The Iran-Iraq War occurred when Saddam era Iraq invaded the seemingly weak Iran. Iran was believed to be weakened by the Iranian Revolution by the Iraqi government, but Iran was not as weak as the Iraqi government believed. In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The invasion resulted in a stalemate between Iran and Iraq. To break the stalemate, the Iranians use human wave attacks (with the infamous use of children as combatants) while the Iraqis restored to chemical weapons, turning the war into a WW1 style battlefield. The war was a 1st for helicopter on helicopter dogfights with Iraqi Mi-25s vs Iranian AH-1J SuperCobras. Also a 1st time, was the mass use of ballistic missiles to terror bomb the opponent's territory. Both sides also supported each-over's rebel groups as the Iraq supported the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), with Iran supporting the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdish Democratic Party (KPD). Iranian support for the Kurdish rebel groups led to massacres of Kurdish civilians by the Iraqi government. The war ended in a stalemate with 1 million lives lost and 1 trillion dollars spent. Both the Iraqi government and the Iranian government failed in its goals and both sides claim victory.
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