Iraq History

A brief Iraq history is as follows: It gained its independence from British rule in 1932.

Back in 637 AD, Islamic Arab armies occupied Iraq. Baghdad, along with Al-Kufa and Mosul, became the most important cities at this time in the Arab world. The rulers back then were called caliphs and the first Abbasid caliph took power in 749 AD. Baghdad continued to grow in size and popularity.

In 1258, the grandson of Genghis Khan, whose name was Hulagu, destroyed Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid caliph.

By 1638, the Ottomans took over the rule and changed Iraq history. In the 1800's, the Iraqi people began to resent other countries ruling Iraq. Then the British government took possession of the country in 1920. This allowed the country's independence in 1932 as stated above.

After Iraq gained its independence, it appeared to be up for grabs to a lot of groups who tried to take control of it with various coups.

Large oil reserves were discovered in Iraq. On July 14, 1958, Iraq's ruling monarch was overthrown by a military coup, once again changing Iraq history. At this point, it became a republic.

In 1967, Iraq looked to the Soviet Union for financial support during the Arab-Israeli War. The United States and Great Britain supported Israel so they did not try to get help there.

General Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr took over Iraq in a bloodless coup by the Ba'ath Party on July 17, 1968.

In 1979, Saddam Hussein became the president. Then the Iranian Revolution happened and Iran and Iraq no longer communicated with each other.

Saddam, out of fear the the Shiites in Iraq would try to overthrow him, said that his Iraq wanted full control over the Shatt al-Arab River.

This caused war to break out on September 22, 1980. Iraqi soldiers went into Iran through an 800 kilometer section of the border. This war went on for 8 years. Iraq spent more than $100 billion and about 1 million people were killed, both military and civilians.

In March of 1988, Iraq used chemical warfare in northern Iraq on Kurdish guerillas. Thousands of civilians were also killed by the use of these chemical weapons.

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