Iraq History arab.net

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The Cradle of Civilization

The territory of present-day Iraq is approximately equivalent to that of ancient Mesopotamia, which fostered a series of early civilizations. ¨ The earliest of these was known as civilization of Sumer, which arose probably in the 4th millennium BC and had its final thrive under the 3rd dynasty of Ur at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Ur of the Chaldees was a great and famous Sumerian city, dating from this time.

The following stages saw periods of control by Babylonia and Assyria. Cyrus the Great of Persia gained control of the region in 539BC and the region remained under Persian rule until its conquest by Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Following Alexander's death, the Greek Seleucid dynasty ruled Mesopotamia for some 200 years and linked the region to the Hellenistic culture. Afterwards, a long period dominated by Arsacids, Sassanids followed until Muslim Arabs conquered the region in the 7th century AD.

Age of empires

Various invaders conquered the land after Nebuchadnezzar's death, including Cyrus the Great in 539BC and Alexander the Great in 331BC. In the second century BC, it became part of the Persian Empire, remaining thus until the 7th century AD, when it was captured by Arab Muslims (Abbasids). The capital was moved to Baghdad which became an important commercial and cultural centre in the Middle Ages.

Mongol invaders in AD1258 sacked Baghdad and murdered the Abbasid caliph. After much conflict over supremacy, the country was conquered by the Turks in the 17th century and became part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish rule continued unchecked, and with very little development, until the end of the 19th century.

British influence

During the First World War, Turkey became a German ally and its empire collapsed when British forces invaded Mesopotamia in 1917 and occupied Baghdad.

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the group of the of the victorious nations in World War I (the allies) made Iraq, which constituted the former Ottoman states (Wilayat) of Mosul, Baghdad, and Al Basrah) under the British mandate. According to the mandate system system, a territory that had formerly been held by either Germany or the Ottoman Empire was placed nominally under the supervision of the League of Nations with the administration of the mandate given to one of the First World War victorious allied counties, including Britain and France, until the territory is able to govern itself. Iraq was classified as Class A mandates; such types of mandates were expected to achieve independence in a few years.

The creation of the British Mandate in Iraq was officially confirmed at the Allied governmentsǃ٠conference in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920. When the Iraqi Arabs learned of this decision in July 1920, they began an armed uprising against the British, whose senior administrator in Iraq drafted a plan for a provisional government of the new state of Iraq. According to the plan in question, Iraq was to be a kingdom with a government directed by a council of Arab ministers under the supervision of a British high commissioner. An invitation to rule the news state of Iraq was offered in August 1921 to Faisal, was elected King of Iraq by a plebiscite in August 1921 winning 96% of the votes.

Full independence of Iraq was not achieved until 1932, when the British Mandate was officially terminated. Iraq joined the League of Nations in the October of that year, and was officially recognized as an independent sovereign state. On Faisal's death in 1933, he was succeeded by his son, King Ghazi I.

The growing state

In 1936 King Ghazi I formed an alliance with other Arab nations, known as the Pan-Arab movement. This was, in effect, a non-aggression treaty, and promising kinship between Arab countries. Three years later, Ghazi was killed in a road accident and was succeeded by his three-year-old son, Faisal II, under a regency. Faisal, the cousin of Jordan's present King Hussein, did not assume the throne formally until his eighteenth birthday, in May 1953.

During the earlier part of World War II, Iraq's government was strongly pro-British, but a military revolt in 1941 resulted in British troops landing at Basra in 1941. The ensuing war between Britain and Iraq lasted less than a month, before Iraq conceded defeat, and a new, pro-British government was established. In the following year Iraq became an important Middle Eastern supply centre for American and British forces, particularly with regard to the transshipment of arms to the USSR.

Coups, wars & instability

War with Israel followed in 1948, in which Iraqi forces were allied with those of Transjordan, in accordance with a treaty signed by the two countries during the previous year. Fighting continued until the signing of a cease-fire agreement in May 1949.

During the early 1950s, in the reign of the new young King Faisal II, various pro-Western pacts were signed, but Arab factions, bitterly opposed to union with the West, staged a military coup on 14th July 1958, led by General Karim Kassem. King Faisal and the premier, Nuri as-Said were both killed in the uprising and the country was proclaimed a republic.

A period of considerable instability followed, with one military coup swiftly succeeding another, and leaders came and went throughout the 60s and early 70s. Iraq's general policy during these years was one of hostility to the West and friendship with the USSR. Iraq declared war on Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and in the 1973 hostilities, gave material aid to Syria. Iraq was heavily opposed to the cease-fire which ended the conflict.

Relations with Iran were fast deteriorating in the early 70s. The ongoing Kurdish problem, which had first emerged in a 1961 Kurdish rebellion, was now fuelled by Iranian arms supplies to the Kurd leader, Mustafa al-Barzani. Problems were compounded by border disputes with Iran, but these were partially settled in 1975, whereupon Iran withdrew aid from the Kurdish revolt and effectively halted it.

By the end of 1977, the Kurdish people had been granted greater autonomy and Kurdish was recognised as an official language. Politically, Iraq seemed to be stabilising, and the oil boom of the late 70s contributed dramatically to an upsurge in the economy.

Saddam Hussein & the invasion of Kuwait

In 1979 the president, Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, was replaced by Saddam Hussein, and once more the political situation flared into hostilities with Iran. The Iran-Iraq War, which began in 1980, lasted for eight years and had a crippling effect on the economy of both countries. Before Iraq had a chance to recover economically, it was once more plunged into war, this time with its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The invasion was the result of a long-standing territorial dispute, and Iraqi troops overran the country on 2nd August 1990. The UN security council condemned the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, and demanded a complete withdrawal by 15th January 1991.

When Iraq failed to comply with this demand, the Persian Gulf War ensued, with allied troops led by the US launching an aerial bombardment on Baghdad. The war, which proved disastrous for Iraq, lasted only six weeks, and a cease-fire was announced by the US on 28th February 1991. UN terms for a permanent cease-fire were agreed by Iraq in April of that year, and strict conditions were imposed, demanding the disclosure and destruction of all stockpiles of weapons.

By early 1992, it became apparent that Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction, and intense international pressure to eliminate these was brought to bear, in the shape of UN economic sanctions. In 1993 the Security Council voted to maintain these sanctions, despite attempts by Iraq to have them lifted.