iraq

Sumeria and the birth of civilisation

From the beginning of the fifth millenium B.C., the fertile plain of the Mesopotamian delta was the scene of man’s greatest progress, the change from single scattered farming units to an urban society. At that distant point in time, the first towns had already been built at Eridu, Ur and Uruk.

The irrigation network for this plain was, with its dams and canals, a remarkable achievement, comparable with any subsequent river control system.

Archaelogists and historians are of the opinion that the Sumerians were the first to develop a form of civilisation, on the evidence of the excavations in their cities. In approximately 3200 B.C. they invented writing, and had scholars studying history.

The Akkadians

Contemporary with the Sumerians, the Akkadians were one of the oldest Semitic tribes to settle in the Mesopotamian delta, and under king Sargon, in about 2350 B.C., conquered the ancient kingdom of Sumer.

Sargon extended his rule over the cities of Iraq, the country of Elam, over Syria and Anatolia, and as far as the Arabian Gulf; by finally controlling the whole of the Middle East, he founded the first empire in the area.

Legends exist about his birth and life. His original name, Shroukin, means ‘the generous king’. He was born to one of the women of the temple who, after his birth, put him into a basket on the Euphrates where he was found by a gardener who adopted him. The goddess Ishtar watched over him as a child, and as he grew up, protected him with her loving care, until, in due course, he united his neighbouring Semitic tribes to fight the Sumerians and bring the whole of the Middle East under his control.

This was a period of great economic expansion as trade increased with the countries along the Arabian Gulf and along the caravan routes. One of the most important of these was between Akkad, the capital in the centre of Iraq and the Anatolian copper mines. Copper was carried to the capital and other principal cities of the empire for the manufacture of tools and weapons.

The Babylonians (1894-1594 B.C.)

The Babylonian dynasty (otherwise known as the Amorite dynasty) lasted for three hundred years under the rule of eleven kings.

It was during this period that Iraq reached its highest degree of civilisation. The Babylonian language both spoken and written, was in use in all Near Eastern countries. The frontiers of knowledge were pushed forward: science and the arts flourished. Trade increased to a level never experienced before in the area. Under a centralised administration, a codified system of law was in force in the country, the same laws which were subsequently included in the famous code of the immortal Hammurabi.

Hammurabi

This great man was king of Babylon from 1792 to 1750 B.C. On his accession, the country was divided into several small warring states. He succeeded in uniting them and in creating a large empire which included Iraq, the frontier towns of Syria as far as the Mediterranean, the country of Elam and other areas in the Middle East.

Apart from his military genius, he is best known for his great administrative skills and as social organiser. His laws were engraved on the famous diorite tablet, now in the Louvre in Paris, and are the most complete of the ancient codes of law known to man.

The code consists of 282 articles which are concerned with all aspects of the life of the human being. It includes a guide for the personal conduct of the individual in society, drawn up in detail and with astonishing insight, and sets down the rights and duties of each according to his position and responsibilities.

Five kings succeeded Hammurabi, and during the reign of the last of these, Samsu-Ditana, the Hassites captured Babel, pillaged its wealth and destroyed it before withdrawing to the Taurus mountains. This, in 1594 B.C., marked the end of the Babylonian empire.

Practically nothing is known about the origins or the language of this high-land people before they arrived in Iraq. Several of their scientific terms, however, recorded by the Babylonians, are thought to be of Indo-European roots. They came down from the mountains of Loristan in the north-east, captured Babylon from which the Hassites had withdrawn, and founded the Kassite dynasty as successors to the Babylonian empire. They gave themselves the title of ‘kings of Babel and Akkad’.

Their most famous king was Kurigalzu (1483-1412 B.C.) a contemporary of the Pharaoh Amnu-Kis II of Egypt. He built a new capital, called Dur-Kurigalzu, the ruins of which are to be found 25 miles north-west of Baghdad at Agarguf. The huge ‘ziggurat’ is in good condition and has withstood the ravages of time for more than two thousand years. It was consecrated to the most important Kassite god, An-Lil.

According to the records found at Tel-al-Amarna (the country of Amurru) in Egypt, the Kassites had far-ranging contacts with the East, during the time of Akhenaton. They added practically nothing, however, to the culture inherited from their predecessors, or to the history of Mesopotamia.

A Semitic tribe which emigrated from the Arabian Peninsula and settled in the north of Iraq around 3000 B.C. On every possible occasion their rulers had tried to break away from the rule of the states in the south of Iraq. Then in the first millenium B.C. they became a force to be reckoned with when king Adad-Nirari subjugated his neighbours and made a treaty with Babel. It was at this time that he began the series of conquests which became the greatest Eastern empire known to ancient history.

Under king Nirari, written records of their history began to be kept, known as ‘lemmi’, in which the important events of the year were recorded under the name of the chief minister, appointed annually by the king.

One of their famous kings was Assur-Nasirpal ii (884-858 B.C.), a stern ruler whose conquests extended as far as the northern and eastern mountains. He fought against the Arameans and captured Damascus using chariots for the first time in man’s history for taking cities by storm.

The kingdom was divided up into provinces for each of which he appointed a governor. He rebuilt the city of Calah (Nimrud) and constructed a dam in dressed stone on the Tigris. In his large palace were carved marble scenes depicting incidents in his life; hunting and battle scenes and vassal princes bringing him gifts and tribute. This was one of the greatest achievements of Assyrian architecture.

Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.)
Although military genius, his reputation is based on his civil engineering achievements. He enlarged and extended the irrigation system and constructed a large number of reservoirs. He brought water to Nineveh through a stone aqueduct from the spnngs of the river Kumel in the Bafian mountains.

Ashurbanipal (669-629 B.C.)
Famous for his achievements in the artistic and literary fields, he built up an immense library which included translations of Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian texts. He collected and indexed scientific works and scholars from every country were welcomed at his court.

More than 24,000 clay tablets have been found in the palace library at Nineveh covering all kinds of literary and scientific subjects.

In 612 B.C. Nineveh, capital of Assyria, was captured by the Chaldean Nabopolassar. After the siege the ramparts were destroyed and the king burned to death in his palace.

The fall of Nineveh marked the end of Assyrian political and military domination and a new era in Mesopotamian civilisation was inaugurated by the Chaldeans.

Their greatest king was Nabu-Chodonossar, who reigned for forty years (605-562 B.C.), and most famous for his building achievements, particularly in his capital, Babel, which was continually being enlarged and beautified during his reign.

One of the seven wonders of the world, the hanging gardens, were created here. In the magnificent palace built for his wife Amanis, daughter of Atyakis, whose homeland was in the mountains, the king wanted her to have the type of scenery with which she was familiar.

Accordingly, he had gardens planted, complete with trees, and an ingenious irrigation system on each of the seven stories of the palace.

The gateway of Ishtar is another of his magnificent achievements. It is made of gaily coloured glazed bricks with carvings in relief of a lion, a bull, and the mythical animal called Mushakhshu, one of the forms of their god Marduk. The gateway is now in the Berlin Museum. It is 50 meters high, including the towers, and 8 meters wide, leading to the Processional Way, as wide as the towers and one hundred meters long.

Major construction and irrigation works were carried out over the whole country. He was also a religious reformer and propagated Babylonian culture through-out the whole of the Middle East.

His successors, after his death in 562 B.C., were weak monarchs. They added little that was new, failing even to preserve the heritage passed on to them.

In 539 B.C., Kursh, king of Persia, took Babel and annexed Iraq, and for the next two centuries the country was under Persian rule.

After the fall of the Chaldean empire in 538 B.C., a series of foreign dynasties ruled the country of the two rivers. These included the Achaemenians, Alexander of Macedon, the Seleucians, Parthians and Sassanians.

During the reign of the Sassanian king, Yazujord iii in 637 A.D., Said Ibn Abi Waqqas at the head of the Arab-Islamic army of liberation freed Iraq from Sassanian rule at the famous battle of Al-Quadissiya. He pursued their armies as far as Iran and finally defeated them at the battle of Nafawand in 642 A.D. The Persian king fled and after he was killed in 651 A.D., Persian domination came to an end and the foundations were laid for the Arab-Islamic empire.

In addition to the states which existed on the Arabian Peninsula in pre-Islamic times, the Arabs had settled also in Iraq and Syria. They had established staging posts along the caravan routes during the Parthian, Byzantine and Sassanian periods. These staging posts developed into towns surrounded by walls, and since the caravan routes were also military routes, these towns had great strategic importance during the Persian, Roman and Byzantine Middle Eastern campaigns.

They also became important trading points between their Arab inhabitants and the Persians and Greeks. The most important ones and the tribes inhabiting them were:

The Nabataeans at Al-Bataa, the AI-Nasru at Al-Hadhar, the Tadmur and Cjassanian Arabs living in the Hauran valley south of Damascus and the Manadhira Tannukians and the Lakhmids at Hira.
The independance of these tribes and settlements ended with the Muslim conquest.

Four countries ivaded Iraq in 2003. These were the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland. The invasion was the beginning of the current Iraq War.

According to George W. Bush, at that time President of the United States the reason was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people. In 2005, the CIA released a report saying that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.

The invasion started with an air strike on the Iraqi Presidential Palace on March 19, 2003. The following day, Basra was attacked. Massive air strikes across the country caused chaos and prevented an effective resistance.

Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and Baghdad was occupied on April 9. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein went into hiding as the occupation of the country was completed. On May 1, an end of major combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period and beginning the military occupation period.

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, is an ongoing military campaign. President Hussein was captured and later sentenced to death and executed by the new Iraqi government. By 2008, the estimated number of refugees was about 4.7 million.

In June 2008, U.S. Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of improvement. In late February 2009, new U.S. President Barack Obama announced withdrawal of their combat forces within a 18-month period. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports the accelerated pullout of US forces.

In 750 A.D. the torch of Arab-Islamic civilisation passed from the hands of the Syrian Ommayads to those of the Abbassids, who, in taking over the Caliphate, enriched both the Islamic and other civilisations during their reign.

Many great cities had been founded by earlier peoples, and under the first Caliphs, cities such as Basra, Kufah and Wasit were founded. It was under the second Caliph Abu Jafar Al-Mansur that Baghdad was founded to become the capital of his empire and a beacon of learning to all mankind.

During his reign, Baghdad, whose other name was Dar-es-Salaam (city of peace), became a magnet for men of science, literature and art from all over the world. It was during the Caliphates of Haroun al-Rashid and his son AI-Mamun that Iraq reached the highest point in what was truly a golden age.

The empire consolidated its boundaries and strenghtened its administration, wealth and prosperity spread throughout the land. The renown of the Caliphate became synonymous with the name of the capital (another name was capital of Al-Rashid), and was known all over the world. international relationships were developed, and it should be noted that Al-Rashid was contemporary with Charlemagne with whom he had strong ties of friendship. His son, Al-Mamun was a scholar in his own right, with a true scholars breadth of understanding so that even serious arguments on religious questions could take place in his presence.

But mankind’s greatest debt to him is for his act of bringing to Baghdad translators from every country in the world to translate into Arabic the most important academic works on all subjects from their own countries. As payment he gave the equivalent weight in gold of each translators’ book-which led some to choose the thickest parchment for their manuscript. Knowing this ruse, AI-Mamun nevertheless paid this weight if he considered that it was worth it. Other scholars and authors were rewarded with even greater generosity. As a result of this immense effort, the Arab language became the repository of man’s cultural heritage, and for this alone the name of Al-Mamun remains immortal.

Town-planning, trade and agriculture made enormous progress during this period in Mesopotamia.

This beacon of civilisation was extinguished on February 20th, 1258 when Helagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, captured Baghdad at the head of his Tartars, and indulged in an unprecedented orgy of brutality.

It is said that the waters of the Tigris first ran red with blood from the corpses, and then black from the ink of the books thrown into it. Thus was one of the most enlightened of civilisations destroyed, and for long afterwards, Mesopotamia was plunged into the dark ages of ignorance, poverty and corruption.

The Ottoman domination, which lasted until the end of the first World War; began during the 16th century. After the fall of the Ottoman empire, Great Britain was given a mandate to govern Iraq. In fact, this was only a pretext for the continuation of foreign rule and a means for exploiting the wealth of the country for the benefit of the colonialists.

The situation did not change at the end of the British mandate, when Iraq became independent and a member of the League of Nations.

Her independence was only in name,-a situation which was recognized as such by the population and led them to decide upon open warfare. During the course of the struggle against imperialism and its lackeys, the Iraqi people were called upon to make heavy sacrifices and to see many of their best fall on the road which leads to liberty.

The country overcame all attempts to subdue it, resisted moves to isolate it, and continued to fight against foreign domination and oppression, thus furthering cause of the Arab nation.

The July Revolution (1958)

At dawn on July 14th, 1958 the monarchy was overthrown, the corrupt feudal system destroyed, and the Republic of Iraq proclaimed.

This marked a turning point in the country’s history, in the break with dependance on the imperialists and the abrogation of its military alliances. Unfortunately, it did not take long before things went awry and a dictatorship was set up by Abdelkarim Kassem. The people, who had already acquired a taste for freedom, were not prepared to accept this and continued to strive towards their democratic objectives.

The February Revolution (1963)

On February 8th 1963, the armed militia of the Arab Ba’th Socialist Party, with the loyal support of the people, overthrew the Kassim government and put an end to a period which had been filled with tribulation for Iraq.

Great efforts were made to bring about the objectives of the revolution, in particular the formation of a progressive and socialist national government capable of sustaining the fight for Arab unity.

But the allied forces of imperialism reacted quickly against the young revolution and forced it to succumb, without however, preventing the movement from continuing to grow amongst the people.

The July 17th Revolution (1968)

The reactionaries were overthrown by the glorious Revolution of July 17th., under the leadership of the Ba’th Party. Iraq was now back on her path towards progress and able to take her proper place as a leader of the liberation movements in Arab and other countries.

Thanks to the Revolution, a new and flourishing era began, characterised by stability, prosperity and enlightenment.

Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq from 1979 until 2003. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Ba’ath Party and participated in the 1968 coup that brought the party to power.

As vice president under General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam created security forces through which he could controll conflicts between the government and the armed forces. Through the 1970s, Saddam strengthened his authority as Iraq’s economy grew rapidly.

As president, Saddam maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and Gulf War. During these conflicts, Saddam suppressed Shi’a and Kurdish movements seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence.

In 2003, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, and Saddam lost his power. Captured on 13 December 2003, Saddam was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government. He was found guilty the killing of Iraqi Shi’ites in 1982 and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on 30 December 2006.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to use its resources and money to rebuild Iraq’s economy. The Iraqi government claimed that Kuwait was illegally slant drilling its oil wells into Iraqi territory. Hussein declared after the occupation that Kuwait was to be part of Iraq.

Iraq refused a withdrawal and the UN Security Council voted for military action against Iraq in 1991. The United States, which had enormous vested interests in the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf region, led an international coalition into Kuwait and Iraq.

Despite being a large military force, the Iraqi army was no match for the advanced weaponry of the coalition forces. Hussein eventually accepted the inevitable and ordered a withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Before the forces were withdrawn, however, Hussein ordered them to sabotage Kuwait’s oil wells, which resulted in hundreds of wells being set ablaze.

The aftermath of the war saw the Iraqi military destroyed. In return for peace, Iraq was forced to dismantle all chemical and biological weapons it possessed, and end any attempt to create or purchase nuclear weapons, to be assured by the allowing UN weapons inspectors to evaluate the dismantlement of such weapons.