The Persian Gulf War, or "Gulf War," was an international conflict between 1990 and 1991 that was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation's large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait and expanding Iraqi power in the region. This was the first major international crisis of the post-Cold War era.