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4000 BC: The first civilizations
The place where Iraq lies, the Mesopotamia, was occupied by the oldest civilizations in history. Baghdad was the most famous city from that time and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built -
600: Arab invasion
Mesopotamia was invaded by the Arabs. This made the people there adopt their language, Arabic and religion, Islam. -
Under the rule of the Turkish Empire
The area which is now Iraq were three provinces which belonged to the Turkish Empire. -
League of Nations mandate
The Turkish Empire was broken up, this meant that after the Treaty of Sevres, the three provinces became a League of Nations mandate. This was run by the British as they wanted the oil in there. -
Iraqi revolt of 1920
Iraqi nationalist had started to add up, so by this time, the British had 100,000 troops in Iraq which crushed the revolution. This backfired as the uprisings became fiercer. -
1921-1958 Development
Iraq saw great economic development, education was improved and people learned how to read and write, but there were also many bad things. There was lots of inequality, as a small group owned most of the land. The British supported the new Jewish State, Israel, and the control of the British over Iraqi oil, evendough they shared the profit half and half. -
The Kingdom of Iraq
The British realised they couldn't run the country on their own, so they invited Faisal, a member of a leading Arab family, to become the leader of Iraq, evendough the British would maintain control over their foreign policies, stay in 2 bases they had and control their oil by a company owned by them. -
The Republic of Iraq
The monarchy was abolished and a republic was set. -
1968-1979 Saddam Hussein's rise to power
Saddam Hussein became Vicepresident of the Republic. During this time he used the same techniques that Stalin used to get to power. He controlled the army and most of the places in the Baath Party, as he placed friends and family in important positio -
Military coup and the Baath Party leading the Republic
There was a military coup which ended with the republic being led by the Baath Party, which was mostly composed by Sunni Muslims, so they brought Shiite Muslims so as to show unity. -
The government takes over the oil industry
The government took over and nationalised the oil industries. This was supervised by Saddam Hussein and he used this wealth to improve health, education and other things, this meant that he was recognised by the United Nations for building the most modern public health system in the middle east. -
Rducing the amount of oil for the west
Iraq joined the protest by Arab countries to reduce the selling of oil to the west, in retaliation for them supporting Israel in their war against the Arab States. This also meant that the oil prices quadrupled in price, which meant Iraq's income from oil rised incredibly. This led to Saddam being able to improve the conditions of the country, like the extension of the electricity to the countryside or the mechanisation of agriculture. -
Saddam and the Baath Party gain power
As people became more educated, a middle class of lawyers, government officials and businessmen began emerging.
Saddam and the Baathists began increasing their power over the government and the society. They took over trade unions, schools and sports clubs. They made schools educate kids so as to “Immunize” them from foreign culture, so in the case of a war, they would stand for their country. -
1974-1975 The Kurds
In that time Saddam sent some attacks to the Kurds as they wanted to have their own land, "Kurdistan". In those attacks most of the leaders of the Kurds died or were exiled. Due to this they acude to Iran for help, and they accept. -
The repression
By now Saddam was the effective leader of Iraq had ever had, and now he even become the general of the army. He controlled almost everything. Although he keep the army happy and indoctrinated to avoid opposition. There was lots of repression during this times. -
The new President
Saddam Hussein obliged the ailing president and he become the new president of Iraq in a formal way. -
The bombing of the kurds
As Kurds helped Iran in the war, they gained great control in Kurdish northern Iraq. In March of 1988 Saddam planed to bombard Kurdish towns with chemical weapons -
Saddam's "solution" to his problem with the kurds
Saddam set out to depopulate of the Kurdish North and break down the Kurdish nationalism. When Saddam´s cursing was put in charge, Saddam started a mass execution with chemicals weapons where more than 180.000 died and more or less 100.000 refugees went to Turkey.