Brief History
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Iraq has a very rich and old history. The first people who settled there around 9000BC. However the Sumerians are the first to be given credit to build cities around 5400 BC but lets fast forward a few thousand years to 1914. During World War 1, Iraq was occupied by British forces. After the war, the country became a British Mandate. The British set up a constitutional monarchy, under king Faisal I (reigned 1921-33), with an elected parliament. Then Iraq became independent in 1932. Sadly, politics became increasingly divided, which led to an army coup (overthrow of government) in 1936. From then on the army took control over politics until WWII.
The economy continued to expand; irrigated farmland was extended, oil became an important source of income, and the railway network was completed. In WWII, the country was again occupied by the British after a pro-Nazi coup threatened British positions in the Middle East. A series of weak, short-lived civilian governments held power, but still managed to preside over much economic progress. |
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Continuing political instability led to a coup in 1968 which brought the Ba'ath party to power. In 1979, Saddam Hussein became president. (He is a Sunni and very conservative Islam.) He immediately tried to make his power more stable by killing his opponents, inside and outside the Ba'ath party. (Many Shi'tes)
At the end of the 1970s, there was some issues between Iraq and Iran. (Locate Iran on your map!) Iraq was Sunni led and Iran was Shia led. Then there is the Iran-Iraq War, one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts of the later 20th century (1980-88). Please watch Saddam Huessien on right. -> -> -> |
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Saddam wasn't a very nice guy. He decided to use chemical weapons on people in his empire called the Kurds. The Kurds are a group of people who live in Northern Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The majority practice Sunni Islam. However, they don't conform to all of the strict practices of conservative Islam like Saadam. Women tend to have a higher status than other Islamic cultures. Women are not veiled, and amore free to associate with men, and even occupy political offices. Traditionally they wanted to be their own country. Saddam used chemical attacks on them to try to wipe out the ethnic group. (Similar to, but the same as Hitler did to the Jewish people.) On March 16, 1988 Saddam killed around 5,000 people using chemical warfare known as t Halabaja Massacre (Bloody Friday). <- <- <- The video on the left is graphic. If you do not feel comfortable watching it, don’t. |
Then in 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The United States and United Nations (peace keeping organization) would respond by sending troops. This was known as Operation Desert Storm. This first Gulf War ended in heavy defeat for Saddam Hussein at the hands of a massive American- and Saudi-led efforts.
