The First Battle of Fallujah, also known as Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an unsuccessful attempt by the U.S. military to capture the city of Fallujah in April 2004.
The chief catalyst for the operation was the highly-publicized killing and mutilation of four Blackwater USA private military contractors, and the killings of five American soldiers in Habbaniyah a few days earlier.
The battle polarized public opinion within Iraq, and the failure of the operation to fully realize its tactical objectives would lead to a far more decisive engagement later in the year, the Second Battle of Fallujah.
Read more about First Battle Of Fallujah: Background, Blackwater Deaths, The Campaign, Legacy, Participating Units, In Popular Culture
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“That we can come here today and in the presence of thousands and tens of thousands of the survivors of the gallant army of Northern Virginia and their descendants, establish such an enduring monument by their hospitable welcome and acclaim, is conclusive proof of the uniting of the sections, and a universal confession that all that was done was well done, that the battle had to be fought, that the sections had to be tried, but that in the end, the result has inured to the common benefit of all.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)