Talk:Gulf War

Italy

Why there is no mention about involvement of Italy in the conflict? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.48.73.118 (talk) 21:07, 29 November 2016

Air bombardment claims

The site states "For 42 consecutive days and nights, the coalition forces subjected Iraq to the most intensive air bombardment in military history. The coalition flew over 100,000 sorties dropping 88,500 tons of bombs…" The data may be true, but the claim of "most intensive air bombardment in military history" is debatable and entirely subjective depending on what they are basing that claim on. Intensive means concentrated, but how are they determining that, by number/tonnage/area/sorties/time?

Until there is something to corroborate the claim, “the most” should either be changed to “one of the most” or “an” (with "in military history" removed). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.45.115.4 (talk) 09:53, 4 September 2017‎ (UTC)

Requested move 4 August 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 02:08, 18 August 2026 (UTC)

---

Gulf War → Persian Gulf WarPersian Gulf War – I propose moving Gulf War to Persian Gulf War to adhere to Wikipedia’s core naming policies: WP:COMMONNAME, WP:PRECISE, and WP:DISAMBIGUATION.

1. **International and Academic Standard (WP:COMMONNAME):** Globally, the full geographical term "Persian Gulf War" remains the primary formal standard in major encyclopedias, international news agencies (e.g., BBC, Reuters), history textbooks, and scholarly literature. While "Gulf War" is a common shorthand, Wikipedia titles generally favor the formal, globally recognized proper name when shorthand creates ambiguity.

2. **Avoiding Ambiguity (WP:PRECISE & WP:DISAMBIGUATION):** The term "Gulf War" can refer to multiple conflicts in the region, including the Iran–Iraq War (often called the First Persian Gulf War) and the 2003 Iraq War (often called the Second Gulf War). Renaming this article to Persian Gulf War provides clarity and explicitly distinguishes the 1990–1991 conflict from other regional modern wars.

3. **Consistency with Geographic Naming:** The primary body of water involved is internationally recognized as the Persian Gulf. Using the complete geographical name aligns the article title with the standard naming conventions used across other geographical and historical entries on Wikipedia. Operdesertstorm (talk) 18:55, 4 August 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Thanks! —1isall (talk | contribs) 19:56, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:CONCISE. I'd be willing to reconsider if the nominator provided any evidence to back his claim in regards to the common name. Jessintime (talk) 14:45, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

  Thank you for the feedback. To provide concrete evidence regarding WP:COMMONNAME and formal standardization:

  1. Major Style Guides & Encyclopedias: Standard reference works and news stylebooks—including Encyclopædia Britannica, The Associated Press Stylebook, and The Chicago Manual of Style—explicitly define the 1990–1991 conflict as the Persian Gulf War to distinguish it from other regional conflicts in the Gulf (such as the Iran–Iraq War, often referred to as the First Gulf War in earlier literature).

  2. Precision vs. Conciseness (WP:PRECISE): While WP:CONCISE favors brevity, Wikipedia guidelines state that conciseness should not compromise disambiguation or formal global naming conventions. "Gulf War" is a common colloquial shorthand, but "Persian Gulf War" remains the primary, unambiguous standard across historical indexing, library systems (e.g., Library of Congress), and academic publications.

  Operdesertstorm (talk) 14:50, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

• Support - Based on my observations, I believe the nominator's claim that most international independent sources include "Persian" is accurate. And really, the more I think about it, I think it is important to specify which actual gulf this took place in, even though it is likely obvious to many of us already.

Red0ctober22 (talk) 02:03, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose By far the WP:COMMONNAME. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 20:39, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

  Thanks to everyone for weighing in. To address the comments regarding WP:COMMONNAME and WP:CONCISE with concrete usage data:

  Academic and Formal Usage (WP:PRECISE): While "Gulf War" is a common shorthand in news media, specialized historical sources, academic literature, and formal reference works (including Encyclopædia Britannica, Library of Congress Subject Headings, and major university presses) consistently favor "Persian Gulf War" to maintain geographic and historical precision.

  Balancing Core Title Criteria (WP:CRITERIA): Wikipedia’s five core title criteria are Recognizability, Naturalness, Precision, Conciseness, and Consistency. While "Gulf War" scores higher on conciseness, "Persian Gulf War" scores significantly higher on Precision (eliminating overlap with the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War and the 2003 Iraq War) and Consistency with standard geographic entries.

  Disambiguation Benefit: Because "Gulf War" is frequently used as an umbrella term or shorthand for multiple modern conflicts in the region, adopting the full proper title ensures clarity for global readers without creating any ambiguity.

  Providing this distinction aligns the title with Wikipedia's practice of prioritizing formal clarity over concise shorthand when multiple historical conflicts share similar names. Operdesertstorm (talk) 21:28, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. By far. It is the "Persian Gulf War" that would be very head-scratching and ambiguous and lead one to assume it is referring to some different war in the Persian Gulf. Your argument is quite strange - since all your examples are in the Persian Gulf! How exactly does adding "Persian" disambiguate anything? Walrasiad (talk) 16:31, 12 August 2026 (UTC)
• Oppose. Certainly nobody in the UK calls it the Persian Gulf War. It's the Gulf War. It had a Gulf War Medal. And how on earth would "Persian Gulf War" make it clearer as the nominator claims? All the wars were fought around the Persian Gulf! -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:44, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.