February 28 in Military History — On This Day

⚔️📍 Ripon, Wisconsin1854

Republican Party Founded — Precursor to the Civil War

Former Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti-slavery Democrats met in Ripon, Wisconsin to form a new political party dedicated to opposing the spread of slavery. They named themselves Republicans in reference to Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans.

The Republican Party's formation in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act directly set the political stage for Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 and the secession crisis that led to the Civil War.

Outcome

Republican Party formed; Lincoln elected 6 years later

Ceasefire at Safwan

At 8:00 a.m. on February 28, 1991 — exactly 100 hours after the ground war began — President George H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire. The following day, General Schwarzkopf met Iraqi generals at Safwan Airfield in southern Iraq to negotiate terms. In an agreement later criticized by many analysts, Schwarzkopf allowed Iraq to continue flying helicopters (which Saddam immediately used to suppress Kurdish and Shia uprisings), and the ceasefire line left large Republican Guard formations intact. Saddam Hussein, though militarily defeated, remained in power. The terms planted seeds that would grow into the 2003 Iraq War twelve years later.

The Safwan ceasefire ended the Gulf War in 100 hours of ground combat but left unresolved the question of Saddam Hussein's regime — a decision that haunted American foreign policy for the next decade and led directly to the 2003 invasion.

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