The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction

by Samuel Helfont

American wars in Iraq were a defining feature of global politics for almost thirty years. The Gulf War of 1991, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the campaign against the Islamic State beginning in 2014 each had their own logic. Each occurrence was a distinct conflict; however they must not only be considered in isolation. The United States spent the 1990s trying but failing to implement the Gulf War's cease fire agreement. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, American leaders decided to settle the open-ended aftermath of the Gulf War by launching the Iraq War of 2003. The Iraq War unleashed resistance, civil war, insurgency and eventually the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Thus, following the Gulf War, each war was fought to finish the previous conflict. The Iraq Wars, therefore, are perhaps best understood as a chain of events.

Academics, journalists, statesmen, and soldiers have produced many library shelves of books on the Iraq Wars. Yet, no short, easily digestible volume exists to synthesize this vast literature of both English and Arabic sources. The Iraq Wars: A Very Short Introduction covers this series of important conflicts as a whole, in a highly succinct and uniquely readable way.

Genres: History, Middle East

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2025

Reviews

[Jackson Lawson]

Phenomenal. This is what a VSI should be - utterly packed with information, not overly politicized or tendentious, and fun to read. What a story.

Since I've become something of a VSI connoisseur, for anyone interested, you may have noticed
that they can be kind of hit or miss. That's inevitable when you're dealing with a panoply of subject matter and authors. I have noticed some trends, though - I think history VSIs tend to be far stronger (Ex. Iraq Wars, Prohibition, Roman Republic). They're well suited to "do what it says on the tin." On the other hand, disciplinary ones (like academic fields) seem to be weaker in my experience. They're far sparser in terms of useful propositional knowledge and tend to be more politicized, which can lead to a lot more wheel spinning and having to qualify assertions; you end up leaving unsure if you really came away with anything. Just my two cents for now.

[Saharra George]

I read a ton of entries from this Oxford short introduction series and this is one of the better written ones. It's encouraged me to read a more comprehensive summary on the Iraq Wars but on its own it is very illuminating and reminded me of a lot of things I'd totally forgotten about. It's also a very fair treatment and doesn't try and sway you to any particular opinion but rather just tries to relay the history of what happened and why.

[Ahmed Mousa]

Overall it's a good book, very good way to look at the bigger picture, Iraq wars or better way to say the wars on Iraq were chains of wars. When reading this book you have also to be aware that author is biased and didn't mention anything about Israel working overtime for very long time to punch Iraq in face with Americans hand!
history appears to be repeating itself today, with the same dynamic playing out against Iran instead of Iraq.

[Jan]

Reasonable overview