This open access book provides an in-depth exploration of the Arabian Gulf, explaining the pivotal role of conflict in shaping this geopolitically significant region over the past century. Understanding the historical context of conflicts in this region helps explain the major ongoing tensions between major players such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and external powers like the UK, the United States and more recently China. The narrative spans major historical events, from the two World Wars to the smaller conflicts of decolonization, and more recent conflicts such as the first and second Gulf Wars and the Hamas-Israel war. The book offers a comprehensive understanding of the intricate and enduring factors that perpetuate conflict in the Gulf, as well as how historical developments are intricately connected to contemporary events. Through this examination of what can be termed as ‘geostrategy’, it clarifies the strategic importance of the Gulf across time and assesses the broader ramifications of conflict in the Gulf for the Middle East region and the international system. In so doing, it also provides an insightful analysis of the region's complex mosaic of religious, ethnic, and political divisions, which reinforce and undermine the stability of this distinctive regional security complex. As such, it is of interest to historians, scholars engaged in global and regional security studies and policymakers seeking to comprehend the intricate dynamics of this critical region.

Warren Chin has worked in the field of professional military education since 1995. He taught military history at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst (1995-99) before joining King’s College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in 2000. Here, for five years he organized and ran the academic programme for Army’s Initial Command Staff Course for 500 newly promoted majors. From 2007-2014 he was Academic Director at the Royal College of Defence Studies, and was responsible for the delivery of their master's degree in security and Strategy. In 2017 he became the Academic Director on the Higher Command and Staff Course (HCSC) which is attended by the top two percent of the UK military officer corps. Currently, he is Program Chair of Defense and Security at the Rabdan Academy and responsible for the creation and implementation of an undergraduate degree for officer cadets in the UAE armed forces attending Zayed Military University. His principal research interest focuses on the study of warfare, specifically the examination of contemporary military strategy and operations in the post-Cold War era. He is particularly interested in understanding how technology, economics, politics and society are changing the forms of war and the opportunities and challenges these changes create in the conduct of war for both state and non-state actors.

Brandon Friedman is the Director of Research and Senior Researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center (MDC) for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, where he is also a tenured member of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities. Since 2013 he is the Managing Editor of Bustan: The Middle East Book Review, a journal published by Penn State University Press. Brandon’s research has focused on three topics: the history of Saudi nationalism and its effects on social, economic, and political transformation in the kingdom; second, the regional politics of security from the Arab uprisings in 2011 to the Hamas-Israel War; and, third, China’s role in the Middle East from end of the Cold War. From 2014 to 2025 Brandon was a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). For more than a decade, Brandon has been briefing foreign diplomats, intelligence officials, military officers, non-governmental organizations, and decision-makers on regional security developments. He has also been an active participant in several Track II fora on regional security issues.

Andrew Stewart is a Visiting Professor at Rabdan Academy, a Honorary Professor at the Australian National University and a Visiting Professor in King’s College London’s School of Security Studies. He was previously Director of Academic Studies at the Royal College of Defence Studies and Principal at the Australian War College. Most recently he was a faculty member at the Royal Danish Defence College. His research covers twentieth century and contemporary conflict and he has published more than thirty-five books, co-edited books, book chapters and peer-reviewed and magazine articles. He is also a trustee for the internationally renowned Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives and the Society for Military History. He has worked extensively with the UK Ministry of Defence in a variety of advisory roles, leading engagement and outreach projects across the Sub-Saharan Africa, Baltic and Balkan regions and in the Gulf states, and was previously a Senior Conflict and Stabilisation Adviser within the Stabilisation Unit. Currently, he is Head of Conflict Research at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, the British Army’s think-tank.