Editing History of Iraq (section)

== 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}}</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|url-status=dead}}</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 book |last=Encyclopaedia Britannica |first=inc |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 |pages=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=9781841769912}}</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 Rawanduz. 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 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148946 |access-date=9 December 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225221201/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148946 |url-status=live }}</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)|url-status=dead |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 |url-status=dead }}</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|pages=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.