The Iran-Iraq War / Rob Johnson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I: The causes and context of the conflict -- Introduction -- Iran's revolution and Iraq's ambitions -- II: The early operations -- The Iraqi offensive of September 1980 and the failure of Saddam's 'limited war' -- Human waves: Iran's counter-offensives into Iraq -- Escalation: operations Wa al Fajr and Khaibar, 1984 -- Foreign intervention, 1980-84 -- III: The search for a decisive results -- Turning point: operations Badr and Fao, 1985-86 -- War of the cities. home fronts, internal security and insurgency -- IV: Breaking the impasse -- The Tanker War, the arms trade and international interventions, 1985-87 -- The failure of strategy: Iranian offensives and Iraqi counter-offensives, 1987-88 -- Fuelling the flames: gulf operations, 1987-88 -- V: Consequences and conclusions -- The Iran-Iraq war in retrospect.

"The recent conflicts of the Middle East can be traced directly to the Iran-Iraq War. Rob Johnson provides a sound and clear grasp of the major issues surrounding this war - an essential precursor to understanding the nature of both the Iraqi and Iranian regimes in the 1990s and their regional aspirations, and the ensuing Gulf Wars"--Provided by publisher.