Asia
Iraq is presented here as a historical economic dossier rather than a flat stat sheet: long-run macro cycles, public balance-sheet pressure, market depth, external buffers, and the events that likely bent the curve.
A tighter current-state read before dropping into the long historical charts.
The timeline is where macro numbers meet story: crises, wars, policy shifts, trade deals, and other shocks connected to Iraq.
The Sumerians of Mesopotamia developed cuneiform script, the world's earliest known writing system, enabling record-keeping, trade, and administration. This innovation transformed economic and governmental organization across the ancient world.
Sargon of Akkad conquered the Sumerian city-states and created the world's first multi-ethnic empire, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. His empire unified Mesopotamia under a single ruler for the first time.
Cyrus the Great conquered the Medes, Lydians, and Babylonians to create the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest empire the world had yet seen. The empire stretched from the Indus Valley to the Aegean Sea and introduced the concept of religious tolerance.
Alexander III of Macedon crossed into Asia Minor with 37,000 troops, beginning his campaign to conquer the Persian Empire and eventually extend Greek culture to India. His conquests spread Hellenistic culture from Egypt to Central Asia.
Following Muhammad's death, the first Caliph Abu Bakr consolidated Muslim control of Arabia and began the military expansion that would spread Islam from Spain to Central Asia within a century. The rapid Islamic conquests reshaped the political and religious map of the Old World.
Establishment of Baghdad as a major cultural and scholarly center
Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad, killing the Abbasid Caliph and hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, and destroying the great libraries and cultural treasures of the Islamic Golden Age. This catastrophe ended the Abbasid Caliphate and devastated Islamic civilization.
Start of British involvement in Iraq during WWI, leading to eventual British mandate.
Establishment of British control postUnknownOttoman Empire, setting the stage for modern Iraqi statehood.
Formalized the creation of the modern state of Iraq under British mandate.
Establishment of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, under British influence.
Independence from British mandate, leading to the founding of the Kingdom of Iraq.
Iraq's independence from British mandate, marking the establishment of a sovereign state.
Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new state of Israel on May 15, 1948, beginning the Israeli War of Independence. Israel survived and expanded beyond the UN partition boundaries, while Palestinian Arabs became refugees.
Aimed to counter Soviet influence in the Middle East, involving Iraq and Western powers.
Overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy, leading to the establishment of a republic.
Overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy, establishment of a republic.
Iraqi army officers overthrew and killed King Faisal II and Prime Minister Nuri as-Said in a bloody coup on July 14, 1958. The revolution ended the pro-Western Hashemite monarchy and began a period of nationalist military rule.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Venezuela founded the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Baghdad in September 1960. OPEC was created to coordinate petroleum policies and gain greater control over oil prices from Western companies.
OPEC, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Venezuela, continued to expand its membership and coordinate oil pricing policies in 1962. The organization's ability to control oil prices would become decisive in the 1970s oil crises.
Attempted to dominate the Persian Gulf region, resulted in stalemate and devastation.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, initiating one of the longest and most destructive conventional wars of the 20th century. The war lasted eight years, killed an estimated 1 million people, and ended in stalemate.
Overproduction among OPEC members and declining Western oil demand began to undermine OPEC's ability to maintain high oil prices, leading eventually to the 1986 oil price collapse. The organization's internal discipline eroded as members competed for market share.
Global oil prices collapsed from over $30 per barrel to below $10 as OPEC abandoned production discipline, devastating oil-exporting economies particularly in the Middle East and Africa. The price crash also helped bring down the Soviet economy.
A UN-brokered ceasefire ended the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that killed approximately 1 million people and left both countries economically devastated. The war ended with no territorial changes, rendering the massive destruction pointless.
Iraq's military, under orders from Saddam Hussein, launched chemical weapons attacks on the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing an estimated 3,000-5,000 civilians. It was the largest chemical weapons attack against civilians in history.
Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded and annexed Kuwait, triggering an international crisis and the formation of a US-led coalition to liberate Kuwait. The invasion was motivated by Iraq's massive debt from the Iran-Iraq War and disputes over oil production.
A US-led coalition of 35 nations launched air and ground operations to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, decisively defeating Iraq's military in just 100 hours of ground combat. The war established US military dominance in the post-Cold War era.
Following the Gulf War, Kurds in northern Iraq rose up against Saddam Hussein and were brutally repressed, prompting the US, UK, and France to establish a no-fly zone to protect them. Operation Provide Comfort protected Kurds in northern Iraq for over a decade.
The Gulf War's air campaign was the first war broadcast live on television globally through CNN, transforming public understanding of and engagement with warfare. The 'CNN effect' fundamentally altered how governments communicate about military operations.
The United States, United Kingdom, and coalition partners launched the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, initiating a massive aerial bombardment campaign known as 'Shock and Awe.' The invasion proceeded without UN Security Council authorization, based on disputed claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
US forces entered Baghdad on April 9, 2003, and the iconic toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square marked the symbolic fall of the Iraqi capital. The rapid military victory gave way to years of insurgency, sectarian violence, and political instability.
US forces captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003, finding him hiding in an underground bunker near his hometown of Tikrit, Iraq. He was later tried by an Iraqi tribunal and executed on December 30, 2006.
CBS News broadcast photographs on April 28, 2004, showing US soldiers physically and sexually abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, causing international outrage and severely damaging American credibility. The scandal led to courts-martial of several soldiers and raised serious questions about interrogation policy sanctioned at higher levels.
The last US combat troops crossed from Iraq into Kuwait on December 18, 2011, formally ending the nearly nine-year US military presence in Iraq. The withdrawal left behind a fragile Iraqi state that would face the catastrophic rise of ISIS within three years.
ISIS's rapid territorial gains in Iraq, leading to international military interventions.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, on June 10, 2014, and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of a 'caliphate' spanning Iraq and Syria on June 29, 2014. At its peak, ISIS controlled territory larger than the United Kingdom with a population of 8 million people.
Nationwide protests demanding political reform and action against corruption.
A US drone strike killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020, on orders from President Trump. Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq, and accidentally shot down Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 people.