The territory of what is now the State of Kuwait (دولة الكويت) was once part of the Ottoman Empire, but emerged as an independent shiekhdom under the protection of Great Britain after the First World War. Granted full independence in 1961, the nation remained out of the limelight until 1990 when it was invaded and annexed by neighboring Iraq. A subsequent military intervention to expel Iraqi forces by the United States as well as several Arab and European nations, resulted in the seven month long Persian Gulf War (or the First Gulf War).
