ORDER OF BATTLE // March 20, 2003
2003 invasion of Iraq
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 1,900,799 estimated
United States
589,799
Medium-confidence figure
Iraq
1,311,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The 2003 invasion of Iraq opened the Iraq War and was completed in just over one month, with major combat operations lasting 26 days. A United States-led coalition composed primarily of American, British, Australian, and Polish forces prosecuted the campaign against Iraqi forces numbering over one million. Iraqi casualties from the invasion ranged between 11,000 and 45,000. The swift collapse of organized Iraqi military resistance ended the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein and set the conditions for the occupation period that followed, initiating a conflict that would define U.S. and coalition military engagement in the region for years.
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