Short History Of Iraq and Culture

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Short History Of Iraq and Culture
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Mesopotamia – the core of modern Iraq – was at the heart of the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires between the seventh century BC and AD 100. After brief spells under the rule of the Romans and the Sassanids (a minor regional power at the time), the Arabs conquered Iraq in AD 633. The Arab Caliphate had control of the territory during the late 12th and early 13th centuries before being dislodged by the Mongols. At the end of the 14th century Iraq, Azerbaijan to the north, Persia and parts of Turkey, Syria and Transcaucasia were conquered and subsumed into the empire ruled by Timur (also known as Tamerlane). The Turks were the next imperial invaders, ruling from the early 1500s until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

In 1920, Iraq was placed under a League of Nations mandate administered by the UK, whose forces had occupied most of the country. The Hashemite Amir Faisal ibn Hussain, brother of the new ruler of neighbouring Jordan, Abdallah, was proclaimed King in 1921. The country achieved independence in 1932, but British forces intervened once again in 1941 to prevent a pro-Nazi coup. British troops were finally withdrawn in 1947. In 1958, the Hashemite Dynasty was overthrown by a group of radical army officers inspired by the example of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, and led by Brigadier Abdul al-Karim Kassem. The new regime failed to consolidate its position, however, and relied on a precarious coalition of forces, which quickly disintegrated.

After Kassem was killed in 1963 during a further coup, Colonel Abdul Salem Muhammed Aref set up a new Government. Iraq declared war on Israel at the outbreak of the Six-Day War in June 1967, although Iraqi forces were not engaged. In 1968, Iraq's final coup in recent history brought to power the Ba'ath Party. Ba'ath ideology espouses pan-Arabism, socialism and resistance to foreign interference, although many political scientists have noted its similarity to European fascism. Ba'athism was originally brought into Iraq from Syria during the 1950s and grew quickly. As it did so, however, the Syrian and Iraqi strains grew apart from one another and by the end of the 1960s were mutually hostile.

Since then, relations between Iraq and Syria have deteriorated still further: a decade later, Syria was a willing participant in the USA-led coalition which expelled Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait. In July 1979, after a power struggle within the Ba'ath Party, Vice President Saddam Hussein took over as President and party leader. Saddam's main objectives were to establish his country as the undisputed leader of the Arab world and to overcome the Arabs' two principal enemies in the Middle East, Iran and Israel. Saddam reached the top at a time of escalating tension between Iran and Iraq. Iran appeared to be in chaos following the Islamic revolution which overthrew the Shah. The Iraqis perceived a good opportunity to resolve a long-running territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway which feeds the Gulf and divides the two countries.