Iraq

        Modern Iraq is approximately the same area as ancient [1] Mesopotamia. Settlements have been found in northern Mesopotamia, which probably date back to 5000 B.C., and urban civilizations, such as Erech and Ur, later arose in southern Mesopotamia. A number of flourishing civilizations, including those of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia developed there.

        The Sumerians used clay tablets with pictographs to keep records after 4000 B.C.. Ur of the Chaldees was flourishing by 3500 B.C. and is identified in the Bible as the home of Abraham. A cuneiform (wedge-shaped) script evolved by 3000 B.C. as a full syllabic alphabet. Neighboring peoples adapted the script to their own languages.
        The Sumerians were the rivals of Semitic cities such as Akkad and were ultimately conquered by them. Sumer was captured about 2340 B.C., ten years after Sargon I founded the Akkadian Empire, which incorporated the advances made by the Sumerians and spread them throughout Mesopotamia during the next two hundred years. A Sumerian revival under the third dynasty of Ur about 2060 B.C. lasted until that dynasty fell to Elam and was later absorbed by Babylonia and Assyria.
        Akkad and Sumer were united as Babylonia by Hammurabi (1792 BC-1750 BC), who made Babylon the chief Mesopotamian kingdom and codified the laws of Mesopotamia and Sumeria. He founded the first dynasty of Babylon. His code of laws, found on a column at Susa, is one of the greatest of the ancient codes. Babylonian religion and cuneiform writing were derived from the older culture of Sumer and society was divided into classes. These Babylonian institutions influenced Assyria and so contributed to the later history of the Middle East and of Western Europe. Babylonia degenerated into anarchy about 1180 B.C., but flourished once again as a subsidiary state of the Assyrian empire after the 9th century B.C.
        Later, Nabopolassar established (625 BC) what is generally known as the Chaldean or New Babylonian empire, which reached its height under his son Nebuchadnezzar. In 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B.C.) quelled a revolt by Judaea and set Zedekiah on the throne. Putting down a new revolt, he destroyed Jerusalem (586 B.C.) and took the king and many nobles captive, thus beginning the Babylonian captivity. Under Nebuchadnezzar Babylonia flourished, and Babylon became magnificent. His palace and temples have been excavated. The Old Testament book of Daniel depicts Nebuchadnezzar as a conceited and domineering king, and tells of his going mad and eating grass.

        Babylonia declined after 562 B.C. and fell in 538 B.C. when the last of the Babylonian rulers surrendered to Cyrus the Great of Persia. [2] Iranian rule including that of Darius the Great (520 to 485 BC) lasted for more than 200 years, from 551 to 331 BC, when the Iranian forces stationed in Babylon surrendered to Alexander the Great of Macedon. During this time Mesopotamian languages were replaced by widespread use of Aramaic, the official language of the empire. After conquering Iran, the Parthians (or Arsacids) went on to take over the Tigris-Euphrates river valley in 126 BC. They held the region for about 350 years with the exception of brief Roman occupations under Trajan (98-117 AD) and Septimius Severus (193-211 AD). Then the Sassanids, conquered the region in 227 AD and occupied it until 636. Mesopotamian culture disappeared, but passed on many traditions to the West. The basic principles of mathematics and astronomy, the coronation of kings, and such symbols as the tree of life, the Maltese cross, and the crescent are part of Mesopotamia's legacy.

        In the 8th cent., as capital of the Abbasid caliphate, Baghdad became an important center of learning and the arts. Mesopotamia was still important in the Byzantine Empire and in the Abbasid caliphate, but the Mongols devastated the area in 1258 A.D. Mesopotamia fell to the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century.

        The British invaded Iraq in World War I, and in 1920 the country became a League of Nations mandate under British administration until 1932, though British military bases remained.
        An Iraqi plebiscite conducted by the British high commissioner Sir Percy Cox showed 96 percent approval of installing Syria's Faisal I as king. Faisal arrived at Basra in 1921 and was placed on the throne of Iraq and reigned until his death in 1933, establishing the Hashimite dynasty that continued until 1958. Meanwhile, the first oil concession were granted (1925) and the export of oil began (1934). Domestic politics was marked by turbulence, and the country experienced seven military coups between 1936 and 1941.
        Iraq's dictator Gen. Bake Sidqi was assassinated by a Kurd following conclusion of a nonaggression pact signed by Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian, and Afghan diplomats. Later Iraq's King Ghazi was killed in a Baghdad auto accident and the British consul was stoned to death in riots which broke out when rumor said the British arranged the accident. Ghazi was succeeded by his 3-year-old son who reigned until 1958 as Faisal II.

        Following an army coup in 1958, Iraq became a republic under Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem. The chronic Kurdish problem flared up in 1962, when tribes demanding an autonomous Kurdistan gained control of much of Northern Iraq. The rebellion collapsed (1975), but intermittent warfare has continued.
        In 1968 a coup brought the Ba'ath party to power, and in 1979 Saddam Hussein became party leader and Iraq's president. Iraq launched the costly Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) that ended in a stalemate after Iraq regains most of the territory lost earlier. The conflict cost 105,000 Iraqi lives (while Iran lost at least 1 million) and left the country with $85 billion in war debt. Iraqi forces used poison gas to kill an estimated 10,000 Iranian soldiers. German companies built the facilities in Iraq to produce the gas, which was also used to kill at least 4,000 Kurdish civilians in the town of Halabja (some estimates say 12,000 men, women, and children).

In 1981 Israeli jets destroy Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor June 7 in a preemptive strike to prevent production of plutonium.

        In 1990 Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait after Kuwait refused demands by President Saddam Hussein to write-off $15 billion in loans extended during the Iraq-Iran war, to pay compensation for allegedly drilling oil on Iraqi territory, to cede disputed land, to reduce oil output, and to raise prices. The first Bush administration had told Saddam Hussein that it would not take sides and had no treaty obligation to defend Kuwait. Yet Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, London, Teheran, and Beijing united in denouncing his move and the United Nations Security Council voted 13 to 0 to impose economic sanctions (Yemen and Cuba abstained). When Iraq massed troops on the border of Saudi Arabia President Bush Sr. dispatched military forces. Then Iraq annexed Kuwait and proceeded to loot the country. Egypt, Syria, Morocco, and nine other Arab states voted to oppose Iraq with military force. Saddam Hussein called for a "holy war" against Westerners and Zionists, gaining wide popular support among Arabs. He ordered more than 10,000 foreigners in Iraq be held as hostages, but later permited women and children to leave, finally releasing all the others as the standoff continued.
        Kuwait's billionaire Emir Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah narrowly escaped capture and fled to Saudi Arabia where he urged the United Nations to stand by its economic sanctions. His relatives acted swiftly to keep Kuwaiti funds abroad out of Saddam Husseinžs hands. The United Nations Security Council voted to authorize members to use all necessary force to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait the first such resolution since the Korean conflict in 1950.

        The Persian Gulf War (1991) ended with Iraq ousted from Kuwait. Following the war, Iraqi Shiites and Kurds revolted. These uprisings were crushed, but both groups were provided in1992 with limited U.N. protection, which proved ineffective in the case of the Shiites. An Iraqi military buildup near the Kuwait border two years later led to the deployment of U.S. troops in Kuwait. France, Russia, and Turkey had favored lifting economic sanctions against Iraq, but Saddamžs action cooled enthusiasm for such relief, despite evident starvation and lack of medicines in Iraq.

        Iraq now has a [18] population of about 24 million people living in an [19] area of about 437 thousand square kilometers, which gives it a population density of about 55 people per square kilometer.