This book looks at the crisis over Kuwait in all its aspects - its background and causes; and the dramatic course of events as they unfolded over the eight tense months which followed the invasion in the first days of August 1990, as seen from the vantage point of the author's action station as British ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Particular emphasis is given to the crucial role played by Saudi Arabia as architect and lynchpin of the widely assorted coalition which came together to confront Iraq's aggression. The author gives a lively first-hand account of successive stages in the crisis, and backs this with an explanation of the factors, some of which go back many years, which led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the threat he presented to international security. The book discusses the complex day-to-day interplay of diplomacy which took place between Saudi Arabia, Britain, and other western, Arab and moslem partners, as well as with a Soviet Union in terminal decline. Insights are revealed into the lead given by the United States through her armed forces and in the Security Council, and the course of her relationship on the ground with her major western associates, Britain and France. The backdrop for all this activity is painted in with contemporary undercurrents of Middle East politics: the Arab-Israel peace process, the shadow of revolutionary Iran, and the passions of Islamic revivalism. The crisis left its imprint on them all.