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History of Modern Iraq
Following World War I the British received a Mandate to govern Iraq. The British
effected their mandate, after some consideration, reorganization, and violent opposition,
through an Iraqi King – King Faisal, son of Sheik Hussein of of Mecca and a leader in the
Arab revolt against Ottoman rule during World War I. Faisal was installed as King on
27 August 1921, his brother Abdullah was installed by the British in a similar position in
Transjordan.
As the British transitioned out of authority in Iraq, order was maintained by the Sunni
dominated government led by Faisal and backed by the British trained and equipped
Sunni dominated military. The Kurd minority and Shia’ majority were not sufficiently
powerful to threaten the central government. Such were the conditions upon Iraqi
independence and admission to the League of Nations in 1932. Unfortunately, Faisal, an
adroit politician who understood well the challenges of ruling Iraq, died of a heart attack
in September 1933. His twenty-one year old son Ghazi succeeded him. In the first three
years of Ghazi’s rule the government changed three times: a powerful civilian Prime
Minister was replaced by a western oriented military leadership which in turn was
replaced by a Arab nationalist military leadership.
King Ghazi was killed in a car accident in April 1939. His death provided the occasion
for another struggle for power between nationalistic military officers and a civilian
faction led by the appointed royal Regent, Abd al-Ilah. Efforts by the military to wrest
control from the Regent resulted in a reoccupation of Iraq in 1940 by British military
forces who remained for the duration of World War II.
Iraq emerged from World War II led by the pro-British combination of Regent Abd alIlah and Prime Minister Nuri as Said. Despite economic strides made in the immediate
post World War II period, the political climate in Iraq remained as tense as the first
decade of independence. The defeat of Arab forces in 1948 by Israel, the overthrow of
the pro-Western Egyptian King Fad in 1952, and the rise of the popular anti-Western
Mossadegh government in neighboring Iran all encouraged anti-West Iraqi factions. In
1954 Iraq joined the pro-Western Baghdad Pact treaty organization allying itself with
Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan in a mutual defensive agreement sponsored by the United
States against possible Soviet threats. This Pact would in many ways have the opposite
effect.
The Baghdad Pact was a factor setting in motion the forces that drove Cairo and Moscow
into a closer relationship. More important for Iraqi history the Pact was a direct affront to
the long simmering nationalist sentiments within the Iraqi Army officer corps. It became
the catalyst that ignited the revolution of 1958 --the first in a string of coups and
revolutions that would plague Iraq until the Bathist consolidated power in 1968. The
1958 revolt was led by a secret nationalistic organization called the Free Officers
Movement. On July 14, 1958 they seized control of Baghdad, and executed the King,
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Regent, and the Prime Minister. The revolutionary forces declared an end to the
monarchy, proclaimed Iraq a Republic, and sought closer ties to the Soviet Union.
Abd al-Karim Qasim led the coup but his policies created a great many internal and
external enemies. In February 1963 a faction of Army officers allied with the Bath Party
overthrew Qasim and had him executed. He was replaced by his former partner, Abd asSalam Arif as President, and a Bathist officer, Colonel Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr became
Premier. Again, internal dissention among the revolutionaries prevailed and by 1964 Arif
had removed the Bathist from positions of authority and had many of them arrested. In
September 1965 Arif appointed a distinguished civilian diplomat and lawyer, Abd arRahman al-Bazzaz to form a new government. His reformist influence was short lived.
When Arif was killed in a helicopter accident in 1966 Army leaders quickly forced the
new President, Arif’s elder brother Abd ar-Rahman Arif, to remove al-Bazzaz.
In July 1968 a final coup occurred in Iraq. The Bath party, resurgent after being brushed
aside by Arif, teamed up with a small group of key Army officers and attacked the
leadership of the Arif regime. Arif himself was allowed to leave the country in exile.
The Bath party that took over in 1968 was led by the former Army officer Ahmad Hassan
al-Bakr who had briefly been Premier in 1963. His ruthless lieutenant Saddam Hussein
assisted him. After establishing control of the country the Bathist eliminated their Army
rivals by posting them outside of Iraq and threatening their lives.
The early years of Bath party rule were consumed with consolidating their power,
fending off coup attempts, and dealing with the problems of Kurdish assertions of
autonomy in Northern Iraq. This agenda precluded them from aggressively pursuing
domestic social reforms although it didn’t stop them from continuing a strong policy of
friendship toward the Soviet Union. In 1972 the relationship with the Soviets culminated
in a treaty of friendship.
In 1979 Iraq underwent the first change of leadership in two decades that was not directly
associated with a coup or revolution. Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr retired from office and was
replaced by Saddam Hussein. Saddam’s assumption of power was accompanied by a
purge of dozens of top party officials and twenty-two members of leadership were
summarily executed. Although the structure of the party did not fundamentally change,
after the events of July 1979 the Bathist rule of Iraq became much more the personal rule
of Saddam Hussein and the party was reduced to being an extension of his personal
power.
The first major test of Saddam’s leadership was relations with Iran. Almost concurrent
with Saddam’s rise to power was the overthrow of the Shad of Iran. Iran became a
major source of anti-Bathist agitation and Iranian propaganda against the secular Bathist
regime was particularly effective among Iraq’s Shia’ majority. Border clashes between
the two countries increased and on September 17, 1980 Saddam announced that he was
reassuming control of the Shatt el-Arab and abrogating the 1975 agreement with the
Shah. Five days later, on September 21, Iraqi forces invaded Iran. The Ayatollah
Khomeini viewed the war in theological and personal terms and was totally unwilling to
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compromise. This intransigence resulted in a prolonged war with immense costs in
capital and casualties on both sides. An Iranian counter-offensive eventually won back
most of the invaded territory and Iranian forces made significant gains into Iraq. The
Iraqis however were very successful on the diplomatic front. In addition to continued
and strong support from their Soviet allies, the Iraqis also managed to build support
among the other Gulf States, Western Europe, and the United States. The United States
and other nations contributed intelligence support, some weapons, financing, and
technology to the Iraqi war effort. In 1988 the efforts of the allies, Iraqi battlefield
success, and the deepening isolation of Iran contributed to the Iranians agreeing to a
ceasefire with Iraq. The war effectively ended with a return to borders and conditions of
the 1975 treaty with the Shah. With the conclusion of the war Iraqi prestigious was very
high, its military formidable, but its economy was severely disrupted and the country was
deeply in depth to some of its Arab neighbors.
The decision by Saddam Hussein in 1990 to invade Kuwait ultimately led to the
destruction of his regime twelve years later at the hands of the United States. Return of
the Shatt el-Arab to dual ownership after the Iran-Iraq War effectively denied its use to
Iraq. This caused Iraq to renew the tradition dispute over borders and access to the Gulf
with the Kuwait. In addition Iraq was facing large financial deficits as Saddam’s
economic and military programs plus the war debt cost much more than Iraqi oil
production earned. These conditions caused the Hussein regime to develop an elaborate
theory that connected Israel, the United States, and Kuwait in a scheme to thwart Iraq’s
ability to achieve its goal of economic prosperity and regional military dominance. The
solution to this conspiracy was to use Iraq’s military capabilities to remove the source of
its economic challenges by invading and occupying Kuwait. This occurred on 2 August
1990.
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was a demonstration of Saddam Hussein’s fundamental lack
of understanding of the basic changes occurring in the international situation. The Cold
War was ending and with it the ability of a regional power like Iraq with close ties to the
Soviet Union to act with some expectation of protection from its Soviet ally. In the face
of Iraqi ignorance and intransigence U.S. President George H. Bush obtained UN
support, forged an international coalition, and deployed an unprecedented military force
to the region. In February 1991 the U.S. led force launched a comprehensive military
campaign initiated with by a strategic air campaign that targeted Iraq’s infrastructure.
The air campaign was followed by a short and decisive 100 hour ground war that not only
liberated Kuwait but destroyed the bulk of Saddam’s military capability in the process.
Subsequent to the Gulf War Saddam sought to reestablish himself as a regional power.
This required that he subvert and avoid UN sanctions placed upon him as a result of the
war and ruthless suppress uprising by both Kurds and Shia’ emboldened by his defeat.
Ultimately Saddam’s disingenuous relations with the U.S. and the UN, combined with
another change in the international situation caused by the terrorist attacks of 11
September 2001, which he failed to recognize, led to a U.S. invasion and the destruction
of Hussein and Bathist regime in 2003.
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