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{{History of Iraq}}

[[Iraq]], a country located in [[West Asia]], largely coincides with the ancient region of [[Mesopotamia]], often referred to as the [[cradle of civilization]]. The history of Mesopotamia extends back to the [[Lower Paleolithic]] period, with significant developments continuing through the establishment of the [[Caliphate]] in the late 7th century AD, after which the region became known as Iraq. Within its borders lies the ancient land of [[Sumer]], which emerged between 6000 and 5000 BC during the [[Neolithic]] [[Ubaid period]]. Sumer is recognized as the world's earliest civilization, marking the beginning of urban development, written language, and monumental architecture. Iraq's territory also includes the heartlands of the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]], [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Neo-Sumerian]], [[Babylonia]]n, [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]], and [[Neo-Babylonian]] empires, which dominated Mesopotamia and much of the [[Ancient Near East]] during the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|Iron]] Ages.

Iraq was a center of innovation in antiquity, producing early [[List of languages by first written accounts|written languages]], [[Sumerian literature|literary works]], and significant advancements in [[Babylonian astronomy|astronomy]], [[Babylonian mathematics|mathematics]], [[Babylonian law|law]], and [[Assyro-Babylonian literature#Philosophy|philosophy]]. This era of indigenous rule ended in 539 BC when the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] was conquered by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] under [[Cyrus the Great]], who declared himself the "[[King of Babylon]]." The city of [[Babylon]], the ancient seat of Babylonian power, became one of the key capitals of the Achaemenid Empire.

In the following centuries, the regions constituting modern Iraq came under the control of several empires, including the [[Seleucid Empire|Greeks]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], and [[Roman Empire|Romans]], establishing new centers like [[Seleucia]] and [[Ctesiphon]]. By the [[3rd century]] AD, the region fell under Persian control through the [[Sasanian Empire]], during which time Arab tribes from [[South Arabia]] migrated into Lower Mesopotamia, leading to the formation of the Sassanid-aligned [[Lakhmid kingdom]]. The Arabic name ''[[Name of Iraq|al-ʿIrāq]]'' likely originated during this period. The Sasanian Empire was eventually [[Muslim conquest of Persia|conquered]] by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in the 7th century, bringing Iraq under Islamic rule after the [[Battle of al-Qadisiyyah]] in 636. The city of [[Kufa]], founded shortly thereafter, became a central hub for the Rashidun dynasty until their [[First Fitna|overthrow]] by the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]] in 661.

With the rise of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] in the mid-8th century, Iraq became the center of Islamic rule, with [[Baghdad]], founded in 762, serving as the capital. Baghdad flourished during the [[Islamic Golden Age]], becoming a global center for culture, science, and intellectualism. However, the city's prosperity declined following the [[Buwayhid]] and [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuq]] invasions in the 10th century and suffered further with the [[Siege of Baghdad|Mongol invasion]] of 1258. Iraq came under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule in the 16th century and, apart from a [[Safavid Iran|Safavid]] occupation [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639)|from 1623 to 1638]], remained part of the empire until the end of [[World War I]], after which [[Mandatory Iraq]] was established by the [[British Empire]]. Initially united under the province of Baghdad,<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gülcü |first=Erdinç |title=Osmanlı İdaresinde Bağdat (1534–1623): İdari ve Fiziki Yapı |publisher=Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınları |year=2023 |location=Ankara |pages=32–33 |language=tr}}</ref> [[Ottoman Iraq]] was by the 17th century divided into the provinces of [[Baghdad Eyalet|Baghdad]], [[Basra Eyalet|Basra]], [[Mosul Eyalet|Mosul]], and [[Shahrizor Eyalet|Shahrizor]],<ref name=":3" /> which Ottoman officials collectively referred to as ''Hıtta-i Irakiyye'' ("the Iraq Region").<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/cdn/file/download?fileId=37 |title=Musul – Kerkük ile İlgili Arşiv Belgeleri (1525–1919) |publisher=T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü |year=1993 |location=Ankara |pages=180–181, 306–307, 311–312, 330 |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nuri |first=Nahar Muhammed |year=2018 |title=Iraq is not Artificial: Iraqi Trends and the Refutation of the Artificial State Hypothesis |journal=AlMuntaqa |publisher=Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies |volume=1 |issue=3 |page=15 |doi=10.31430/almuntaqa.1.3.0009 |jstor=10.31430/almuntaqa.1.3.0009 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> Iraq gained independence in 1932 as the [[Kingdom of Iraq]], which became a republic in 1958. The modern era has seen Iraq facing challenges, including the rule of [[Saddam Hussein]], the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], and subsequent efforts to rebuild the country amidst sectarian violence and the rise of the [[Islamic State]]. Despite these difficulties, Iraq plays a vital role in the geopolitics of the Middle East.

== Prehistory ==
[[File:Shanidar Cave - overview.jpg|thumb|Inside the Shanidar Cave where the remains of eight adults and two infant [[Neanderthal]]s, dating from around 65,000–35,000 years ago were found.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Tim |title=Milestones in Archaeology: A Chronological Encyclopedia |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-57607-186-1 |pages=454|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Owen |title="The Skeletons of Shanidar Cave" |publisher=Smithsonian |year=2010}}</ref>]]
Between 65,000 BC and 35,000 BC, northern Iraq was home to a [[Neanderthal]] culture, archaeological remains of which have been discovered at [[Shanidar Cave]].<ref>Edwards, Owen (March 2010). "The Skeletons of Shanidar Cave". Smithsonian. Retrieved 17 October 2014.</ref> During 1957–1961, [[Shanidar Cave]] was excavated by [[Ralph Solecki]] and his team from [[Columbia University]], uncovering nine skeletons of Neanderthal man of varying ages and states of preservation (labelled Shanidar I–IX). A tenth individual was later discovered by [[Melinda A. Zeder|M. Zeder]] during examination of a faunal assemblage from the site at the Smithsonian Institution. The remains seemed to suggest that Neanderthals had [[funeral|funeral ceremonies]], burying their dead with flowers (although the flowers are now thought to be a modern contaminant), and that they took care of injured and elderly individuals.

This region is also the location of a number of pre-Neolithic burials, dating from approximately 11,000 BC.<ref name="Ralph S. Solecki 2004 pp. 3">Ralph S. Solecki, Rose L. Solecki, and Anagnostis P. Agelarakis (2004). The Proto-Neolithic Cemetery in Shanidar Cave. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 3–5. {{ISBN|9781585442720}}.</ref> Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq, together with a large part of the [[Fertile Crescent]], was a center of a [[Neolithic]] culture known as [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA), where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time. In Iraq, this period has been excavated at sites like [[M'lefaat]] and [[Nemrik 9]]. The following Neolithic period, [[PPNB]], is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, [[gypsum]], and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche). Finds of [[obsidian]] tools from [[Anatolia]] are evidence of early trade relations. Further important sites of human advancement were [[Jarmo]] (circa 7100 BC),<ref name="Ralph S. Solecki 2004 pp. 3" /> a number of sites belonging to the [[Halaf culture]], and [[Tell al-'Ubaid]], the [[type site]] of the [[Ubaid period]] (between 6500 BC and 3800 BC).<ref>Carter, Robert A. and Philip, Graham Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, Number 63) The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-885923-66-0}} p.2, at http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/saoc/saoc63.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115070526/http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/saoc/saoc63.html |date=15 November 2013 }}; "Radiometric data suggest that the whole Southern Mesopotamian Ubaid period, including Ubaid 0 and 5, is of immense duration, spanning nearly three millennia from about 6500 to 3800 B.C".</ref>

== Ancient Mesopotamia ==
{{Main|Mesopotamia|History of Mesopotamia}}
{{See also|Ancient Near East}}
Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the [[Neolithic Revolution]] from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture."<ref name="historyandpolicy">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-13.html|title=Iraq, past, present and future: a thoroughly-modern mandate?|last=Milton-Edwards|first=Beverley|date=May 2003|work=History & Policy|access-date=9 December 2010|location=[[United Kingdom]]|archive-date=8 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208112958/http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-13.html}}</ref>

The "[[Cradle of Civilisation]]" is a common term for the area comprising modern Iraq as it was home to the earliest known [[civilisation]], the [[Sumer|Sumerian civilisation]], which arose in the fertile [[Tigris-Euphrates river system|Tigris-Euphrates river valley]] of southern Iraq in the [[Chalcolithic]] ([[Ubaid period]]).<ref name="Maisels2005">{{cite book | author = Charles Keith Maisels | date = 24 October 2005 | title = The Near East: Archaeology in the 'Cradle of Civilization' | publisher = Routledge | pages = 6–109 | isbn = 978-1-134-66469-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7-KFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6}}</ref> It was there, in the late [[4th millennium BC]], that the world's first known [[Cuneiform script|writing system]] emerged. The [[Sumer]]ians were also the first known to harness the [[wheel]] and create [[City States|city-states]]; their writings record the first known evidence of [[mathematics]], [[astronomy]], [[astrology]], [[Written Law|written law]], [[medicine]], and [[organised religion]].<ref name="Maisels2005" /> The [[Sumerian language]] is a [[language isolate]]. The major city-states of the early Sumerian period included [[Eridu]], [[Bad-tibira]], [[Larsa]], [[Sippar]], [[Shuruppak]], [[Uruk]], [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], [[Ur]], [[Nippur]], [[Lagash]], [[Girsu]], [[Umma]], [[Hamazi]], [[Adab (city)|Adab]], [[Mari, Syria|Mari]], [[Isin]], [[Kutha]], [[Der (Sumer)|Der]], and [[Akshak]].<ref name="Maisels2005" /> The cities to the north, like [[Assur|Ashur]], Arbela (modern [[Erbil]]), and [[Arrapha]] (modern [[Kirkuk]]), were also extant in what was to be called Assyria from the 25th century BC; however, at this stage, they were Sumerian-ruled administrative centers.

=== Bronze Age ===
{{Main|Sumer|Akkadian Empire|Assyria|Babylonia}}
[[Sumer]] emerged as the civilization of Lower Mesopotamia out of the prehistoric [[Ubaid period]] (mid-6th millennium BC) in the Early Bronze Age ([[Uruk period]]). Classical Sumer ended with the rise of the [[Akkadian Empire]] in the 24th century BC. Following the [[Gutian period]], the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III kingdom]] was once again able to unite large parts of southern and central Mesopotamia under a single ruler in the 21st century. It may have eventually disintegrated due to [[Amorites|Amorite]] incursions. The Amorite dynasty of [[Isin]] persisted until c. 1600 BC, when southern Mesopotamia was united under [[Kassite]] [[Babylonia]]n rule.
[[File:Sargon of Akkad (frontal).jpg|thumb|Bronze head of an [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] ruler from [[Nineveh]], presumably depicting either [[Sargon of Akkad]], or Sargon's grandson [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]]. The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient [[empire]] of [[Mesopotamia]] after the long-lived civilization of [[Sumer]].]]
During the [[Bronze Age]], in the 26th century BC, [[Eannatum]] of [[Lagash]] created a short-lived [[empire]]. Later, [[Lugal-Zage-Si]], the priest-king of [[Umma]], overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered [[Uruk]], making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the [[Persian Gulf]] to the [[Mediterranean]].<ref>Roux, Georges (1993), ''Ancient Iraq'' (Penguin)</ref> It was during this period that the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] originated, which includes the tale of [[The Great Flood]]. The origin and location of Akkad remain unclear. Its people spoke [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], an [[East Semitic language]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|last1=Mark |first1=Joshua J. |url=http://www.worldhistory.org/akkad/|title=Akkad|encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia|date=28 April 2011 |access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> Between the 29th and 24th centuries BC, a number of kingdoms and city-states within Iraq began to have Akkadian-speaking dynasties, including [[Assyria]], [[Ekallatum]], [[Isin]], and [[Larsa]]. However, the Sumerians remained generally dominant until the rise of the [[Akkadian Empire]] (2335–2124 BC), based in the city of [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]] in central Iraq. [[Sargon of Akkad]] founded the empire, conquered all the city-states of southern and central Iraq, and subjugated the kings of Assyria, thus uniting the Sumerians and Akkadians in one state. The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient [[empire]] of [[Mesopotamia]] after the long-lived civilization of [[Sumer]].

He then set about expanding his empire, conquering [[Gutium]], [[Elam]] in modern-day [[Iran]], and had victories that did not result in full conquest against the [[Amorites]] and [[Ebla]]ites of the Levant. The empire of Akkad likely fell in the 22nd century BC, within 180 years of its founding, ushering in a "[[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Age]]" with no prominent imperial authority until the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]]. The region's political structure may have reverted to the ''status quo ante'' of local governance by [[city-state]]s.<ref name="Zettler24">Zettler (2003), pp. 24–25. "Moreover, the Dynasty of Akkade's fall did not lead to social collapse, but the re-emergence of the normative political organization. The southern cities reasserted their independence, and if we know little about the period between the death of Sharkalisharri and the accession of Urnamma, it may be due more to accidents of discovery than because of widespread 'collapse.' The extensive French excavations at Tello produced relevant remains dating right through the period."</ref>

After the collapse of the [[Akkadian Empire]] in the late 22nd century BC, the [[Gutians]] occupied the south for a few decades, while Assyria reasserted its independence in the north. Most of southern Mesopotamia was again united under one ruler during the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]], most notably during the rule of the prolific king [[Shulgi]]. His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the [[Great Ziggurat of Ur]], begun by his father [[Ur-Nammu]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/explore/zig.html |title=The Ziggurat of Ur |work=[[British Museum]] |access-date=24 November 2017}}</ref> In 1792 BC, an [[Amorite]] ruler named [[Hammurabi]] came to power and immediately set about building Babylon into a major city, declaring himself its king. Hammurabi conquered southern and central Iraq, as well as Elam to the east and Mari to the west, then engaged in a protracted war with the Assyrian king [[Ishme-Dagan]] for domination of the region, creating the short-lived [[Babylonian Empire]]. He eventually prevailed over the successor of Ishme-Dagan and subjected Assyria and its Anatolian colonies. By the middle of the eighteenth century BC, the Sumerians had lost their cultural identity and ceased to exist as a distinct people.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wolkstein|first1=Diane|last2=Kramer|first2=Samuel Noah|title=Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer|year=1983|publisher=Harper&Row Publishers|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0-06-090854-6|pages=118–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kramer|first1=Samuel Noah|title=The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character|url=https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu|url-access=registration|date=1963|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-0-226-45238-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu/page/71 71–72]}}</ref>

It is from the period of Hammurabi that southern Iraq came to be known as [[Babylonia]], while the north had already coalesced into [[Assyria]] hundreds of years before. However, his empire was short-lived, and rapidly collapsed after his death, with both Assyria and southern Iraq, in the form of the [[Sealand Dynasty]], falling back into native Akkadian hands. After this, another foreign people, the [[Language Isolate|language-isolate]]-speaking [[Kassites]], seized control of Babylonia. Iraq was from this point divided into three polities: [[Assyria]] in the north, [[Kassite]] [[Babylonia]] in the south-central region, and the [[Sealand Dynasty]] in the far south. The Sealand Dynasty was finally conquered by Kassite Babylonia circa 1380 BC. The origin of the Kassites is uncertain.<ref>J. A. Brinkman, "Kassiten (Kassû)," RLA, vol. 5 (1976–80</ref>

The [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (1365–1020 BC) saw Assyria rise to be the most powerful nation in the known world. Beginning with the campaigns of [[Ashur-uballit I]], Assyria destroyed the rival [[Hurrian]]-[[Mitanni]] Empire, annexed huge swathes of the [[Hittite Empire]] for itself, annexed northern Babylonia from the Kassites, forced the [[Egyptian Empire]] from the region, and defeated the [[Elamites]], [[Phrygians]], [[Canaan#Canaanites|Canaanites]], [[Phoenicians]], [[Cilicians]], [[Gutians]], [[Dilmun]]ites, and [[Arameans]]. At its height, the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] stretched from [[The Caucasus]] to [[Dilmun]] (modern [[Bahrain]]), and from the [[Mediterranean]] coasts of [[Phoenicia]] to the [[Zagros Mountains]] of [[Iran]]. In 1235 BC, [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] of Assyria took the throne of [[Babylon]].

During the [[Bronze Age collapse]] (1200–900 BC), Babylonia was in a state of chaos, dominated for long periods by Assyria and [[Elam]]. The Kassites were driven from power by Assyria and Elam, allowing native south Mesopotamian kings to rule Babylonia for the first time, although often subject to Assyrian or Elamite rulers. However, these Akkadian kings were unable to prevent new waves of [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] migrants from entering southern Iraq, and during the 11th century BC, [[Arameans]] and [[Suteans]] entered Babylonia from [[The Levant]], followed in the late 10th to early 9th century BC by the [[Chaldea]]ns.<ref>A. Leo Oppenheim – Ancient Mesopotamia</ref> However, the Chaldeans were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of [[Babylonia]].<ref>George Roux – Ancient Iraq – p 281</ref>

[[Assyria]] was an [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] (East Semitic) kingdom in Upper Mesopotamia, that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of [[Assur]] ([[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''{{transliteration|akk|Aššūrāyu}}'').

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known. In the [[Assyrian King List]], the earliest king recorded was [[Tudiya]]. He was a contemporary of [[Ibrium]] of [[Ebla]], who appears to have lived in the late 25th or early 24th century BC, according to the king list. The foundation of the first true urbanised Assyrian monarchy was traditionally ascribed to [[Ushpia]], a contemporary of [[Ishbi-Erra]] of [[Isin]] and [[Naplanum]] of [[Larsa]].<ref>According to the [[Assyrian King List]] and Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq'', p. 187.</ref> c. 2030 BC.

Assyria had a period of empire from the 19th to 18th centuries BC. From the 14th to 11th centuries BC, Assyria once more became a major power with the rise of the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]].
{{Panorama
| image = File:The historical city of Babylon.jpg
| height = 180
| alt = Panoramic view of ruins in Babylon.
| caption = {{center|Panoramic view of ruins in Babylon photographed in 2005}}
}}

=== Iron Age ===
{{Main|Fall of Babylon}}
[[File:Map of Assyria.png|thumb|The [[Assyria|Assyrian Empire]] at its greatest extent]]
[[File:Ashurbanipal_in_a_chariot,_wall_relief,_7th_century_BC,_from_Nineveh,_the_British_Museum.jpg|thumb|[[Aramaic|7th-century BC relief depicting]] [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{reign}}669–631 BC) and three royal attendants in a [[chariot]]. Ashurbanipal  was the king of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] which was the [[List of largest empires|largest empire]] in history up to that point.{{Sfn|Aberbach|2003|p=4}}{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=133}}|left]]
The [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–609 BC) was the dominant political force in the Ancient Near East during the Iron Age, eclipsing [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Urartu]], and [[Elam]].<ref name="kchanson.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/meso/obelisk.html|title=Black Obelisk, K. C. Hanson's Collection of Mesopotamian Documents|publisher=K.C. Hansen|access-date=23 November 2014|archive-date=9 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709213033/http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/meso/obelisk.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based on [[world domination]], the Neo-Assyrian Empire is regarded by many researchers as the first [[world empire]].{{Sfn|Düring|2020|p=133}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Liverani|first=Mario|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title="Thoughts on the Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Kingship".|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|location=Hoboken|page=536}}</ref> At its height, the empire ruled over all of [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Levant]], and Egypt, as well as portions of [[Anatolia]], the [[Arabian Peninsula]], and modern-day Iran and Armenia. Under rulers such as [[Adad-Nirari II]], [[Ashurnasirpal I|Ashurnasirpal]], [[Shalmaneser III]], [[Semiramis]], [[Tiglath-pileser III]], [[Sargon II]], [[Sennacherib]], [[Esarhaddon]], and [[Ashurbanipal]], Iraq became the center of an empire stretching from [[Persia]], [[Parthia]], and [[Elam]] in the east to [[Cyprus]] and [[Antioch]] in the west, and from [[The Caucasus]] in the north to [[Egypt]], [[Nubia]], and [[Arabia]] in the south.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mark |first1=Joshua J. |title=Neo-Assyrian Empire|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Neo-Assyrian_Empire/|access-date=7 February 2022|website=World History Encyclopedia|date=30 June 2014 |language=en}}</ref>

It was during this period that an Akkadian-influenced form of [[Eastern Aramaic]] was adopted by the Assyrians as their [[lingua franca]], and Mesopotamian Aramaic began to supplant Akkadian as the spoken language of the general populace of both Assyria and Babylonia. The descendant dialects of this tongue survive among the [[Mandaeans]] of southern Iraq and [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] of northern Iraq. The [[Arab people|Arabs]] and the [[Chaldea]]ns are first mentioned in written history (circa 850 BC) in the annals of [[Shalmaneser III]]. The Neo-Assyrian Empire left a legacy of great cultural significance. The political structures established by the Neo-Assyrian Empire became the model for the later empires that succeeded it, and the ideology of [[Universal monarchy|universal rule]] promulgated by the Neo-Assyrian kings inspired similar ideas of rights to [[world domination]] in later empires. The Neo-Assyrian Empire became an important part of later folklore and literary traditions in northern Mesopotamia. [[Judaism]], and thus in turn also [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]], was profoundly affected by the period of Neo-Assyrian rule; numerous Biblical stories appear to draw on earlier Assyrian mythology and history, and the Assyrian impact on early Jewish theology was immense. Although the Neo-Assyrian Empire is prominently remembered today for the supposed excessive brutality of the [[Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian army]], the Assyrians were not excessively brutal compared to other civilizations.{{Sfn|Aberbach|2003|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frahm|first=Eckart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Assyria|publisher=John Wiley & Sons Hoboken|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|location=Hoboken|page=196}}</ref>

In the late 7th century BC, the Assyrian Empire tore itself apart with a series of brutal civil wars, weakening itself to such a degree that a coalition of its former subjects, including the [[Babylonians]], [[Chaldea]]ns, [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], [[Scythians]], and [[Cimmerians]], were able to attack Assyria, finally bringing its empire down by 605 BC.<ref>Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq</ref>

[[File:Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II.png|thumb|The [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] under [[Nabonidus]] (r. 626–539 BC)]] The short-lived [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (626–539 BC) succeeded that of Assyria. It failed to attain the size, power, or longevity of its predecessor; however, it came to dominate [[The Levant]], [[Canaan]], [[Arabia]], [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]], and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], and even defeated [[Egypt]]. Initially, Babylon was ruled by the [[Chaldea]]ns, who had migrated to the region in the late 10th or early 9th century BC. Its greatest king, [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], rivaled [[Hammurabi]] as the greatest king of Babylon. However, by 556 BC, the Chaldeans had been deposed by the Assyrian-born [[Nabonidus]] and his son and regent [[Belshazzar]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beaulieu |first=Paul-Alain |year=2007 |title=Berossus on Late Babylonian History |url=https://www.academia.edu/1581190 |journal=Oriental Studies |pages=116–149}}</ref>

[[File:Street in Babylon.jpg|thumb|A partial view of the ruins of [[Babylon]]]] The transfer of empire to [[Babylon]] marked the first time the city, and southern Mesopotamia in general, had risen to dominate the [[Ancient Near East]] since the collapse of [[Hammurabi]]'s [[Old Babylonian Empire]]. The period of Neo-Babylonian rule saw unprecedented economic and population growth and a renaissance of culture and artwork. [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] succeeded [[Nabopolassar]] in 605 BC. The empire Nebuchadnezzar inherited was among the most powerful in the world. He quickly reinforced his father's alliance with the Medes by marrying Cyaxares's daughter or granddaughter, [[Amytis of Babylon|Amytis]]. Some sources suggest that the famous [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]], one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], were built by Nebuchadnezzar for his wife (though the existence of these gardens is debated). Nebuchadnezzar's 43-year reign brought a golden age for Babylon, which became the most powerful kingdom in the Middle East.<ref>{{cite web|last=Joshua J|first=Mark|date=2018|title=Nebuchadnezzar II|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Nebuchadnezzar_II/|website=World History Encyclopedia}}</ref>

The Neo-Babylonian period ended with the reign of [[Nabonidus]] in 539 BC. To the east, the Persians had been growing in strength, and eventually [[Cyrus the Great]] established his dominion over Babylon. The Chaldeans disappeared around this time, though both Assyria and Babylonia endured and thrived under Achaemenid rule (see [[Achaemenid Assyria]]). The Persian rulers retained Assyrian Imperial Aramaic as the language of empire, together with the Assyrian imperial infrastructure and an Assyrian style of art and architecture.{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}}

==Classical Antiquity==
===Achaemenid and Seleucid rule===
{{Main|Babylonia (Persian province)|Achaemenid Assyria|Seleucid Empire}}
[[File:The story of the ancient nations - a text-book for high schools (1912) (14766210391).jpg|thumb|[[Seleucia]] was the capital of the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] Seleucid Empire|left]]
Mesopotamia was conquered by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persians]] under [[Cyrus the Great]] in 539 BC, and remained under Persian rule for two centuries.

The Persian Empire fell to [[Alexander the Great|Alexander of Macedon]] in 331 BC and came under [[Hellenistic Greece|Greek]] rule as part of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. [[Babylon]] declined after the founding of [[Seleucia on the Tigris]], the new [[Seleucid Empire]] capital. The Seleucid Empire at the height of its power stretched from the Aegean in the west to [[Indo-Greeks|India]] in the east. It was a major center of [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] culture that maintained the preeminence of [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] customs where a Greek political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas.<ref name="Steven C. Hause, William S. Maltby 2004 76">{{cite book | author=Steven C. Hause, William S. Maltby |title=Western civilization: a history of European society | url=https://archive.org/details/westerncivilizat0000haus | url-access=registration |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/westerncivilizat0000haus/page/76 76] |isbn= 978-0-534-62164-3 |quote= The Greco-Macedonian Elite. The Seleucids respected the cultural and religious sensibilities of their subjects but preferred to rely on Greek or Macedonian soldiers and administrators for the day-to-day business of governing. The Greek population of the cities, reinforced until the second century BCE by immigration from Greece, formed a dominant, although not especially cohesive, elite. }}</ref> The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by immigration from [[Ancient Greece|Greece]].<ref name="Steven C. Hause, William S. Maltby 2004 76"/><ref name="Glubb, Sir John Bagot 1967 34">{{cite book|author= Glubb, Sir John Bagot|title=Syria, Lebanon, Jordan|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=1967|page=34|oclc=585939|quote=In addition to the court and the army, Syrian cities were full of Greek businessmen, many of them pure Greeks from Greece. The senior posts in the civil service were also held by Greeks. Although the Ptolemies and the Seleucids were perpetual rivals, both dynasties were Greek and ruled by means of Greek officials and Greek soldiers. Both governments made great efforts to attract immigrants from Greece, thereby adding yet another racial element to the population. }}</ref> Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]] under [[Mithridates I of Parthia]] in the mid-2nd century BC.

===Parthian and Roman rule===
{{Main|Kingdom of Hatra|Osroene|Adiabene|Mesopotamia (Roman province)|l4 = Roman Mesopotamia}}
[[File:Charles_Le_Brun_-_Entry_of_Alexander_into_Babylon.JPG|alt=|thumb|"Entry of Alexander into Babylon", a 1665 painting by [[Charles LeBrun]], depicts Alexander the Great's uncontested entry into the city of Babylon, envisioned with pre-existing [[Ancient Greek architecture|Hellenistic architecture]].]] At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the [[Roman Empire|Romans]], led by emperor [[Trajan]], invaded Parthia and conquered Mesopotamia, making it an imperial province. It was returned to the Parthians shortly after by Trajan's successor, [[Hadrian]].

[[Early Christianity|Christianity]] reached Mesopotamia in the 1st century AD, and [[Roman Syria]] in particular became the center of [[East Syrian Rite|Eastern Rite]] Christianity and the [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] literary tradition. [[Mandeism]] is also believed to have either originated there around this time or entered as Mandaeans sought refuge from Palestine.
Sumerian-Akkadian religious tradition disappeared during this period, as did the last remnants of [[cuneiform]] literacy, although temples were still being dedicated to the Assyrian national god [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]] in his home city as late as the 4th century.<ref name="George Roux - Ancient Iraq">George Roux – Ancient Iraq</ref>

===Sassanid Empire===
{{Main|Asoristan|Arbayistan}}
[[File:The Sasanian Empire at its apex under Khosrow II.svg|thumb|The [[Sasanian Empire]] at its greatest extent in c. 620 under [[Khosrow II]]]]
In the 3rd century AD, the Parthians were in turn succeeded by the [[Sassanid dynasty]], which ruled Mesopotamia until the 7th-century Islamic invasion. The Sassanids conquered the independent states of [[Adiabene]], [[Osroene]], [[Hatra]], and finally [[Assur]] during the 3rd century. In the mid-6th century, the Persian Empire under the Sassanid dynasty was divided by [[Khosrow I]] into four quarters, of which the western one, called ''Khvārvarān'', included most of modern Iraq, and was subdivided into the provinces of ''[[Meshan|Mishān]]'', [[Asuristān]], [[Adiabene]], and Lower Media. North of Asoristan and west of Adiabene lay the sasanian province of [[Arbayistan]], which roughly corresponded to [[Upper Mesopotamia]]. The term Iraq is widely used in the medieval Arabic sources for the area in the center and south of the modern republic as a geographic rather than a political term, implying no greater precision of boundaries than the term "Mesopotamia" or, indeed, many of the names of modern states before the 20th century.

There was a influx of [[Arabs]] in the Sassanid period. [[Upper Mesopotamia]] came to be known as ''Al-Jazirah'' in Arabic (meaning "The Island" in reference to the "island" between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), and [[Lower Mesopotamia]] came to be known as ''[[name of Iraq|ʿIrāq-i ʿArab]]'', meaning "the escarpment of the Arabs" (viz. to the south and east of "the island").<ref>possibly an Arabic folk etymology of an older toponym deriving from the name of ''[[Uruk]]'', see [[name of Iraq]].</ref>

Until 602, the desert frontier of the Persian Empire had been guarded by the Arab [[Lakhmid]] kings of [[Al-Hirah]]. In that year, [[Shahanshah]] [[Khosrow II]] Aparviz (Persian خسرو پرويز) abolished the Lakhmid kingdom and laid the frontier open to nomad incursions. Farther north, the western quarter was bounded by the Byzantine Empire. The frontier more or less followed the modern [[Syria-Iraq border]] and continued northward, passing between [[Nusaybin|Nisibis]] (modern Nusaybin) as the Sassanian frontier fortress and Dara and [[Amida (Mesopotamia)|Amida]] (modern [[Diyarbakır]]) held by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]].

== Middle Ages ==
=== Islamic conquest ===
{{Main|Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia}}

[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|The Age of the Caliphs {{legend|#a1584e|Muhammad, 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750}}|left]]
[[File:Dish from 9th century Iraq.jpg|thumb|This [[earthenware]] dish was made in 9th-century Iraq. It is housed in the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]

The first organized conflict between invading Arab-Muslim forces and occupying Sassanid domains in Mesopotamia seems to have been in 634, when the Arabs were defeated at the [[Battle of the Bridge]]. There was a force of some 5,000 [[Muslims]] under Abū `Ubayd ath-Thaqafī, which was routed by the Persians. This was followed by [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]]'s successful campaign, which saw all of Iraq come under Arab rule within a year, with the exception of the Sassanid Empire's capital, [[Ctesiphon]]. Around 636, a larger Arab Muslim force under [[Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās]] defeated the main Persian army at the [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah]] and moved on to capture Ctesiphon. By the end of 638, the Muslims had conquered all of the Western Sassanid provinces (including modern Iraq), and the last Sassanid Emperor, [[Yazdegerd III]], had fled to central and then northern Persia, where he was killed in 651.

The Islamic expansions constituted the largest of the Semitic expansions in history. These new arrivals established two new garrison cities, at [[Kufa]], near ancient [[Babylon]], and at [[Basra]] in the south and established [[Islam]] in these cities, while the north remained largely [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] and Christian in character.

=== Abbasid Caliphate ===
{{Main|Abbasid Caliphate|Islamic Golden Age|Anarchy at Samarra|Iranian Intermezzo}}
[[File:Abbasids850.png|thumb|Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent]]
The city of [[Baghdad]], established in the 8th century as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, quickly became the leading cultural and intellectual hub of the [[Muslim world]] during the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. At its peak, Baghdad was the largest and most multicultural city of the [[Middle Ages]], with a population exceeding a million. However, its prominence was dramatically curtailed in the 13th century when the [[Mongol Empire]] sacked the city and destroyed its famed library during the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)]].

In the 9th century, the Abbasid Caliphate entered a period of decline. During the late 9th to early 11th centuries, a period known as the "[[Iranian Intermezzo]]", parts of (the modern territory of) Iraq were governed by a number of minor Iranian emirates, including the [[Tahirid dynasty|Tahirids]], [[Saffarid dynasty|Saffarids]], [[Samanid Empire|Samanids]], [[Buyid dynasty|Buyids]] and [[Sallarid dynasty|Sallarids]]. [[Tughril]], the founder of the [[Seljuk Empire]], captured Baghdad in 1055. In spite of having lost all governance, the Abbasid caliphs nevertheless maintained a highly ritualized court in Baghdad and remained influential in religious matters, maintaining the orthodoxy of their [[Sunni]] sect in opposition to the [[Ismaili]] and [[Shia]] sects of Islam.

=== Mongol invasion ===
{{Further| Seljuk Empire |Siege of Baghdad (1258)}}
[[File:Mongol Empire map.gif|thumb|267x267px|The Mongol Empire's expansion]]
In the later 11th century, Iraq fell under the rule of the [[Khwarazmian dynasty]]. Both Turkic secular rule and Abbasid caliphate came to an end with the [[Mongol invasions]] of the 13th century.<ref>[[Thomas T. Allsen]] ''Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia'', p.84</ref>
The Mongols under [[Genghis Khan]] had [[Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia|conquered Khwarezmia]] by 1221, but Iraq proper gained a respite due to the death of Genghis Khan in 1227 and the subsequent power struggles.
[[Möngke Khan]] from 1251 began a renewed expansion of the [[Mongol Empire]], and when caliph [[al-Mustasim]] refused to submit to the Mongols, [[Battle of Baghdad (1258)|Baghdad was besieged and captured]] by [[Hulagu Khan]] in 1258. Estimates of the number of dead range from 200,000 to a million.<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Frazier |first= Ian |url= https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/25/050425fa_fact4?currentPage=4 |title= Annals of history: Invaders: Destroying Baghdad |magazine= The New Yorker |date= 25 April 2005 |page= 4 |access-date=25 January 2013}}</ref> With the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Hulagu had an open route to Syria and moved against the other Muslim powers in the region.<ref name="Morgan. pp. 132">Morgan. ''The Mongols''. pp. 132–135.</ref>

The Mongols destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate and Baghdad's [[House of Wisdom]]. The city has never regained its previous pre-eminence as a major centre of culture and influence. Some historians believe that the Mongol invasion destroyed much of the [[irrigation]] infrastructure that had sustained Mesopotamia for millennia. Other historians point to [[soil salination]] as the culprit in the decline in agriculture.

=== Turko-Mongol rule ===
{{Main|Ilkhanate|Timurid Empire|Jalayirid Sultanate|Qara Qoyunlu|Aq Qoyunlu|Eldiguzids}}
[[File:Fall Of Baghdad (Diez Albums).jpg|thumb|[[Siege of Baghdad|Conquest of Baghdad]] by the Mongols in 1258]]
Iraq now became a province on the southwestern fringes of the [[Ilkhanate]] and Baghdad would never regain its former importance.

The [[Jalayirids]] were a [[Mongol]] [[Jalayir]] dynasty<ref>Bayne Fisher, William "The Cambridge History of Iran", p.3: "(From then until the Timur's invasion of the country, Iran was under the rule of various rival petty princes of whom henceforth only the Jalayirids could claim Mongol)</ref> which ruled over [[Iraq]] and western [[Persia]]<ref>The History Files [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternPersia.htm Rulers of Persia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512181607/https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternPersia.htm |date=2021-05-12 }}</ref> after the breakup of the Ilkhanate in the 1330s. The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by [[Timur|Tamerlane]]'s conquests and the revolts of the "Black Sheep Turks" or [[Qara Qoyunlu]] [[Oghuz Turks|Turkmen]].

The mid-14th-century [[Black Death]] ravaged much of the [[Islamic world]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/blackDeath.html |title=The Islamic World to 1600: The Mongol Invasions (The Black Death) |publisher=The University of Calgary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131180742/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/mongols/blackDeath.html |archive-date=31 January 2009 }}</ref> The best estimate for the Middle East is a death rate of roughly one-third.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kathryn Jean Lopez |url=http://old.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/kelly200509140843.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216075334/http://old.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/kelly200509140843.asp|archive-date=16 February 2012 |title=Q&A with John Kelly on The Great Mortality on National Review Online |publisher=Nationalreview.com |date=14 September 2005 |access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref>

In 1401, a warlord of Mongol descent, Tamerlane (Timur Lenk), invaded Iraq. After the [[Siege of Baghdad (1401)|capture of Baghdad]], most of its citizens were massacred. Timur also conducted massacres of the indigenous [[Assyrian people|Assyrian Christian]] population, and it was during this time that the ancient Assyrian city of [[Assur]] was finally abandoned.<ref>Nestorians, or Ancient Church of the East at Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and [[Khūzestān Province|Khuzistan]]. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by [[Kara Koyunlu]] in 1432.

== Ottoman and Mamluk rule ==
{{Further|Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Iraq|5=Mamluk dynasty (Iraq)}}
[[File:Map Safavid persia.png|thumb|Map of the Safavid Iran. The area of Mesopotamia, permanently [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639)|lost to the Ottomans]] in 1639 is shaded.]]
During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the [[Qara Qoyunlu]], or Black Sheep [[Turkmens]], ruled the area now known as Iraq. In 1466, the [[Aq Qoyunlu]], or White Sheep, defeated the Qara Qoyunlu and took control. From 1508, as with all territories of the former White Sheep Turkmen, Iraq fell into the hands of the Iranian [[Safavids]]. With the [[Treaty of Zuhab]] in 1639, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of the Ottoman Empire as the [[eyalet of Baghdad]] as a result of [[Ottoman-Persian Wars|wars]] with the neighboring rival, [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid Iran]]. Throughout most of the period of Ottoman rule (1533–1918), the territory of present-day Iraq was a battle zone between rival regional empires and tribal alliances. 

Although Iraq became a modern nation-state in the 20th century, its territorial core was already governed as a cohesive administrative and strategic region during the Ottoman period. As early as the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire administered the area as an integrated province, with imperial registers from 1558 to 1587 describing the Baghdad Eyalet as encompassing districts stretching from [[Amedi|İmadiye]] and [[Zakho|Zâho]] in the north to [[Al-Rahba|Deyrü Rahbe]] and [[Anah|Ane]] in the west, [[Al-Qurnah|Kerne]] in the south, and [[Qasr-e Shirin|Kasr-ı Şirin]] in the east.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Gülcü |first=Erdinç |year=2016 |title=XVI. Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında Bağdat Vilayeti'nde Meydana Gelen İsyanlar ve Eşkıyalık Hareketleri |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/224338 |journal=Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi |language=tr |page=1811}}</ref> This administrative configuration closely resembles the borders of modern-day Iraq. 

In the 16th century, the Portuguese commanded by [[António Tenreiro]] crossed from Aleppo to [[Basra]] in 1523, attempting to make alliances with local lords in the name of the Portuguese king. In 1550, the local kingdom of Basra and tribal rulers relied on the Portuguese against the Ottomans, leading to threats of invasion and conquest by the Portuguese. From 1595, the Portuguese acted as military protectors of Basra, and in 1624, they helped the Ottoman pasha of Basra repel a Persian invasion. The Portuguese were granted a share of customs revenue and exemption from tolls. From approximately 1625 to 1668, Basra and the Delta marshes were in the hands of local chiefs independent of the Ottoman administration in Baghdad. In the 17th century, frequent conflicts with the Safavids sapped the strength of the Ottoman Empire and weakened its control over its provinces. The nomadic population swelled with the influx of [[bedouin]]s from [[Najd]], leading to raids on settled areas that became difficult to curb.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/iraq/18.htm |title=Iraq – The Ottoman Period, 1534–1918 |publisher=Countrystudies.us |access-date=19 June 2011}}</ref>

In the 17th century, this unified framework evolved into four [[Eyalet|eyalets]], [[Shahrizor Eyalet|Shahrizor]], [[Basra Eyalet|Basra]], [[Baghdad Eyalet|Baghdad]], and [[Mosul Eyalet|Mosul]], although at various times, the provinces were administratively downgraded to [[sanjak]]s under the authority of Baghdad before later being reestablished as separate provinces.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/cdn/file/download?fileId=37 |title=Musul – Kerkük ile İlgili Arşiv Belgeleri (1525–1919) |publisher=T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü |year=1993 |location=Ankara |page=52}}</ref> For example, Ottoman registers from 1090 AH (1679-1680 CE) list [[Amedi|İmadiye]] and [[Zakho|Zâkho]] as  districts of the Baghdad Eyalet,<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/cdn/file/download?fileId=37 |title=Musul – Kerkük ile İlgili Arşiv Belgeleri (1525–1919) |publisher=T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü |year=1993 |location=Ankara |pages=47–48}}</ref> underscoring the continued extent of Baghdad's administrative reach.
[[File:Conquest_of_Mosul_by_Mustafa_Pasha_in_1631,_a_Turkish_soldier_in_the_foreground_holding_a_severed_head.jpg|alt=|thumb|Conquest of [[Mosul]] (Nineveh) by [[Kara Mustafa Pasha|Mustafa Pasha]] in 1631, a Turkish soldier in the foreground holding a severed head. L., C. (Stecher), 1631–1650.|left]]
The year 1704 saw the rise of a [[Mamluk dynasty (Iraq)|Mamluk dynasty]] of [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] origin, who succeeded in obtaining autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. While nominally under Ottoman sovereignty, the provinces of Iraq experienced varying degrees of autonomy during this period, particularly in Mosul under the [[Arabs|Arab]] [[Jalili dynasty|Jalili]] family and in Shahrizor under the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] Emirates, though both remained formally tied to Baghdad.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ceylan |first=Ebubekir |title=The Ottoman Origins of Modern Iraq: Political Reform, Modernization and Development in the Nineteenth Century Middle East |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2011 |location=London |pages=45–53}}</ref> They suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the [[Janissaries]], restored order, and introduced a program of modernization in the economy and military. In 1802, [[Wahhabism|Wahhabis]] from Najd [[Wahhabi sack of Karbala|attacked Karbala]] in Iraq, killing up to 5,000 people and plundering the [[Imam Husayn Shrine]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bowen |first=Wayne H. |title=The History of Saudi Arabia |year=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0-313-34012-3 |page=153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6J2Q3TlJpMC&q=1805+saudi+karbala&pg=PA73 |oclc=166388162 }}</ref> Following the overthrow of the Mamluks in 1831 and the reassertion of direct Ottoman control, the region was reorganized into the three [[Vilayet|vilayets]] of [[Baghdad vilayet|Baghdad]], [[Mosul vilayet|Mosul]], and [[Basra vilayet|Basra]]. These were frequently referred to in official Ottoman documents as the Iraq Region (Hıtta-i Irakiyye).<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Ceylan |first=Ebubekir |title=The Ottoman Origins of Modern Iraq: Political Reform, Modernization and Development in the Nineteenth Century Middle East |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2011 |location=London |page=121}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/cdn/file/download?fileId=37 |title=Musul – Kerkük ile İlgili Arşiv Belgeleri (1525–1919) |publisher=T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü |year=1993 |location=Ankara |page=173}}</ref> This designation, used in matters of taxation, military coordination, and governance, reflects the Ottoman state's practical conception of Iraq as a coherent administrative unit within its broader imperial structure

The population of Iraq, estimated at 30 million in 800 AD, was only 5 million at the start of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.valerieyule.com.au/poprus.htm |title=Population crises and cycles in history A review of the book ''Population Crises and Population cycles'' by Claire Russell and W.M.S. Russell. |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-9504066-5-7 |publisher=valerieyule.com.au |access-date=17 August 2016}}</ref>

== Kingdom of Khaza'il ==
{{Further|Kingdom of Khaza'il}}
The Kingdom of Khaza'il ([[Arabic]]: مملكة الخزاعل, [[Romanization|romanized]]: Mamlakat al-Khaza'il)''',''' also known as the Emirate of Khaza'il ([[Arabic]]: إمارة الخزاعل, [[Romanization|romanized]]: Imārat al-Khaza'il) to the Arabs and officially as the Kingdom of the Middle and Lower Euphrates '''('''[[Arabic]]: مملكة الفرات الأوسط والأسفل, [[Romanization|romanized]]: Mamlakat al-Furāt al-Awsaṭ wa-al-Asfal) by Britain,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia |date=1919 |publisher=British Administration |volume=1 |page=66}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=James Saumarez |title=An Administrator In The Making: James Saumarez Mann, 1893–1920 |date=1921 |publisher=Longmans, Green, & Co |page=201}}</ref> was an autonomous [[Monarchy|kingdom]] in present-day Iraq that resisted [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] colonial rule from the early 16th century to the early 20th century. Ruled by the Khaza'il Royal family, also known as the [[Banu Khuza'ah]] [[Sheikh]]ly dynasty, the Kingdom exercised military, economic, and political sovereignty, particularly in the Middle and Lower [[Euphrates]] region.

At the height of their power in the 17th, 18th and 19th century, the Khaza'il ruled from the northern city of [[Anah]] to [[Basra]], including the southern outskirts of [[Baghdad]] and all cities along both sides of the [[Euphrates|Euphrates River]], controlling all cultivatable land and tribal forces in their territory.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Nieuwenhuis |first=Tom |title=Politics and Society in Early Modern Iraq: Mamlūk Pashas, Tribal Shayks and Local Rule Between 1902 and 1831 |date=1982 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=90-247-2347-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Güngörürler |first=Selim |title=Diplomacy and Political Relations Between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran, 1639–1722 |date=2016 |publisher=Georgetown University |page=373}}</ref> The [[Emir]]s of Khaza'il were known for their fierce armed resistance to Ottoman imperial authority lasting several centuries, vast land ownership, and their immense wealth established through the creation of [[Silk Road]] taxation mechanisms and agricultural monopoly.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fernea |first=Robert |title=Irrigation and Social Organization Among the El Shabana; A Group of Tribal Cultivators in Southern Iraq |date=1959 |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref> They are also known for establishing the dominance of [[Shia Islam|Shiism]] in [[Mesopotamia]] and ending 383 years of Ottoman Empire rule in Iraq.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Husain |first=Faisal |title=The Tigris–Euphrates Basin Under Early Modern Ottoman Rule, c. 1534–1830 |date=2018 |publisher=Georgetown University |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref>

== 20th century ==
{{Main|Modern history of Iraq}}

=== British mandate of Mesopotamia ===
{{Main|Mandate for Mesopotamia|Mandatory Iraq}}
[[File:Nouri_Al-Saeed,_1950s.jpg|thumb|[[Nuri al-Said|Nuri Said]] (1888 – 1958) contributed to the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq and the [[Iraqi Armed Forces|armed forces]] while also serving as [[List of prime ministers of Iraq|Prime minister]].]]
Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until [[World War I]], when the Ottomans sided with [[Germany]] and the [[Central Powers]]. In the [[Mesopotamian campaign]] against the Central Powers, [[United Kingdom|British]] forces invaded the country and suffered a defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the [[Siege of Kut]] (1915–16). However, the British ultimately won the [[Mesopotamian campaign|Mesopotamian Campaign]] with the capture of Baghdad in March 1917. During the war, the British employed the help of several Assyrian, Armenian, and Arab tribes against the Ottomans, who in turn employed the Kurds as allies. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and its subsequent division, the [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia]] was established by the [[League of Nations mandate]].

In line with their "[[Sharifian Solution]]" policy, the British established a monarchy on 23 August 1921, with [[Faisal I of Iraq]] as king, who was previously [[King of Syria]] but was forced out by the [[French people|French]]. The official English name of the country simultaneously changed from ''Mesopotamia'' to the endonymic ''Iraq''.<ref name="Los Angeles Times-1990">{{Cite web |date=2 September 1990 |title=How Mesopotamia Became Iraq (and Why It Matters) |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-02-bk-1977-story.html |access-date=2 August 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Likewise, British authorities selected [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices.<!-- in Iraq or Iraq and its neighbouring regions? -->{{Specify|date=April 2007}}<ref name="Tripp-2002">{{cite book |last=Tripp |first=Charles |url={{Google books|WR-Cnw1UCJEC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=A History of Iraq |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-52900-6 |access-date=17 August 2016}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2013}}<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-517632-2| last = Luedke| first = Tilman| title = Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World| chapter = Iraq| access-date = 13 June 2018| date = 2008| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-797| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001}}</ref> The royal family were [[Hashemites]], who were also rulers of the neighboring [[Emirate of Transjordan]], which later became the [[Kingdom of Jordan]].<ref name="Tripp-2002" />

During the rise of the Zionist movement and Arab nationalism, Faisal envisioned a federation consisting of the modern states of Iraq, [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], including both modern [[Palestine]] and [[Israel]].{{sfn|Masalha|1991|p=684}} He also signed the [[Faisal–Weizmann agreement]].

Faced with spiraling costs and influenced by the public protestations of the war hero [[T. E. Lawrence]],<ref>{{cite book|first1=Jeremy |last1=Wilson |author-link=Jeremy Wilson |title=Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence|date=1998|publisher=Sutton|location=Stroud|isbn=978-0-7509-1877-0|url={{Google books|OsEhAQAAIAAJ|page=|keywords=%22Lawrence of Arabia%22|text=|plainurl=yes}}|quote=The exploits of T. E. Lawrence as British liaison officer in the Arab Revolt, recounted in his work Seven Pillars of Wisdom, made him one of the most famous Englishmen of his generation. This biography explores his life and career including his correspondence with writers, artists, and politicians.}}</ref> Britain replaced [[Arnold Wilson]] in October 1920 with a new Civil Commissioner, [[Percy Zachariah Cox|Sir Percy Cox]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32604|title=Cox, Sir Percy Zachariah (1864–1937), diplomatist and colonial administrator|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref/32604 |doi-broken-date=6 September 2025 }}</ref> Cox managed to quell a rebellion and was also responsible for implementing the policy of close cooperation with Iraq's Sunni minority.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Liam Anderson|author2=Gareth Stansfield|title=The Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy, Or Division?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4JMHAI1C91gC&pg=PAPA6|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4039-7144-9|page=6|quote=Sunni control over the levels of power and the distribution of the spoils of office has had predictable consequences - a simmering resentment on the part of the Shi'a...|access-date=30 November 2018|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125213604/https://books.google.com/books?id=4JMHAI1C91gC&pg=PAPA6}}</ref> [[Slavery]] was abolished in Iraq in the 1920s.<ref name="zanj">{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Timothy|title=In Iraq's African Enclave, Color Is Plainly Seen|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/world/middleeast/03basra.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203060958/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/world/middleeast/03basra.html |archive-date=3 December 2009 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2 December 2009}}</ref> Britain granted independence to the [[Kingdom of Iraq]] in 1932,<ref>Ongsotto et al. ''Asian History Module-based Learning Ii' 2003 Ed''. p69. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KE6f6Ni5lrsC&q=asian+history+module+based+learning&pg=PR7]</ref> on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained [[military base]]s and local militia in the form of [[Assyrian Levies]]. King [[Ghazi of Iraq|Ghazi]] ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933. His rule, which lasted until his death in 1939, was undermined by numerous attempted [[coup d'état|military coups]] until his death in 1939. His underage son, [[Faisal II of Iraq|Faisal II]] succeeded him, with [['Abd al-Ilah]] as [[Regent]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedi001ency/mode/2up |title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica vol. 1 |date=2007 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-59339-292-5 |page=14}}</ref>

=== Independent Kingdom of Iraq ===
{{Further|Kingdom of Iraq}}
[[File:Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–1958).svg|thumb|Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq 1932–1959]]

In 1934 Iraq became an oil exporter with the completion of the [[Kirkuk-Haifa oil pipeline]] which transported oil from the Kirkuk Field, discovered in 1927, to the Mediterranean coast for shipment to Europe. The first commercial oil production on a small scale for domestic consumption had begun in 1927 from the [[Naft Khana]] field on the border with Iran.

Establishment of Arab Sunni domination in Iraq was followed by [[Simele massacre|Assyrian]], [[1935 Yazidi revolt|Yazidi]] and [[1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts|Shi'a]] unrests, which were all brutally suppressed. In 1936, the [[1936 Iraqi coup d'état|first military coup]] took place in the Kingdom of Iraq, as [[Bakr Sidqi]] succeeded in replacing the acting Prime Minister with his associate. Multiple coups followed in a period of political instability, peaking in 1941.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

During [[World War II]], Iraqi regime of Regent [['Abd al-Ilah]] was [[1941 Iraqi coup d'état|overthrown in 1941]] by the [[Golden Square (Iraq)|Golden Square]] officers, headed by [[Rashid Ali]]. The short lived pro-Nazi government of Iraq was defeated in May 1941 by the allied forces (with local Assyrian and Kurdish help) in the [[Anglo-Iraqi War]]. Iraq was later used as a base for allied attacks on Vichy-French held [[Mandate of Syria]] and support for the [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Lyman|title=Iraq 1941: The Battles For Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XFOu9NG9pwC&pg=PA12|year=2006|publisher=Osprey Publishing|pages=12–17|isbn=978-1-84176-991-2}}</ref>

In 1945, Iraq joined the [[United Nations]] and became a founding member of the [[Arab League]].

In 1948, massive violent protests known as the [[Al-Wathbah uprising]] broke out across Baghdad with partial communist support, having demands against the government's treaty with Britain. Protests continued into spring and were interrupted in May when martial law was enforced as Iraq entered the failed [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] along with other Arab League members.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In February 1958, King [[Hussein of Jordan]] and `Abd al-Ilāh proposed a [[Arab Federation|union of Hāshimite monarchies]] to counter the recently formed Egyptian-Syrian union.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} The prime minister [[Nuri as-Said]] wanted [[Kuwait]] to be part of the proposed Arab-Hāshimite Union. Shaykh `Abd-Allāh as-Salīm, the ruler of Kuwait, was invited to Baghdad to discuss Kuwait's future. This policy brought the government of Iraq into direct conflict with Britain, which did not want to grant independence to Kuwait. At that point, the monarchy found itself completely isolated. Nuri as-Said was able to contain the rising discontent only by resorting to even greater political oppression.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

=== Republic of Iraq ===
{{Further|Iraqi Republic (1958–1968)}}
[[File:Emblem_of_Iraq_(1959-1965).svg|thumb|Iraq state emblem under [[Iraqi nationalism|nationalist]] [[Abd al-Karim Qasim|Qasim]] was mostly based on Mesopotamian symbol of [[Shamash]], and avoided pan-Arab symbolism by incorporating elements of [[Socialist heraldry]].]]
In 1958, inspired by [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] of Egypt, officers from the Nineteenth Brigade, [[3rd Division (Iraq)|3rd Division]], known as "The Four Colonels," under the leadership of Brigadier [[Abdul-Karim Qassem|Abd al-Karīm Qāsim]] (known as ''"az-Za`īm"'', 'the leader') and Colonel [[Abdul Salam Arif]] [[14 July Revolution|overthrew the Hashemite monarchy on 14 July 1958]]. The new government proclaimed Iraq to be a [[republic]] and rejected the idea of a union with Jordan. Iraq's activity in the [[Baghdad Pact]] ceased.

This revolution was strongly anti-imperial and anti-monarchical in nature and had strong socialist elements.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 July 2018 |title=60 years on, Iraqis reflect on the coup that killed King Faisal II |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1339046/middle-east |access-date=30 April 2024 |website=Arab News |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cleveland-2016" /> Numerous people were killed in the coup, including King [[Faisal II]], Prince [[Abd al-Ilah]], and [[Nuri al-Sa'id]], as well as members of the royal family, which came to be known as the "Royal family massacre".<ref name="Cleveland-2016">{{cite book|last1=Cleveland|first1=William|title=A History of the Modern Middle East|date=2016|publisher=Westview Press|location=Boulder, CO}}</ref> After burial, their bodies were dragged through the streets of Baghdad by their opponents and mutilated.<ref name="www.britannica.com-2024">{{Cite web |date=26 April 2024 |title=Faisal II {{!}} King, Iraq, & Death {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Faisal-II |access-date=30 April 2024 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cleveland-2016" /> The short-lived federation between [[Jordan]] and Iraq was abolished by King Hussein following the coup in 1958.<ref name="Cleveland-2016" />

[[Abd al-Karim Qasim]] promoted a civic nationalism in Iraq, which asserted the belief that [[Iraqi people|Iraqis]] are a [[nation]] and emphasized the cultural unity of [[Iraqis]] of different ethnoreligious groups such as Mesopotamian Arabs, [[Kurds in Iraq|Kurds]], [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turkmens]], [[Iraqi-Assyrians|Assyrians]], [[Yazidis]], [[Mandeans]], [[Yarsanism|Yarsans]], and others. His vision of nationalism involved the recognition of an Iraqi identity stemming from ancient [[Mesopotamia]], including its [[civilization]]s of [[Sumer]], [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]], [[Babylonia]], and [[Assyria]].<ref name="Reich, Bernard 1990. Pp. 245">Reich, Bernard. ''Political leaders of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Bibliographical Dictionary''. Westport, Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Press, Ltd, 1990. Pp. 245.</ref>

Qasim controlled Iraq through military rule and began forcibly redistributing surplus land owned by some citizens in 1958.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 April 2024 |title=ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim {{!}} Iraqi Prime Minister, Revolutionary Leader {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Karim-Qasim |access-date=30 April 2024 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Katharine |date=May 2018 |title=Revolutionary Fervor: The History and Legacy of Communism in Abd al-Karim Qasim's Iraq 1958-1963 |hdl=2152/65296 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2152/65296}}</ref> The Iraqi state emblem under Qasim was largely based on the Mesopotamian symbol of [[Shamash]], avoiding pan-Arab symbolism by incorporating elements of [[Socialist heraldry]].<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com">{{Cite web |title=Abdul Karim Qasim – A–Z Index – The Kurdistan Memory Programme |url=https://kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com/index/abdul-karim-qasim/ |access-date=30 April 2024 |website=kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com}}</ref> Under Qasim, freedom of religion was granted to religious minorities, and early restrictions on Jews were removed, leading to their reintegration into society.<ref name="katzcenterupenn">{{Cite web |last=katzcenterupenn |title=What Do You Know? Iraq's Jewish History |url=https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/what-do-you-know-iraqs-jewish-history |access-date=28 July 2024 |website=Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Haifa |first=Prof Yehudit Henshke, University of |date=26 December 2021 |title=Abd al-Karim Qasim and treatment to Jews, The Preservation of Jewish Languages and Cultures in memory of Hayyim (Marani) Trabelsy |url=https://lashon.org/en/node/6198 |access-date=28 July 2024 |website=Mother Tongue |language=en}}</ref>

Qasim's political ideologies were based on Iraqi nationalism instead of Arab nationalism, and he refused to join [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]'s political union between Egypt and Syria, known as the [[United Arab Republic]]. In 1959, Colonel [[Abd al-Wahab al-Shawaf]] led an uprising in Mosul against Qasim with the aim of joining the United Arab Republic, but was defeated by the government.<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com" />

Iraq withdrew from the [[Baghdad Pact]] in 1959, leading to strained relations with the [[Western world|West]] and developing a close alliance with the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com" /><ref name="Tripp">Tripp, Charles. ''A History of Iraq'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p.165</ref> Qasim began claiming [[Kuwait]] as part of Iraq when it was officially declared an independent country in 1961.<ref name="Tripp"/> During Ottoman rule, Kuwait was part of [[Basra vilayet|Basra Province]] and was separated by the British to establish the [[Kuwait protectorate]].<ref name="Tripp"/> In response, the [[United Kingdom]] sent its armed forces to the [[Iraq–Kuwait border]], and Qasim was forced to back down.<ref name="Tripp"/>

In 1961, Kurdish nationalist movements, led by [[Mustafa Barzani]]'s [[Kurdistan Democratic Party]], launched an armed rebellion against the Iraqi government, seeking Kurdish autonomy.<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com" /> The government faced challenges in quelling the Kurdish uprising, leading to intermittent conflict between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi military.<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com" /> The armed rebellion [[First Iraqi–Kurdish War|escalated into war]], which officially lasted for nine years until 1970, during which numerous coups occurred.<ref name="kurdistanmemoryprogramme.com" />

====Ba'athist Iraq====
{{Main|Ba'athist Iraq}}
[[File:Saddam_Hussain_Duty_Uniform.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Saddam Hussein, a leading member of the revolutionary [[Ba'ath Party|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]], served as the fifth [[president of Iraq]] from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003.]]
Qāsim was assassinated in February 1963 when the [[Ba'ath Party]] [[Ramadan Revolution|took power]] under the leadership of General [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] (prime minister) and Colonel [[Abdul Salam Arif]] (president). In June 1963, Syria, which by then had also fallen under Ba'athist rule, took part in the Iraqi [[military campaign]] against the Kurds by providing aircraft, armoured vehicles, and a force of 6,000 soldiers. Several months later, Abd as-Salam Muhammad Arif led [[November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état|a successful coup against the Ba'ath government]]. Arif declared a ceasefire in February 1964, which provoked a split among Kurdish urban radicals on one hand and Peshmerga (Freedom fighters) forces led by Barzani on the other.

On 13 April 1966, President Abdul Salam Arif died in a helicopter crash and was succeeded by his brother, General [[Abdul Rahman Arif]]. Following this unexpected death, the Iraqi government launched a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kurds. This campaign failed in May 1966, when Barzani forces thoroughly defeated the Iraqi Army at the Battle of Mount Handrin, near [[Rawandiz]]. Following the [[Six-Day War]] of 1967, the Ba'ath Party felt strong enough to [[17 July Revolution|retake power in 1968]]. [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] became president and chairman of the [[Revolutionary Command Council (Iraq)|Revolutionary Command Council]] (RCC). The Ba'ath government started a campaign to end the [[First Kurdish Iraqi War|Kurdish insurrection]], which stalled in 1969 due to internal power struggles and tensions with Iran. The war ended with more than 100,000 casualties and little achievement for both sides.

In March 1970, a peace plan was announced that provided for broader Kurdish autonomy and gave Kurds representation in government bodies, to be implemented in four years.<ref>G.S. Harris, ''Ethnic Conflict and the Kurds'', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, pp.118–120, 1977</ref> Despite this, the Iraqi government embarked on an Arabization program in the oil-rich regions of Kirkuk and [[Khanaqin]]. By 1974, tensions escalated again, leading to the [[Second Kurdish Iraqi War]], which lasted until 1975. The [[1975 Algiers Agreement|1975 peace treaty]] between Iraq and [[Imperial Iran|Iran]] resolved the [[Shatt al-Arab dispute]], leading to Iran withdrawing support for the Kurdish rebels and their subsequent defeat by the Iraqi government.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Şahin |first=Tuncay |title=What's the Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq about? |url=https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/what-s-the-algiers-agreement-between-iran-and-iraq-about-24942 |access-date=28 July 2024 |website=What's the Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq about? |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Anderson-2019">{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Giulia Valeria |date=21 October 2019 |title=US-Kurdish Relations: The 2nd Iraqi-Kurdish War and the Al-Anfal Campaigns |url=http://dspace.unive.it/handle/10579/15957 |language=en}}</ref>

====Under Saddam Hussein====
[[File:Saddam1970s.jpg|thumb|Saddam Hussein promoting women's education in the 1970s]]

In July 1979, [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr|President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] was forced to resign by [[Saddam Hussein]], who assumed the offices of both President and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. Saddam then [[1979 Ba'ath Party Purge|purged]] his opponents including those from within the Baath party.

;Iraq's Territorial Claims to Neighboring Countries
 
Iraq's territorial claims to neighboring countries were largely due to the plans and promises of the [[Entente countries]] in 1919–1920, when the [[Ottoman Empire]] was divided, to create a more extensive Arab state in Iraq and [[Arabian Peninsula|Jazeera]], which would also include significant territories of eastern [[Syria]], southeastern [[Turkey]], all of [[Kuwait]] and [[Iran]]'s border areas, which are shown on this English map of 1920.
[[File:Mideast1920.jpg|thumb|British ruled Mesopotamia in pink]]

Territorial disputes with [[Iran]] led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war, the ''[[Iran–Iraq War]]'' (1980–1988, termed ''[[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Qādisiyyat]]-Saddām'' – 'Saddam's [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Qādisiyyah]]'), which devastated the economy. Iraq falsely declared victory in 1988 but actually only achieved a weary return to the ''[[status quo ante bellum]]'', meaning both sides retained their original borders.

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980, following a long history of [[Territorial dispute|border disputes]], and fears of [[Shia]] insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the [[Iranian Revolution]]. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant [[Persian Gulf]] [[State (polity)|state]]. The [[United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war|United States supported Saddam Hussein]] in the war against Iran.<ref>Tyler, Patrick E. [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/world/officers-say-us-aided-iraq-in-war-despite-use-of-gas.html "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630202109/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/world/officers-say-us-aided-iraq-in-war-despite-use-of-gas.html |date=30 June 2017 }} ''New York Times'' 18 August 2002.</ref> Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and within several months were repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.<ref name="Molavi2005p152">{{cite book|last=Molavi |first=Afshin|title=The Soul of Iran|publisher=Norton|year=2005|page=152}}</ref> Despite [[United Nations Security Council Resolutions concerning Iraq|calls for a ceasefire]] by the [[United Nations Security Council]], hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. The war finally ended with a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in the form of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 598]], which was accepted by both sides. It took several weeks for the Iranian armed forces to evacuate Iraqi territory to honor pre-war international borders between the two nations (see [[1975 Algiers Agreement]]). The last [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref name="Molavi2005p152" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |work=The New York Times |first=Nazila |last=Fathi |title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal |date=14 March 2003 |access-date=16 February 2017 |archive-date=17 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217021100/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage—half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers, as well as civilians, are believed to have died in the war with many more injured—but it brought neither reparations nor change in borders. The conflict is often compared to [[World War I]],<ref>Abrahamian, Ervand, ''A History of Modern Iran'', Cambridge, 2008, p.171</ref> in that the tactics used closely mirrored those of that conflict, including large scale [[trench warfare]], manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of [[barbed wire]] across trenches, [[human wave attacks]] across [[no-man's land]], and extensive use of [[chemical weapons]] such as [[mustard gas]] by the Iraqi government against Iranian [[troops]] and civilians as well as Iraqi [[Kurd]]s. At the time, the [[UN Security Council]] issued statements that "chemical weapons had been used in the war." However, in these UN statements, it was never made clear that it was only Iraq that was using chemical weapons, so it has been said that "the international community remained silent as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against Iranian as well as Iraqi Kurds" and it is believed.

A long-standing territorial dispute was the ostensible reason for Iraq's [[invasion of Kuwait]] in 1990. In November 1990, the UN Security Council adopted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 678|Resolution 678]], permitting member states to use all necessary means, authorizing military action against the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait and demanded a complete withdrawal by 15 January 1991. When Saddam Hussein failed to comply with this demand, the [[Gulf War]] (Operation "[[Desert Storm]]") ensued on 17 January 1991. Estimates range from 1,500 to as many as 30,000 Iraqi soldiers killed, as well as less than a thousand civilians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Findlay |first1=Justin |title=What Was Operation Desert Storm? |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-operation-desert-storm.html |website=WorldAtlas |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=9 December 2020 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205183121/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-operation-desert-storm.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heidenrich |first1=John G. |title=The Gulf War: How Many Iraqis Died? |journal=Foreign Policy |date=1993 |issue=90 |pages=108–125 |doi=10.2307/1148946 |jstor=1148946 }}</ref>

In March 1991 revolts in the [[Shia Islam|Shia]]-dominated southern Iraq started involving demoralized [[Iraqi Army]] troops and the anti-government Shia parties. Another wave of insurgency broke out shortly afterwards in the [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] populated northern Iraq (see [[1991 Iraqi uprisings]]). Although they presented a serious threat to the Iraqi [[Ba'ath Party]] regime, Saddam Hussein managed to suppress the rebellions with massive and indiscriminate force and maintained power. They were ruthlessly crushed by the loyalist forces spearheaded by the [[Iraqi Republican Guard]] and the population was successfully terrorized. During the few weeks of unrest tens of thousands of people were killed. Many more died during the following months, while nearly two million Iraqis fled for their lives. In the aftermath, the government intensified the forced relocating of [[Marsh Arabs]] and the draining of the [[Tigris-Euphrates river system|Iraqi marshlands]], while the Coalition established the [[Iraqi no-fly zones]].
[[File:Iraqi Governorates Map (1990-1991).jpg|thumb|Kuwait became a Governorate of Iraq.]]
On 6 August 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council adopted [[UN Resolution 661|Resolution 661]] which imposed [[economic sanctions]] on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity, these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. After the end of the Gulf War and after the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, the sanctions were linked to removal of [[weapons of mass destruction]] by [[UN Resolution 687|Resolution 687]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/687.htm|title=UN Security Council Resolution 687 -1991|website=www.mideastweb.org|access-date=11 November 2008|archive-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512025610/http://www.mideastweb.org/687.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> To varying degrees, the effects of government policy, the aftermath of Gulf War and the sanctions regime have been blamed for these conditions.

The effects of the sanctions on the civilian population of Iraq have been disputed.<ref name=unicef99>[http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm Iraq surveys show 'humanitarian emergency'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806193122/http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm |date=6 August 2009 }} [[UNICEF]] Newsline 12 August 1999</ref><ref name="Rubin">{{cite journal|last=Rubin |first=Michael |title=Sanctions on Iraq: A Valid Anti-American Grievance? |journal=[[Middle East Review of International Affairs]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |url=http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |pages=100–115 |date=December 2001 |author-link=Michael Rubin (historian)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028003924/http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |archive-date=28 October 2012 }}</ref> Whereas it was widely believed that the sanctions caused a major rise in child mortality, recent research has shown that commonly cited data were fabricated by the Iraqi government and that "there was no major rise in child mortality in Iraq after 1990 and during the period of the sanctions."<ref name=Spagat>{{cite web |url=http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf |title=Truth and death in Iraq under sanctions |first=Michael |last=Spagat |date=September 2010 |publisher=[[Significance (journal)|Significance]] |access-date=22 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711190050/http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2018 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Dyson|first1=Tim|last2=Cetorelli|first2=Valeria|date=1 July 2017|title=Changing views on child mortality and economic sanctions in Iraq: a history of lies, damned lies and statistics|url= |journal=BMJ Global Health|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|article-number=e000311|doi=10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000311|issn=2059-7908|pmc=5717930|pmid=29225933}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/saddam-hussein-said-sanctions-killed-500000-children-that-was-a-spectacular-lie/|title=Saddam Hussein said sanctions killed 500,000 children. That was 'a spectacular lie.'|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-date=4 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804154954/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/saddam-hussein-said-sanctions-killed-500000-children-that-was-a-spectacular-lie/|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[oil for food program]] was established in 1996 to ease the effects of sanctions.

Iraqi cooperation with UN weapons inspection teams was questioned on several occasions during the 1990s. [[UNSCOM]] chief weapons inspector [[Richard Butler (diplomat)|Richard Butler]] withdrew his team from Iraq in November 1998 because of Iraq's lack of cooperation. The team returned in December.<ref>Richard Butler, ''Saddam Defiant'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2000, p. 224</ref> Butler prepared a report for the [[UN Security Council]] afterwards in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of compliance [https://web.archive.org/web/20010723110631/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9811/11/iraq.05/]. The same month, US President Bill Clinton authorized air strikes on government targets and military facilities. Air strikes against military facilities and alleged WMD sites continued into 2002.

== U.S. invasion and the aftermath (2003–present) ==
{{Campaignbox Iraq War}}

=== 2003 U.S. invasion ===
{{Main|2003 invasion of Iraq}}

After the [[September 11 attacks|terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the United States in 2001]] were linked to the group formed by the multi-millionaire Saudi [[Osama bin Laden]], American foreign policy began to call for the removal of the Ba'ath government in Iraq. Neoconservative think-tanks in Washington had for years been urging [[regime change]] in Baghdad. On 14 August 1998, President Clinton signed Public Law 105–235, which declared that ''the Government of Iraq is in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations.'' It urged the President ''to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations.'' Several months later, Congress enacted the [[Iraq Liberation Act|Iraq Liberation Act of 1998]] on 31 October 1998. This law stated that it "should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime." It was passed 360 - 38 by the [[United States House of Representatives]] and 99–0 by the [[United States Senate]] in 1998.

The US urged the [[United Nations]] to take military action against Iraq. American president [[George W. Bush]] stated that Saddām had repeatedly violated 16 UN Security Council resolutions. The Iraqi government rejected Bush's assertions. A team of U.N. inspectors, led by Swedish diplomat [[Hans Blix]] was admitted, into the country; their final report stated that Iraqis capability in producing "weapons of mass destruction" was not significantly different from 1992 when the country dismantled the bulk of their remaining arsenals under terms of the ceasefire agreement with U.N. forces, but did not completely rule out the possibility that Saddam still had weapons of mass destruction. The [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]] charged that Iraq was hiding WMD and opposed the team's requests for more time to further investigate the matter. [[UN Security Council Resolution 1441|Resolution 1441]] was passed unanimously by the [[UN Security Council]] on 8 November 2002, offering Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous UN resolutions, threatening "serious consequences" if the obligations were not fulfilled. The UN Security Council did not issue a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

In March 2003, the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]], with military aid from other nations, invaded Iraq.

Over the following years in the [[Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)|U.S. occupation of Iraq]], Iraq disintegrated into a [[Iraqi civil war (2006–2008)|civil war]] from 2006 to 2008, and the situation deteriorated in 2011 which later escalated into a [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|renewed war]] following ISIL gains in the country in 2014. [[History of Iraq (2011–present)|By 2015]], Iraq was effectively divided, the central and southern part being controlled by the [[government of Iraq|government]], the northwest by the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] and the western part by the [[Islamic State]]. IS was expelled from Iraq in 2017, but a low-intensity [[ISIL insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)|ISIL insurgency]] continues mostly in the rural parts of northern western parts of the country, due to Iraq's long border with Syria.<ref>{{citation |title=Timeline&ndash;Rise, fall and spread of the Islamic State |date=28 October 2019 |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/timeline-the-rise-spread-and-fall-the-islamic-state |access-date=14 December 2020 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208025300/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/timeline-the-rise-spread-and-fall-the-islamic-state |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Occupation (2003–11) ===
{{Main|Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)}}

[[File:Iraq 2003 occupation.png|thumb|250px|Occupation zones in Iraq in September 2003]]
In 2003, after the American and British invasion, Iraq was occupied by U.S.-led [[Multi-National Force – Iraq|Coalition forces]]. On 23 May 2003, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution lifting all economic sanctions against Iraq. As the country struggled to rebuild after three wars and a decade of sanctions, it was plagued by violence between a growing [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–11)|Iraqi insurgency]] and occupation forces. Saddam Hussein, who vanished in April, was captured on 13 December 2003 in [[ad-Dawr]], [[Saladin Governorate]].[[File:A U.S. Soldier searches an Iraqi boy before allowing him access to the Basra Operations Center during a Medical Civic Assistance Program in Basra, Iraq, March 7, 2011 110307-A-WO967-008.jpg|thumb|[[U.S. Army]] soldier searches an Iraqi boy, March 2011.]] [[Jay Garner]] was appointed Interim Civil Administrator with three deputies, including [[Tim Cross]]. Garner was replaced in May 2003 by [[Paul Bremer]], who was himself replaced by [[John Negroponte]] on 19 April 2004. Negroponte was the last US interim administrator and left Iraq in 2005. [[Iraqi parliamentary election, January 2005|A parliamentary election was held in January 2005]], followed by the drafting and ratification of [[Constitution of Iraq|a constitution]] and [[Iraqi parliamentary election, December 2005|a further parliamentary election in December 2005]].

Terrorism emerged as a threat to Iraq's people not long after the invasion of 2003. [[Al Qaeda]] now had a presence in the country, in the form of several terrorist groups formerly led by [[Abu Musab Al Zarqawi]]. Al Zarqawi was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq and being responsible for a series of bombings, beheadings and attacks during the Iraq war. Al Zarqawi was killed on 7 June 2006. Many foreign fighters and former Ba'ath Party officials also joined the insurgency, which was mainly aimed at attacking American forces and Iraqis who worked with them. The most dangerous insurgent area was the [[Sunni Triangle]], a mostly Sunni-Muslim area just north of Baghdad.

Reported acts of violence conducted by an uneasy tapestry of insurgents steadily increased by the end of 2006.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=Michael R. |last2=Mazzetti |first2=Mark |last3=Shanker |first3=Thom |date=17 August 2006 |title=Bombs Aimed at G.I.'s in Iraq Are Increasing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/world/middleeast/17military.html |work=[[nytimes.com]] |access-date=27 March 2014 |archive-date=16 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716055723/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/world/middleeast/17military.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Sunni jihadist forces including [[Al Qaeda in Iraq]] continued to target Shia civilians, notably in the 23 February 2006 attack on the [[Al Askari Mosque]] in [[Samarra]], one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites leading to a [[Iraqi civil war (2006–2008)|civil war]] between Sunni and Shia militants in Iraq. Analysis of the attack suggested that the [[Mujahideen Shura Council (Iraq)|Mujahideen Shura Council]] and Al-Qaeda in Iraq were responsible, and that the motivation was to provoke further violence by outraging the Shia population.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200454.html|title=Bombing Shatters Mosque In Iraq|first=Ellen Knickmeyer and K. I.|last=Ibrahim|date=23 February 2006|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=3 December 2017|archive-date=14 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214033507/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200454.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In mid-October 2006, a statement was released stating that the Mujahideen Shura Council had been disbanded and was replaced by the "[[Islamic State of Iraq]]". It was formed to resist efforts by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities to win over Sunni supporters of the insurgency. Shia militias, some of whom were associated with elements in the Iraq government, reacted with reprisal acts against the Sunni minority. A cycle of violence thus ensued whereby Sunni insurgent attacks were followed reprisals by Shiite militias, often in the form of Shi'ite death squads that sought out and killed Sunnis. Following a surge in U.S. troops in 2007 and 2008, violence in Iraq began to decrease. The U.S. ended their main military presence in 2011, however, resulting in [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|renewed escalation into war]].<ref name="reuters 2011">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-withdrawal-idUSTRE7BH03320111218 |title=Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war |work=Reuters |date=18 December 2011 |access-date=12 August 2014 |author=Logan, Joseph |archive-date=25 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525214722/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-withdrawal-idUSTRE7BH03320111218 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Insurgency and war (2011–2017) ===
{{Main|History of Iraq (2011–present)}}
{{Campaignbox Iraq War (2014–present)}}
{{further|Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)|War in Iraq (2013–2017)|Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014)|Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)}}

The [[Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (2007–2011)|departure of US troops]] from Iraq in 2011 triggered [[Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)|a renewed insurgency]] and by a spillover of the [[Syrian civil war]] into Iraq. By 2013, the insurgency escalated into a state renewed [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|war]], the central [[government of Iraq]] being opposed by various factions, primarily radical Sunni forces.

The [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]   [[Anbar campaign (2013–14)|invaded Iraq]] in 2013–14 and seized the majority of [[Al Anbar Governorate]],<ref name="auto">{{cite news|title=John Kerry holds talks in Iraq as more cities fall to ISIS militants|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/world/meast/iraq-crisis/|agency=CNN|date=23 June 2014|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-date=19 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119055306/http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/world/meast/iraq-crisis/|url-status=live}}</ref> including the cities of [[Fallujah]],<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/al-qaeda-linked-militants-capture-fallujah-during-violent-outbreak/|title=Al Qaeda-linked militants capture Fallujah during violent outbreak|publisher=Fox News|date=4 January 2014|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924184811/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/04/iraq-army-battles-al-qaeda-linked-militants-to-regain-control-in-key-cities/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Al-Qa'im (town)|Al Qaim]],<ref name="21iraqi">{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/militants-kills-21-leaders-iraq-article-1.1839547|title=Militants kill 21 Iraqi leaders, capture 2 border crossings|work=NY Daily News|date=22 June 2014 |access-date=14 October 2014|archive-date=27 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227031549/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/militants-kills-21-leaders-iraq-article-1.1839547|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Abu Ghraib]] and (in May 2015) [[Ramadi]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-seizes-ramadi-massacres-reported-as-iraq-considers-sending-in-iranbacked-shia-militias-10257314.html |title=Isis seizes Ramadi |date=18 May 2015 |work=The Independent |access-date=3 December 2017 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925193548/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-seizes-ramadi-massacres-reported-as-iraq-considers-sending-in-iranbacked-shia-militias-10257314.html |url-status=live }}</ref> leaving them in control of 90% of Anbar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/shiite-mammoth-taking.html|title=Iraq: Shiite Gov't faces Mammoth Task in taking Sunni al-Anbar from ISIL|work=Informed Comment|date=19 April 2015|access-date=11 June 2015|archive-date=13 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613144921/http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/shiite-mammoth-taking.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="overruns">{{cite web |url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/07/islamic_state_overru.php |title=Islamic State overruns Camp Speicher, routs Iraqi forces |work=Long War Journal |date=19 July 2014 |access-date=14 October 2014 |archive-date=26 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326164552/http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/07/iraqi_military_says_it_retakes.php |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Tikrit]], [[Mosul]] and most of the Nineveh province, along with parts of Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces, were seized by insurgent forces in the [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|June 2014 offensive]].<ref>{{cite web |agency=Reuters |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/insurgents-in-iraq-overrun-mosul-provincial-government-headquarters/1933170.html |title=Insurgents in Iraq Overrun Mosul Provincial Government Headquarters |publisher=Voice of America |date=9 June 2014 |access-date=31 July 2014 |archive-date=26 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226071905/http://www.voanews.com/content/insurgents-in-iraq-overrun-mosul-provincial-government-headquarters/1933170.html |url-status=live }} {{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-city-of-mosul-falls-into-hands-of-isis-jihadists-after-police-army-abandon-posts/|title=Iraqi city of Mosul falls to jihadists|publisher=CBS|date=10 June 2014|access-date=14 June 2015|archive-date=18 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218212324/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-city-of-mosul-falls-into-hands-of-isis-jihadists-after-police-army-abandon-posts/|url-status=live}}</ref> ISIL also captured [[Sinjar]] and a number of other towns in the [[Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014)|August 2014 offensive]], but were halted by the [[December 2014 Sinjar offensive|Sinjar offensive]] launched in December 2014 by Kurdish [[Peshmerga]] and [[People's Protection Units|YPG]] forces. The war ended with a government victory in December 2017.<ref name="end of war">{{cite news |last=Mostafa |first=Nehal |date=9 December 2017 |title=Iraq announces end of war against IS, liberation of borders with Syria: Abadi |url=https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraq-announces-end-war-liberation-borders-syria-abadi/ |work=Iraqi News |access-date=9 December 2017 |archive-date=9 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209235658/https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraq-announces-end-war-liberation-borders-syria-abadi |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Pre-referendum, pro-Kurdistan, pro-independence rally in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq 25.jpg|thumb|Pro-independence rally in [[Iraqi Kurdistan]] in 2017. The [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] announced it would respect the Supreme Federal Court's ruling that no Iraqi province is allowed to secede.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-kurds/iraqs-kurdistan-says-to-respect-court-decision-banning-secession-idUSKBN1DE0XD|title=Iraq's Kurdistan says to respect court decision banning secession|date=14 November 2017|work=Reuters}}</ref>]]
On 30 April 2016, [[2015–2016 Iraqi protests|thousands of protesters]] entered the [[Green Zone]] in Baghdad and occupied the [[Council of Representatives of Iraq|Iraqi parliament]] building. This happened after the Iraqi parliament did not approve new government ministers. The protesters included supporters of Shia cleric [[Muqtada Al Sadr]]. Although Iraqi security forces were present, they did not attempt to stop the protesters from entering the parliament building.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/thousands-protesters-storm-iraq-parliament-green-zone|title=Thousands of protesters storm Iraq parliament green zone|website=AFP|date=16 January 2012|access-date=30 August 2018|archive-date=1 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501095441/https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/thousands-protesters-storm-iraq-parliament-green-zone|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Continued ISIL insurgency and protests (2017–present) ===
{{Main|Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)|2019–2021 Iraqi protests}}

Tensions between the federal Iraqi government and [[Kurdistan Region]]  arising from the [[2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum|Kurdistan Region independence referendum]] of 25 September 2017 [[2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict|escalated into armed conflict in October 2017]]. As a result of the conflict, Kurdistan Region lost a fifth of the land mass it had administered prior to the conflict and was forced to cancel the results of the referendum.

By 2018, violence in Iraq was at its lowest level in ten years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/violence-in-iraq-at-lowest-level-in-10-years/|title=Violence in Iraq at Lowest Level in 10 years|access-date=9 September 2018|archive-date=22 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822045957/http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/violence-in-iraq-at-lowest-level-in-10-years/}}</ref>

[[2018–19 Iraqi protests|Protests over deteriorating economic conditions and state corruption]] started in July 2018 in [[Baghdad]] and other major Iraqi cities, mainly in the central and southern provinces. The latest nationwide protests, erupting in October 2019, had a death toll of at least 93 people, including police.<ref name="I1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/middleeast/iraq-economic-protests-intl/index.html|title=Iraq Prime Minister calls protesters' demands 'righteous,' as 93 killed in demonstrations|last1=Alkhshali|first1=Hamdi|last2=Tawfeeq|first2=Mohammed|date=5 October 2019|website=CNN|access-date=5 October 2019|last3=Qiblawi|first3=Tamara|archive-date=27 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027075324/https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/middleeast/iraq-economic-protests-intl/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 2021, Iraqi Prime Minister [[Mustafa Al-Kadhimi|Mustafa al-Kadhimi]] survived a failed assassination attempt.<ref>{{cite news |title=Iraq PM says his would-be assassins have been identified |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59205758 |work=BBC News |date=8 November 2021 |access-date=24 December 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119134720/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59205758 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's [[Sadrist Movement]] was the biggest winner in the 2021 [[2021 Iraqi parliamentary election|parliamentary elections]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Iraq's Surprise Election Results |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iraq/iraqs-surprise-election-results |website=Crisis Group |language=en |date=16 November 2021 |access-date=27 December 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313064428/https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iraq/iraqs-surprise-election-results |url-status=live }}</ref> Governmental stalemate lead to the [[2022 Iraqi political crisis]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 June 2022 |title=Iraqi leaders vow to move ahead after dozens quit parliament |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/muqtada-alsadr-ap-iran-baghdad-shiite-b2099824.html |access-date=13 June 2022 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613233829/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/muqtada-alsadr-ap-iran-baghdad-shiite-b2099824.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In October 2022, [[Abdul Latif Rashid]] was elected as the new [[President of Iraq]] after winning the parliamentary election against incumbent [[Barham Salih]], who was running for a second term. The presidency is largely ceremonial and is traditionally held by a Kurd.<ref>{{cite news |last1=National |first1=The |title=Who are Iraq's new president Abdul Latif Rashid and PM nominee Mohammed Shia Al Sudani? |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/2022/10/14/who-are-iraqs-new-president-abdul-lateef-rasheed-and-pm-nominee-mohammad-al-sudani/ |work=The National |date=14 October 2022 |language=en |access-date=25 October 2022 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117024740/https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/2022/10/14/who-are-iraqs-new-president-abdul-lateef-rasheed-and-pm-nominee-mohammad-al-sudani/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  On 27 October 2022, [[Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani|Mohammed Shia al-Sudani]], close ally of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, took the office to succeed  Mustafa al-Kadhimi as new [[Prime Minister of Iraq]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Iraq gets a new government after a year of deadlock – DW – 10/28/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/iraq-gets-a-new-government-after-a-year-of-deadlock/a-63581601 |work=dw.com |language=en |access-date=31 October 2022 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210075414/https://www.dw.com/en/iraq-gets-a-new-government-after-a-year-of-deadlock/a-63581601 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Abbasid Caliphate]]
* [[Akkadian Empire]]
* [[Assyria]]
* [[Babylonia]]
* [[History of Asia]]
* [[History of Baghdad]]
* [[History of the Middle East]]
* [[List of kings of Iraq]]
* [[List of presidents of Iraq]]
* [[List of prime ministers of Iraq]]
* [[Mesopotamia]]
* [[Politics of Iraq]]
* [[Sumer]]
* [[Timeline of Baghdad]]
* [[Timeline of Basra]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book|last=Aberbach|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t0qHDAAAQBAJ|title=Major Turning Points in Jewish Intellectual History|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2003|isbn=978-1-4039-1766-9|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Düring|first=Bleda S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NLKDwAAQBAJ|title=The Imperialisation of Assyria: An Archaeological Approach|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2020 |isbn=978-1-108-47874-8 |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Masalha |first=N. |date=October 1991 |title=Faisal's Pan-Arabism, 1921-33 |magazine=Middle Eastern Studies |pages=679–693 |volume=27 |issue=4 |jstor=4283470 |issn=0026-3206}}

== Further reading ==
* Broich, John. ''Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against a Fascist State in Iraq and the Levant, 1941'' (Abrams, 2019).
* de Gaury, Gerald. ''Three Kings in Baghdad: The Tragedy of Iraq's Monarchy'', (IB Taurus, 2008). {{ISBN|978-1-84511-535-7}}
* Elliot, Matthew. ''Independent Iraq: British Influence from 1941 to 1958'' (IB Tauris, 1996).
* Fattah, Hala Mundhir, and Frank Caso. ''A brief history of Iraq'' (Infobase Publishing, 2009).
* Franzén, Johan. "Development vs. Reform: Attempts at Modernisation during the Twilight of British Influence in Iraq, 1946–1958," ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 37#1 (2009), pp.&nbsp;77–98
* Kriwaczek, Paul. ''Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization''. Atlantic Books (2010). {{ISBN|978-1-84887-157-1}}
* Murray, Williamson, and Kevin M. Woods. ''The Iran-Iraq War: A military and strategic history'' (Cambridge UP, 2014).
* Roux, Georges. ''Ancient Iraq''. Penguin Books (1992). {{ISBN|0-14-012523-X}}
* Silverfarb, Daniel. ''Britain's informal empire in the Middle East: a case study of Iraq, 1929-1941'' ( Oxford University Press, 1986).
* Silverfarb, Daniel. ''The twilight of British ascendancy in the Middle East: a case study of Iraq, 1941-1950'' (1994)
* Silverfarb, Daniel. "The revision of Iraq's oil concession, 1949–52." ''Middle Eastern Studies'' 32.1 (1996): 69-95.
* Simons, Geoff. ''Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam'' (Springer, 2016).
* Tarbush, Mohammad A. ''The role of the military in politics: A case study of Iraq to 1941'' (Routledge, 2015).
*{{cite book|author-link=Charles R. H. Tripp|last=Tripp|first=Charles R. H.|title=A History of Iraq 3rd edition |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2007}}

=== Historiography ===
* {{cite journal |last1=Bashkin |first1=Orit |title=Deconstructing Destruction: The Second Gulf War and the New Historiography of Twentieth-Century Iraq |journal=The Arab Studies Journal |date=2015 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=210–234 |jstor=44744905 |issn=1083-4753}}

== External links ==
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8213001278676327450# Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization]
*[http://arabic-radio-tv.com/iraq_history.htm Iraq History and Culture from the cradle of civilization and Noah to the present age and time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104003703/http://arabic-radio-tv.com/iraq_history.htm |date=4 January 2020 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180927085237/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552703 Historical Context of the Iran – Iraq War] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120312181034/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494/browse?type=title Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]

{{Iraq topics}}
{{History of Asia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Iraq}}
[[Category:History of Iraq| ]]
[[Category:History of the Levant|Iraq]]