hosts oil reserves for both countries. Moreover, it was Iraq's only major access point to the sea, which made it vital for oil exports and other trade. Without it,
Iraq was practically landlocked. Although in 1937 Iran agreed to a treaty that gave Iraq ownership of the Shatt al-Arab basin, in 1969 Iran stopped paying tolls for using the Shatt al-Arab, seeking to take advantage of Iraq's weakened state amid a series of coups. In response, Saddam Hussein, now firmly in charge of Iraq, made claims on Khuzestan and far-away islands of Abumusa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Shah retaliated by supporting the Kurdish rebels in Northern Iraq, and in the mid 1970s Iran and
Iraq engaged in bloody battles along the border. In order to stop Iranian support for the Kurds, Saddam made territorial concessions, recognizing the thalweg of the waterway as the border under the 1975 Algiers Agreement. But the Iraqi dictator did not forget this, continuing to hold this grudge and waiting for an opportune moment to turn the situation around. And Saddam felt that the Islamic revolution and the ensuing chaos in Iran were precisely the moment. On top of that, the new Shia cleric regime in Iran was undoubtedly a major threat to the Baath regime in Iraq. The
new ideology in Iran was expansionist, and the clergy leadership, including Ayatollah Khomeini, were openly calling for all Muslims to rise up and topple non-Islamic regimes, including the Baathist regime of Saddam. Remember, Iraq is majority Shia, being ruled by Sunnis at the time, and Saddam feared that the Iraqi Shias may find messages coming from Iran appealing. And this was not just paranoia. In February 1979, Saddam cracked down on demonstrations by Iraqi Shias supported by Iran in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. Iraq also accused
Tehran of supporting the Shia political party al-Dawa. Then, a prominent Iraqi Shia cleric, Ayatollah al-Sadr, was arrested. The further escalation took place when, in April 1980, a Dawa party member attempted to assassinate Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz. Saddam retaliated by ordering the execution of Ayatollah al-Sadr. Minor border clashes occurred. So, by mid-1980, it was clear that the sides were on a collision course. Saddam Hussein believed that this was the moment to take on Iran while the country was still in the midst
of post-revolutionary chaos. Iraq's objectives included capturing the Shatt al-Arab basin, the Arab-populated, oil-rich Khuzestan province, and the aforementioned 3 small islands at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. This would simultaneously expand Iraq's coastline and oil reserves, while depriving Iran of its main source of income in times of trouble. Saddam hoped that once the Iraqi army attacked, the Arab population of Khuzestan would rise up and oust the clerical regime. Dilip Hiro claimed in his book The Longest War that afterwards, the Iraqi-controlled Khuzestan would
be declared a Free Arab State of Arabistan. The military defeat would then trigger an uprising in Iran, ending the short reign of Ayatollah Khomeini. Saddam also believed that it was Iraq's moment to show force and position itself as the new leader of the Arab world, which had been vacated after Egypt signed the Camp David Accords with Israel. Saddam, like many leaders before and after him, believed his war would be short. As soon as his army attacked, the Iranian army, weakened by revolutionary purges, would crumble, ultimately leading to the collapse of the regime.
Iran, of course, had a much larger population and hence a larger mobilization base; however, Iraq had an advantage in tanks, with more than 2,800 against almost 2,000 for Iran. Iran had a higher quantity and quality of air force with 450 against 330, but they depended on the supply of spare parts and ammunition from the United States, which had cut them off after the revolution. So, on paper, Iraq had an advantage in the armor, while Iran boasted a more powerful air force and navy. Diplomatically, too, Iran was isolated. Obviously, the US was enemy number one.
But while other countries at odds with America would turn to the Soviet Union for protection, Ayatollah Khomeini had no interest in playing this Cold War game and dubbed the USSR the Lesser Satan. Of course, the vast majority of Arab countries opposed the clerical regime as well due to its expansionist rhetoric. But Saddam's Iraq was not flush with foreign support either, as the United States remained neutral at the initial stage of the conflict. Iraq's primary military supplier, the USSR, was insulted by the fact that Saddam failed to inform them about the
upcoming invasion and announced an arms embargo on both sides, causing shortages of some types of weapons at the beginning of the war. At the initial stage, the Gulf countries were the primary political and financial supporters of Iraq, while France supplied aircraft and advanced missiles. START OF THE WAR. IRAQ INVADES The first order of business for Iraq was to eliminate Iran's aforementioned advantage in air force to gain air supremacy or at least parity. On September 22, 1980, Iraq started the war with Iran by launching air raids against 10
major Iranian airports. But this attack, which was apparently inspired by Israel's opening salvo in the Six-Day War, failed to bring the intended result due to the capacity limitations of the Iraqi air force. Very few aircraft were destroyed, and there was limited damage to targeted air bases. Still, on the following day, Saddam launched a ground invasion with 6 divisions. The main thrust was in Khuzestan with Khorramshahr and Abadan as the initial targets, which were attacked by 4 divisions. The primary goal of the two other axes in the northern and
central portions of the international border was to tie down the Iranian forces stationed there and prevent them from interfering with the battles in the South. In the North, Iraqis quickly captured Qasreshirin and made some progress towards Kermanshah, but soon their advance was stifled by the Iranian resistance. In the central axis, Iraqis advanced in the border areas between Mehran and Ahvaz amidst fierce battles with the 92nd Armored Division of Iran. While their primary goal was to prevent Iranian units from reinforcing the defences of Khorramshahr and Abadan, their initial
progress suggested that their ultimate goal may have been to capture Dezful and Ahvaz, other cities in Khuzestan. Their advance was relatively quick, and by late September, they had reached the Karkheh and Karun rivers. However, bridges over these rivers had already been destroyed; the worsening supply situation and fierce Iranian resistance brought the Iraqi advance to a halt. Finally, in the South, a force led by the 3rd Armored Division and the 5th Mechanized Division moved on Khorramshahr and Abadan, fighting against the Iranian grouping led by the IRGC, also known
as Sepah. Approximately 500 tanks of the 3rd Armored division quickly reached the outskirts of Khorramshahr. They positioned themselves in a crescent-like formation, and the siege of this city started. The problem for Saddam was that his forces did not expect a major resistance from the Iranians. He sent his tanks without proper infantry support to decrease casualties, making them vulnerable to Iranian anti-tank teams. The Iraqi hopes for a quick capture did not materialize, and instead, Saddam opted for a prolonged siege and shelling of Khorramshahr.
Remember that Khorramshahr had a significant Arab population, and shelling them was going to wreck any hopes of their loyalty in this war. Amidst heavy shelling, Iraqi special forces and infantry tried on several occasions to take over key sites in Khorramshahr proper, finally succeeding in late October. Simultaneously with the assault on Khorramshahr, the Iraqi forces also tried to attack the nearby Abadan island, a key site of Iran's oil infrastructure. By early October, Iraqi tanks of the 3rd Armored division and special forces had positioned themselves within the
perimeter of Abadan. Iran's resistance was strong here too; thus, further reinforcements from the 3rd Armored and 5th Mechanized joined the assault. Iraq proceeded with another siege but never managed to fully subdue Abadan. Iran continued to supply its defenders by helicopter and boat. Along with that, after regrouping following the initial Iraqi air raid, Iran's air force also went to work. They played a significant role in slowing down Saddam's initial assault, by targeting both the advancing troops and their supply depots. But more importantly, just 4 days after the start of
the war, the Iranian air force took the war to Iraq. In late September, 140 warplanes attacked Iraq's oil facilities in Basra and Zubair in the South and Mosul and Kirkuk in the North, forcing Iraq to temporarily suspend its oil exports. Early in the war, several naval battles erupted in the Persian Gulf, but Iran's superior navy defeated Iraq each time, forcing Baghdad to abandon the theatre for the remainder of the conflict. So, very soon after Iraq invaded Iran, it became clear that Saddam Hussein's calculation was just very wrong. Despite the purges and post-revolutionary chaos, the Iranian regular army and paramilitary
groups like Sepah and Basij did not crumble, but resisted. Iran had a far larger population, hence a larger mobilization potential. The new Iranian government launched a massive mobilization right after the invasion was launched, with hundreds of thousands joining the Sepah and Basij, and fewer men joining the regular army. Moreover, the Arabs of Khuzestan did not rise up and hand over the proverbial keys to their cities to an Arab invader. And most importantly, there was no collapse of the regime in Tehran. Sounds familiar, right? By late 1980, only two months
into the invasion, the Iraqi army had run out of steam. They had already lost thousands of their best professional soldiers, while the rest were poorly trained, headed by incompetent commanders in their positions primarily due to nepotism. But while the Iranian army resisted well, it was also mired in problems. The aforementioned purges of military commanders and officers suspected of disloyalty to the new regime, and the promotion of others for their loyalty, were among those problems. Ali Sayyed Shirazi, who became the commander of the Ground Forces in 1981
after rising from the lower officer ranks, is a perfect example. Many incompetent commanders were leading Iran's army and paramilitary groups. Particularly, at the start, there was a lack of coordination between the regular army and paramilitary groups fighting the invasion. In October 1980, Khomeini attempted to solve this issue by appointing a seven-member Supreme Defence Council headed by President Banisadr. Rather than overcoming the differences, the council simply became another arena of confrontation between the civilian government and the clerical elite.
IRAN GAINS INITIATIVE All these factors led to a stalemate on the battlefield by late 1980. The Iraqi forces in Iran transitioned to a defensive posture, while Iranians were mustering forces to counterattack. On January 5, 1981, Iran's 16th Armored Division launched its first counterattack near Susangerd. It was initially successful but ended in disaster. Iraq's 10th Armored Division soundly defeated the Iranians in a tank battle, their T-72s outperforming the Iranian Chieftain tanks, aided by combat experience from previous wars with Israel. Other than this battle, the war had largely gone quiet in 1981.
Until September, when Iran launched its Operation Eighth Imam. On September 22, 1981, the Iranian army launched a diversionary feint attack around the Karkheh river, convincing the Iraqis that the goal was to break through to Basra. Instead, a few days later, Iran's main force infiltrated beyond the Karun river near the Iraqi forces besieging Abadan. Caught unprepared, the Iraqi army was now facing attacks from several directions. At this point, Iran's manpower advantage became very clear. Iran, which was already winning this battle, made a coup de grace when the 92nd Armored
Division was sent into an offensive. Iraqis were routed, abandoning a lot of equipment. The Siege of Abadan was lifted, as Iran achieved its first big victory of this war. Iran had momentum on their side now. In late November, they once again managed to infiltrate the Iraqi positions at night by clearing the minefields and launched a surprise attack. Iran's manpower advantage allowed it to rely on human-wave tactics, resulting in mass casualties but also, in some cases, progress on the battlefield. Once a relentless pressure
by the Iranian army and paramilitaries made a dent in the Iraqi defense, the reserves were sent in to capitalize on the situation. In late 1981, this led to the liberation of Bostan. In March 1982, the Iranian army achieved an even bigger success with Operation Fath al-Mobin. After a months-long buildup of some 120,000 troops, on March 22, the 92nd Armored Division launched an armored assault on the Iraqi forces near the town of Shush, which was followed by wave after wave of Sepah and Basij paramilitary infantry assaults on multiple axes. Less than a week later,
the pressure became too much to bear for the Iraqi army, and they retreated back to the border on the Dezful-Shush-Susangerd sector. Throughout the spring, Iran maintained pressure, sensing the weakened state of the Iraqi army. In April, the occupied areas around Ahvaz were cleared. The Iranian Spring offensive culminated with the Second Battle of Khorramshahr, which fell only days after the Iranian offensive in May 1982. Thousands of Iraqis were killed and captured. Three Iraqi divisions had been destroyed by this point in the war. Many high-ranking officers of
the Iraqi army were executed by the orders of Saddam. The remaining Iraqi force was severely demoralized. Its air force was significantly weakened by regular raids by superior Iranian military aircraft. Practically, all of the territories captured by Iraq at the beginning of the war had been lost. Iraq was having trouble selling its main export - oil due to the Iranian blockade. What was supposed to be an easy war was turning into a nightmare for Saddam Hussein.
Special thanks to raid shadow legends for sponsoring this video. Use our link or QR code to break the game with some overpowered free champions for new players; get it while it lasts. CONCLUSION In our next episode on the Iran-Iraq War, we will cover the subsequent battles, Iraqi chemical warfare, Kurdish participation, and how both sides attempted to undermine each other's finances, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see it. Please consider liking, subscribing, commenting, and sharing, it helps immensely. Our patrons and YouTube members can watch more than 300 exclusive videos, join their ranks via the link in
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