The United States Government sent 6,000 troops to invade Grenada in October 1983 after leaders of a local ”Revolutionary Military Council” (RMC) ousted and killed Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his cabinet ministers from the moderate New Jewel Movement.
The Americans regarded the coup as a threat to their own security, and the invasion, code-named ”Urgent Fury,” was designed to remove the RMC and install a pan-Caribbean council to govern the tiny island until democratic elections could be held.
Although the local Grenadan troops put up a fight, the United States succeeded in its mission, which was criticised by the United Nations Security Council as a violation of international law.
