Kuwait is a tiny country located between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, both of whom have wanted to (at times) wished to annex the country into their own. But why hasn't this happened? Why does Kuwait exist? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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It's a small nation located here, between both Iraq, which many times has wanted to annex the country, and Saudi Arabia, which has also many times wanted to annex the country.

Yet, despite the fact that Kuwait is much smaller than its neighbours with very little in the way of deterrence, it still stands.

Why does Kuwait exist and why hasn't it been annexed by 1 of its neighbours?

So going back to the mid 19th century, Kuwait was an independent shakedown based around Kuwait City with some very loosely defined fuzzy borders because desert.

Kuwait was a very busy port which carried goods from all over the world and as a result was very rich.

Next door sat both the Ottoman Empire and the Emirate of Nage, which both wanted such a wealthy port for themselves.

However, the Kuwaitis were able to play both off of each other and would often submit to paying tribute in return for its continued independence.

And in 1899, the Sheikh of Kuwait made an agreement with them.

In return for Kuwait's continued existence as a British protectorate and a few sacks of cash, Britain would have exclusive military access to its lands and would negotiate any border changes on its behalf.

The Kuwaiti Sheikh had hoped that this treaty with the British would guarantee his state's independence long-term, but fun fact, no.

You see, Britain wasn't interested in having Kuwait for itself, it was interested in France, Russia, and Germany not having it.

And so, the treaty had effectively allowed Britain to negotiate the status of Kuwait with any power that it wished.

The British knew that the Ottoman Sultan had wanted Kuwait for a long time, and so in 1913 they drafted an agreement with him that would split the Arabian Peninsula like this, which as you can see gave Kuwait to the Ottomans in return for these lands for Britain.

As upset as the Sheikh would have been about this, it didn't matter since the next year, World War I.

And after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the threat to Kuwaiti's existence was gone.

For like 4 seconds, because to the south sat the Kingdom of Najd, which swiftly conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula and became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Sauds wanted Kuwait to be a part of their new kingdom and made several attempts at conquest between 1920 and 1922.

The fighting was fairly small in scale at first, but when things heated up the British intervened and put pressure on the Sauds to stop.

And in the end it was decided that Kuwait would lose most of its territory to Saudi Arabia and in return British interests there would be protected.

So to the north now sat the brand new Kingdom of Iraq, whose people saw Kuwait's independence as unnatural and only the result of foreign meddling.

And as the decades went on both in Iraq and in Kuwait there was an ever-growing movement to unite the 2.

However, since Kuwait was a British protectorate, Iraq couldn't invade, and the Kuwaiti rulers there imprisoned anyone who wished for unification, which meant that nothing changed until the 60s.

And that change was the decline of the British Empire, which left the country in 1961 shortly after its oil industry had boomed.

So, being an oil-rich country, surrounded by other larger oil-rich countries meant that some tensions were inevitable.

Iraq, now led by Saddam Hussein, had racked up a lot of debt fighting a war with Iran, which they believed had been fought on behalf of the Arab world, and as such that world owed them.

There were some choice words and Kuwait increased its oil production to punish Iraq, who then accused them of stealing oil and so sent an angry letter.

And by sent an angry letter I mean they invaded Kuwait in 1919 and formally annexed it into the country.

To the rest of the world, this was a bit much, and after Iraqi forces refused to withdraw, these countries invaded and drove them out.

Kuwait's independence was restored, and thereafter there were no further attempts to annex the country and its existence would be assured.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizonette, Kelly Moneymaker, Mr Wolf, Sky Chappell, Jerry Lambdin, YN Hockey, Marvin Casale, Jordan Longley, Gareth Turner, Rod D.

Martin, Boogily Woogily, Captain Psydog, Spencer Lightfoot, Korsho Wolf, Gustav Swann, Matthew Shipley, Winston K.

Wood, Robert Wetzel, Aaron the White, Marcus Arsner, Maggie Pakskowski, Anthony Beckett, Alex Schwin, Moe, The McWhopper, Coppertone, Spinning 3 Plates, Ben Ivinson, Charles I, Adam Stalter, and Scottish Trekkie.


Speaker 0: Kuwait. It's a small nation located here, between both Iraq, which many times has wanted to annex the country, and Saudi Arabia, which has also many times wanted to annex the country. Yet, despite the fact that Kuwait is much smaller than its neighbours with very little in the way of deterrence, it still stands. Which raises the question, why? Why does Kuwait exist and why hasn't it been annexed by 1 of its neighbours?

So going back to the mid 19th century, Kuwait was an independent shakedown based around Kuwait City with some very loosely defined fuzzy borders because desert. Kuwait was a very busy port which carried goods from all over the world and as a result was very rich. Next door sat both the Ottoman Empire and the Emirate of Nage, which both wanted such a wealthy port for themselves. However, the Kuwaitis were able to play both off of each other and would often submit to paying tribute in return for its continued independence. That was, until the British turned up.

And in 1899, the Sheikh of Kuwait made an agreement with them. In return for Kuwait's continued existence as a British protectorate and a few sacks of cash, Britain would have exclusive military access to its lands and would negotiate any border changes on its behalf. The Kuwaiti Sheikh had hoped that this treaty with the British would guarantee his state's independence long-term, but fun fact, no. You see, Britain wasn't interested in having Kuwait for itself, it was interested in France, Russia, and Germany not having it. And so, the treaty had effectively allowed Britain to negotiate the status of Kuwait with any power that it wished.

And it chose the Ottomans. The British knew that the Ottoman Sultan had wanted Kuwait for a long time, and so in 1913 they drafted an agreement with him that would split the Arabian Peninsula like this, which as you can see gave Kuwait to the Ottomans in return for these lands for Britain. As upset as the Sheikh would have been about this, it didn't matter since the next year, World War I. And after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the threat to Kuwaiti's existence was gone. For like 4 seconds, because to the south sat the Kingdom of Najd, which swiftly conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula and became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Sauds wanted Kuwait to be a part of their new kingdom and made several attempts at conquest between 1920 and 1922. The fighting was fairly small in scale at first, but when things heated up the British intervened and put pressure on the Sauds to stop. And in the end it was decided that Kuwait would lose most of its territory to Saudi Arabia and in return British interests there would be protected. So to the north now sat the brand new Kingdom of Iraq, whose people saw Kuwait's independence as unnatural and only the result of foreign meddling. And as the decades went on both in Iraq and in Kuwait there was an ever-growing movement to unite the 2.

However, since Kuwait was a British protectorate, Iraq couldn't invade, and the Kuwaiti rulers there imprisoned anyone who wished for unification, which meant that nothing changed until the 60s. And that change was the decline of the British Empire, which left the country in 1961 shortly after its oil industry had boomed. So, being an oil-rich country, surrounded by other larger oil-rich countries meant that some tensions were inevitable. Iraq, now led by Saddam Hussein, had racked up a lot of debt fighting a war with Iran, which they believed had been fought on behalf of the Arab world, and as such that world owed them. There were some choice words and Kuwait increased its oil production to punish Iraq, who then accused them of stealing oil and so sent an angry letter.

And by sent an angry letter I mean they invaded Kuwait in 1919 and formally annexed it into the country. To the rest of the world, this was a bit much, and after Iraqi forces refused to withdraw, these countries invaded and drove them out. Kuwait's independence was restored, and thereafter there were no further attempts to annex the country and its existence would be assured. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizonette, Kelly Moneymaker, Mr Wolf, Sky Chappell, Jerry Lambdin, YN Hockey, Marvin Casale, Jordan Longley, Gareth Turner, Rod D. Martin, Boogily Woogily, Captain Psydog, Spencer Lightfoot, Korsho Wolf, Gustav Swann, Matthew Shipley, Winston K.

Wood, Robert Wetzel, Aaron the White, Marcus Arsner, Maggie Pakskowski, Anthony Beckett, Alex Schwin, Moe, The McWhopper, Coppertone, Spinning 3 Plates, Ben Ivinson, Charles I, Adam Stalter, and Scottish Trekkie.

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Why does Kuwait Exist? (Short Animated Documentary)