This chapter presents an overview of the many factors that formed the background behind the Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and the resulting need for the deployment of the Arab League Security Force in Kuwait to replace British military forces and safeguard the state’s newly achieved independence from annexation by Iraq. The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 resulted from political, economic, and cultural issues internal to the Middle East and North Africa as well as matters external but introduced by other countries. These include the different internal interpretations of Arab nationalism and Arab unity; British imperial decline; the impact of Middle Eastern oil on the global economy; the relationship of the United Kingdom and the United States on Middle Eastern concerns; and the impact of Cold War dynamics on the region.