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The Babylonian
ziggurat of
Ur-Nammu
IRAQ: From Babylon to Baghdad
Limestone
griffin from
northern
Mesopotamia
The peoples who once inhabited Mesopotamia, the fertile plains between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, have made great
contributions to Western knowledge and civilization. But today, Iraq has become an outcast among many Western nations. Its people
live under the dictatorship of President Saddam Hussein and are smarting under economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations
following the Persian Gulf War. Iraq faces a possible U.S. military attack unless Saddam reveals and destroys his alleged nuclear,
chemical and biological weapons and components.
A Mosaic of Peoples
M
•Ancient times: People settled along
E
S
the Tigris and Euphrates as early as
•The Arabs: Bedouins from the Arabian Peninsula,
7000 B.C., and some Bible historians
[ Baghdad
who had become followers of Islam, brought
place the Garden of Eden in that region.
by the prophet Muhammad, stormed into
T
s
i
i
gr
The Sumerians, who lived in the marshy
Mesopotamia and defeated the Persians in 637.
Babylon
south, developed a thriving civilization
AKKAD
At the time, the majority of people living in
beginning about 3500 B.C. They used pottery
Mesopotamia were Zoroastrians and Christians.
M
BABYLONIA
wheels to make clay utensils, devised one of
SUMER
Islam established itself, aided by conversions
I A
Eup
the first lunar calendars and developed
hrat
and the influx of more people from the Arabian
e
s Ur
advanced mathematical concepts. They
Peninsula.
constructed irrigation systems, enabling an
•Schism of Islam: A fight over the succession
agricultural society to thrive. Their cuneiform system
to Muhammad as the political ruler caused the
of writing recorded commerce as well as epic poetry.
Persian Gulf
schism of Islam in 661 into Shiite and Sunni
It is in this region that urban centers first developed,
branches, a division that still deeply affects Iraq.
including Ur, the city that Abraham left to find Canaan,
according to the Bible. The Amorite king Hammurabi
•Baghdad is born: In 762, Baghdad became the new capital and
unified the city states and established the first known code of
developed into one of the most important cities in the civilized
law. The Amorites as well as other invaders blended their
world. For centuries, Baghdad was the center of learning,
cultures with that of the Sumerians, and Mesopotamia flourished
science, philosophy and poetry. This golden age of Islam, in
until the 500s B.C., with Babylon as its capital.
which Arab rule extended as far as Spain, revived learning
in Europe and helped spark the Renaissance.
•Babylon destroyed and rebuilt: After Babylon was destroyed by the
Assyrians in 669 B.C., the city was reconstructed. Under King
•The Mongols: Baghdad fell to attacking Mongols in 1258.
Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon was considered the world’s most
The city was destroyed, citizens massacred and the
beautiful, most advanced city. Nebuchadnezzar is said to have
caliph executed. The economy of Mesopotamia
built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel.
did not recover for centuries.
•The Greeks: In 331 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered the region,
•The Ottoman Turks: The Ottomans conquered
beginning an infusion of Hellenistic culture.
Mesopotamia in 1533 and ruled until 1918.
During that time, the region was just a
•The Persians: In 64 A.D., the Persians took over, and Mesopobackwater in the empire.
tamia became one of the richest provinces in the Persian
Empire.
O
Cuneiform writing on
a soft clay tablet
P
O
T
A
Early
Mesopotamian
sailboat
An Akkadian
ruler, 2250 B.C.
Assyrian Greek
Sumerian/Babylonian rule
4000
3000
Persian
Arab
2000
Mongol
Ottoman
191
100
Babylon becomes capital of Mesopotamia
Babylonian
Baghdad becomes capital of Arab world
Persian
Iraq in the 20th Century
BRITAIN’S ROLE
•World War I: Britain invaded Mesopotamia in 1914 and
battled the Ottomans for four years. Britain’s main
goal was safeguarding the land route to its Indian
empire and its oil interests in Iran.
•British mandate: Britain received a League of Nations
mandate to administer Mesopotamia in 1920. British
officials drew the borders of Iraq with little regard to
ethnic or religious divisions. The mandate included
areas populated by Kurds, who have fought for selfrule ever since. Under British rule, the Sunni minority
held most top administrative and military jobs, as they
did under the Ottomans. Most Iraqis, however, did not
fully accept British rule.
•The monarchy: After an uprising in 1920, which British
troops quelled forcefully, Britain handed rule to King
Faisal I, a Hashemite from the Arabian Peninsula. But
London kept a strong presence, even after Iraq gained
formal independence in 1932. Iraq’s constitutional
monarchy lasted more than 35 years under three
kings. During that time, the nation elected a parliament,
improved education and created a national army.
Many older Iraqis remember the monarchy fondly.
Tensions rose with the long-established Jewish
community after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war and the
formation of Israel. By 1951, most Jews had left for
Israel.
•The republic: Resentment against British imperialism—
enhanced by the overthrow of Egypt’s king—led to
several coup attempts. In 1958, King Faisal II was
assassinated in a coup that brought Gen. Abdul
Kareem Qasim to power. A year later, Saddam Hussein,
then 22, participated in the attempted assassination
of Qasim. Dozens of the
plotters were tried, but Hussein
escaped and spent several years
in Egypt. For the next decade,
Iraq saw a succession
of military rulers.
SADDAM HUSSEIN’S RULE
President Bush has
called Saddam
Hussein, 65, “a
homicidal dictator
addicted to weapons
of mass destruction.”
T U R K E Y
Amadiyah
Dihok
Tall Afar
Nineveh
Mosul
Irbil
“NO-FLY” ZONE NORTH OF 36°
Tharthar
Lake
I
S Y R I A
Akashat
Ramadi
Tuwaitha
“NO-FLY” ZONE SOUTH OF 33°
Tirbil
Khanaqin
Samarra
Samarra airfield
A
Taji
Musayyib
Najaf
Babylon
Hilla
Ti
gr
Nippur
Diwaniyah
Kurdish area
Marshes in 1977
Amarah
Eup
hra
te s
Ash Shatrah
Ur
Nasiriyah
Marshes in 2000
Some of the hundreds of sites
U.N. inspectors have checked for
possible illegal arms programs.
Qurnah
Basra
Sh
a
tt a
Chemical and bioweapon
Missile
Nuclear
ra
Safwan
lA
Faw
b
Christian
and other 3%
Hayy
is
Shiite Sunni
Muslim Muslim
60%
37%
Oil fields
Archaeological sites
gr
Religious makeup*
KEY
Kut
Samawah
•Iraq was part of the ancient
Fertile Crescent but today is dominated
by the petroleum industry. It sits on the
world’s second-largest proven oil
reserves.
•Almost half of the population is under age 15.
I R A N
is
Ti
•168,750 square
miles; somewhat larger
than California.
* Data estimated since no census is available.
Mandali
Mahmudiyah
Al Rafah
THE LAND
•23.3 million, with the south
being the most densely populated.
Q
Baghdad
Fallujah
Karbala
THE PEOPLE
• Military buildup: As the United States continued to
assemble military forces to oust Saddam, Secretary
of State Colin L. Powell gave the United Nations
satellite photos and telephone intercepts that he
said pointed to Baghdad’s efforts at concealment.
Baqubah
Razzaza
Lake
J O R D A N
Arabs
80%
R
Muhammadiyat
Rutbah
Tozkhurmato
Tikrit
Anah
Anah
Qaim
Turkoma
n and
Kurds
other
5%
15%
Sulaymaniyah
Kirkuk
Bayji
Ethnic makeup*
•Iran-Iraq war: Fears that the 1979 revolution in
Shiite Iran could challenge secular Baathist rule,
and a border dispute over the Shatt al Arab,
sparked war in 1980. In the eight years of fighting,
500,000 to 1 million Iraqis and Iranians died. After
first selling weapons to Iran, the United States
openly supported Iraq.
•Weapons of mass destruction: Israel suspected
that Hussein was developing nuclear weapons,
and bombed Iraq’s nuclear plant near Baghdad
in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors discovered that
Iraq had come close to developing nuclear
bombs. Hussein also developed chemical and
biological weapons, and first used chemical
agents against Iran and during attacks
on dozens of Kurdish villages, killing
at least 20,000 people.
•The Baathists: When the Baath Party—a secular,
nationalist party that espoused socialism and
pan-Arabism—took power in 1968, Saddam
secured the No. 2 spot behind Gen. Ahmed
Hassan Bakr, a cousin. The government
immediately clamped down on internal dissent,
but stabilized the country.
•Saddam’s move: Saddam succeeded his ailing
patron, Bakr, and declared himself president
in 1979. Saddam aimed to make Iraq the
dominant Arab power, and immediately had
his opponents, including hundreds of party
members, executed. This way of controlling
the opposition has continued.
Zakho
THE GULF WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH
• Invasion of Kuwait: On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded
Kuwait and annexed it. The United Nations called for
immediate withdrawal and imposed economic
sanctions. But Saddam did not pull out.
• Operation Desert Storm: On Jan. 17, 1991, the United
States and allied nations launched a six-week bombing
campaign against Iraqi military and civilian targets,
followed by a 100-hour ground attack that drove Iraqi
forces out of Kuwait. Most of Iraq’s military equipment
was destroyed, and tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers
were killed. But a defiant Saddam remained in office.
Cease-fire: Iraq accepted cease-fire terms on March
3, including an end to all programs to build weapons
of mass destruction (to be verified by U.N. inspectors)
and an end to support of international terrorism.
Rebellion: In mid-March, Shiites in the south and Kurds
in the north rebelled. U.S. officials hoped the revolts
would trigger the ouster of Saddam. But his Republican
Guard crushed the insurrections. Millions of Kurds
fled to Turkey and Iran. U.S., British and French troops
set up a haven for the Kurds, and the United States
and its allies imposed two “no-fly” zones. In the south,
the government began to drain the marshes that Shiite
dissidents had used as shelter.
• Sanctions eased: Sanctions impoverished many Iraqis,
and reports grew of child malnutrition and deaths. In
1996, under an accord with the United Nations, Iraq
began to export oil in exchange for imports of food
and medicine, again under U.N. supervision.
• U.N. inspectors: From the start, Iraq hindered U.N.
inspectors, and although U.N. teams destroyed some
chemical, biological and nuclear-related weapons
components, they concluded in 1998 that Iraq had
failed to reveal its entire secret weapons program.
The inspectors left, and the United States and its
allies launched Operation Desert Fox, bombing
suspected weapons sites and anti-aircraft
installations. Iraq refused to readmit the inspectors.
• Terror attacks: After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks
in the United States, President Bush labeled Iraq a
member of the “axis of evil,” and he called for a
“regime change” in Iraq. Months of U.N. wrangling
and U.S. threats followed, and finally in December,
Saddam let the inspectors return to check for illegal
arms programs. While the inspectors visited the sites
of their choice, they reported in February that
Baghdad continued to hide arms materials.
SAUDI
KU W A I T
ARABIA
0
200
MILES
Source: “A History of Iraq” by Charles Tripp;“The Reckoning” by Sandra Mackay; “From Sumer to Saddam,” by Geoff Simons; www.mideastweb.org;
www.metmuseum.org; CIA; United Nations; The National Geographic Illustrated Cultural Atlas of the Ancient World
Kuwait City
Persian
Gulf
Dita Smith, Patterson Clark, Richard Furno and Laura Stanton; Research by Robert E. Thomason/The Washington Post