Visszaszámlálás a „Sivatagi Vihar“ előtt

The first serious international conflict in the post-Cold War era, the socalled Gulf War had unforeseeable internal consequences on the reunited, sovereign Germany. While France and the United Kingdom were ready to support American foreign policy against Iraq even with military forces, in Bonn it was not so clear, moreover it unleashed a long constitutional debate. The aim of this study is to introduce German reactions in the last weeks before the outbreak of the war: what kind of material or other help was Germany willing to give to the coalition; which attempts were made to avoid a violent solution of the crisis and was Germany ready to actively guarantee the safety of Turkey in case of an Iraqi assault? The political opposition and the governing parties in Bonn gave different answers to these questions, however due to intense West-European and American critics the point of view of the two sides approached to each other in many ways.