Roughly 7,000 US troops, joined by small Caribbean allied forces, invaded Grenada following the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the installation of a hardline military council. The Reagan administration cited the safety of American medical students and fears of Cuban-Soviet influence. Resistance from Grenadian and Cuban forces was heavier than expected but collapsed within days; the operation drew UN condemnation but was popular domestically.
Grenada's Marxist-leaning government had been thrown into chaos when a rival faction within the ruling New Jewel Movement executed Prime Minister Maurice Bishop along with several cabinet ministers and placed the island under a military council led by General Hudson Austin. The instability, combined with the presence of several hundred American medical students on the island and an unusually long airstrip built with Cuban assistance, gave Washington its pretext.
US Marines and Army Rangers landed by sea and air on October 25, expecting light resistance but instead running into determined fire from Grenadian troops and Cuban military advisers and construction workers, some of whom fought as infantry. Fighting around Point Salines airport and the Governor-General's residence lasted several days before organized resistance broke down.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the invasion as a violation of international law, and Britain's Margaret Thatcher — a close Reagan ally — privately objected to not being consulted, given Grenada's Commonwealth status. In the United States, the operation was framed as a swift victory that restored democracy and erased some of the sting of the Beirut barracks bombing just two days earlier.