rized the start of Operation Desert Storm, a period of
attacks from aircraft and missiles on hundreds of Iraqi
targets inside Kuwait and Iraq. This operation lasted for
six full weeks with the intention of forcing the Iraqis
to withdraw. When they did not, Schwarzkopf ’s plan
to invade Kuwait was put into motion on 24 February
- Using a “left hook,” he brilliantly avoided the
main Iraqi forces in southern Kuwait and a difficult sea
landing by sending the coalition forces into northern
Saudi Arabia before crossing into southwestern Kuwait.
The six-week bombing campaign had done its job,
however: As the coalition forces attacked on land, the
Iraqi army broke and made a mad dash back into Iraq,
pursued by coalition forces along the way, with massive
Iraqi casualties.
Operation Desert Storm’s land invasion campaign
lasted just 100 hours before President Bush ended it on
29 February 1991. The coalition forces had stormed into
Kuwait and cut the enemy forces into ribbons, resulting
in perhaps 100,000 Iraqis killed but with only minimal
coalition casualties. Kuwait City, capital of the defeated
nation, had fallen quickly to American troops. Schwarz-
kopf was hailed for his leadership of the war planning
and operation. Throughout the war, he had held numer-
ous press conferences, announcing successive coalition
victories. His demeanor during these sessions led to his
being nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman.” However, he sus-
tained some condemnation after the war when Iraqis
rose up against the regime of Saddam Hussein, who bru-
tally suppressed the insurrection. For political reasons,
Schwarzkopf did not help the rebels, for which both he
and Bush were criticized.
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf stepped down as
the head of USCENTCOM and formally retired from
active service in August 1991. The following year, his
autobiography, It Doesn’t Take a Hero, was published. To
many Americans, he was and still is a hero all the same.
He was given a specific task, had to cooperate with the
allied forces of many nations, and completed the cam-
paign in Kuwait efficiently and effectively, with very few
casualties—a heroic accomplishment.
References: Schwarzkopf, H. Norman, It Doesn’t Take a
Hero: General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the Autobiography
(New York: Bantam Books, 1992); Cohen, Roger, In the
Eye of the Storm: The Life of General H. Norman Schwarz-
kopf (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1991); Dar-
wish, Adel, Unholy Babylon: The Secret History of Saddam’s
War (London: Victor Gollancz, 1991); North, Bruce,
“Schwarzkopf, H. Norman,” in Encyclopedia of Ameri-
can War Heroes (New York: Checkmark Books, 2002),
215–216.Scipio Africanus (the Elder) (Publius Cornelius
Scipio, Scipio Africanus Major) (236–184/183
b.c.) Roman general
Scipio Africanus was born in 236 b.c. as Publius Cor-
nelius Scipio, the son, grandson, and great-grandson of
famed Roman consuls. His father, also named Publius
Scipio, was a military leader; legend has it that when,
at a battle on the Ticinus River, the elder Scipio was
wounded and surrounded, his son rode through enemy
lines and saved his father from death. The younger
Scipio married the daughter of Consul Aemilius Paullus
and had two sons with her.
It is apparent that from his youth that Publius
Scipio was aiming for a military career; histories first
mention him fighting as a tribune at the Battle of Can-
nae in 216 b.c. This battle was a horrific disaster for
Rome, and Scipio was forced to flee with some 4,000
survivors to Canusium, where he rallied the remaining
Roman troops. Three years later, in 213 b.c., he returned
to Rome, where he was elected as a curile aedile (a civic
official equivalent to a mayor). Despite being underage
to hold such an office, Scipio is reported to have stated
that “if all the Roman people want to make me aedile, I
am old enough.”
After Scipio was elected as an aedile, his father and
uncle were killed in Spain fighting the Carthaginians. In
211 b.c., the Roman Senate voted to send troops to fight
in Spain, but when no general offered to lead the troops,
Scipio stepped forward and volunteered, probably to
avenge the deaths of his father and uncle. A year later,
from his headquarters at Tarraco, he launched a land and
sea assault on the Carthaginian command center at Car-
thago Nova (now Cartagena in southern Spain). Leading
his troops, Scipio himself stormed the walls of the city,
leading many of his men to believe he was supported by
the gods. In 208 b.c., he met the Carthaginian com-
mander Hasdrubal Barca at Baecula (Bailen), in Baetica,
and by dividing his troops and attacking both flanks
of the enemy, he forced the Carthaginians to flee. In-
stead of chasing his quarry, however, Scipio remained in
Spain, and from 208 to 206 b.c., he led Roman troops
in crushing the Carthaginians, including the famous Scipio AFRicAnuS (the elDeR)