1991 Uprisings in Iraq

The 1991 uprisings in Iraq (known in Iraq as the Shaaban Intifada) were a series of simultaneous anti-governmental rebellions in northern and southern Iraq. They followed the aftermath of the Gulf War between March and April 1991. The revolt was fueled by the perception that the power of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was vulnerable; as well as by anger at government suppression and the devastation wrought by two wars in a single decade: the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War. Within two weeks, most of Iraq's cities and provinces fell, either entirely or largely, to rebel forces.

Notwithstanding rebel gains, the revolution was held back by internal divisions, an overall passivity of Baghdadis and a complete lack of external support. Saddam's regime suppressed the rebellions with massive and indiscriminate force, maintaining power while the rebels were decisively defeated by the loyalist forces—spearheaded by the elite Republican Guard. During these few weeks of unrest, tens of thousands of people died and nearly two million became refugees.

In the aftermath of the failed revolution, the Iraqi government intensified its forced relocation of Marsh Arabs and the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes in the Tigris–Euphrates river system. The Coalition established Iraqi no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq and the Kurds created the Kurdish Autonomous Republic in an area of Iraqi Kurdistan.