# The Chronicle of Iraq: From the first cities of Sumer to the modern republic on the Tigris and Euphrates. History of Iraq: From the first cities of Sumer to the modern republic on the Tigris and Euphrates. 6 eras and 25 sourced events, every claim traceable… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/IRQ/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-15 Founding: Independence of the Kingdom of Iraq — 3 October 1932. On 3 October 1932 the Kingdom of Iraq, ruled by King Faisal I of the Hashemite dynasty, was admitted to the League of Nations as an independent state, ending the British mandate established after the First World War. It was the first of the League's mandated territories anywhere to be granted independence and the first Arab state to join the League. The modern country had been assembled by Britain from the former Ottoman provinces (vilayets) of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. Iraq's deep history, however, stretches back five thousand years to the cities of Sumer, making it heir to one of the oldest continuous records of civilisation on earth. Iraq occupies the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, the 'land between the rivers', where some of humanity's earliest civilisations arose. On its southern plains the Sumerians built the world's first cities and invented cuneiform writing, and successive empires — Akkad, Babylon, Assyria — flourished here before Persian, Hellenistic and Sasanian rule. After the Arab Muslim conquest of the seventh century, Baghdad became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate from 762 and a brilliant centre of the Islamic Golden Age, until the Mongols sacked it in 1258. Following Ottoman rule and a British mandate after the First World War, the Kingdom of Iraq under Faisal I won independence on 3 October 1932; a 1958 republican coup, Ba'athist rule under Saddam Hussein, and a succession of wars since 1980 have shaped the modern state. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Sumer, Akkad and Babylon — the First Cities — c. 4000 BCE – 539 BCE On the alluvial plains between the Tigris and Euphrates, the Sumerians built the world's first cities and invented writing, and the empires of Akkad, Babylon and Assyria rose in turn. - c. 3200 BCE: **The Sumerians invent cuneiform writing** — In the Sumerian city of Uruk, scribes develop cuneiform — wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay — first to keep accounts and then to record law, literature and history, making Mesopotamia the cradle of the written word. [bm-cuneiform, bm-mesopotamia] - c. 2334 BCE: **Sargon founds the Akkadian Empire** — Sargon of Akkad unites the Sumerian city-states under one ruler, creating what is often called history's first empire, with its capital at Akkad and a Semitic-speaking dynasty. [britannica-sargon, britannica-mesopotamia] - c. 1755 BCE: **Hammurabi issues his law code** — Hammurabi, sixth king of Babylon, unifies much of Mesopotamia and promulgates the Code of Hammurabi, 282 laws inscribed on a diorite stela — one of the most complete legal collections of the ancient world. [britannica-hammurabi, britannica-code-hammurabi, louvre-hammurabi] - 612 BCE: **Fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire** — A coalition of Babylonians and Medes besieges and destroys Nineveh, capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire whose first capital, Ashur, is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, ending Assyrian power and clearing the way for the Neo-Babylonian Empire. [britannica-nineveh, bm-ashurbanipal, unesco-ashur] - c. 575 BCE: **Babylon at its height under Nebuchadnezzar II** — The Neo-Babylonian Empire reaches its zenith under Nebuchadnezzar II, who rebuilds Babylon with the Ishtar Gate and great walls; the ruined city, associated with the Hanging Gardens, is today a UNESCO World Heritage site. [unesco-babylon, britannica-mesopotamia] Figures: - Sargon of Akkad (reigned c. 2334–2279 BCE) — Founder of the Akkadian Empire. One of history's earliest empire-builders, who united the city-states of Mesopotamia under a central authority and founded the Akkadian dynasty, long remembered as the model of all later Mesopotamian rulers. - Hammurabi (reigned c. 1792–1750 BCE) — King of Babylon. The best-known ruler of Babylon's first dynasty, who unified Mesopotamia and issued the Code of Hammurabi. His stela, now in the Louvre, remains one of the most famous legal documents of the ancient world. ## Persians, Greeks and the Coming of Islam — 539 BCE – 750 CE After Babylon fell to Cyrus, Mesopotamia passed through Persian, Hellenistic, Parthian and Sasanian rule, until the Arab Muslim armies of the seventh century brought it into the world of Islam. - 539 BCE: **Cyrus the Great captures Babylon** — The Persian king Cyrus the Great takes Babylon, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire and bringing Mesopotamia into the Achaemenid Persian realm as one of its richest provinces. [britannica-mesopotamia, britannica-iraq-history] - 1st–2nd century CE: **Hatra, capital of an Arab kingdom** — Under Parthian influence the fortified city of Hatra flourishes as the capital of a small Arab kingdom, twice withstanding Roman sieges before falling in the 3rd century; its ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. [unesco-hatra] - 224 CE: **Mesopotamia under the Sasanians** — The Sasanian dynasty replaces the Parthians and rules Mesopotamia from Ctesiphon, making the fertile 'Sawad' the agricultural and administrative core of the Sasanian Empire for four centuries. [britannica-iraq-history] - c. 636–637 CE: **Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Arab conquest** — Arab Muslim armies of the Rashidun Caliphate defeat the Sasanians at al-Qadisiyyah near al-Hira and take Ctesiphon, ending Persian rule in Mesopotamia and beginning the region's Islamisation. [britannica-qadisiyyah, britannica-iraq-history] ## Abbasid Baghdad and the Islamic Golden Age — 750 – 1258 CE From 762 Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, a city of learning at the heart of the Islamic Golden Age — until the Mongols sacked it in 1258. - 762 CE: **Al-Mansur founds Baghdad** — The Abbasid caliph al-Mansur founds Baghdad on the Tigris as his 'City of Peace', a circular capital that swiftly becomes one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. [britannica-mansur, britannica-abbasid-iraq] - 9th century CE: **The House of Wisdom and the Golden Age** — Under Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun, Baghdad's scholars — associated with the Bayt al-Hikmah, the 'House of Wisdom' — translate and advance Greek, Persian and Indian learning during the Islamic Golden Age. [britannica-harun, britannica-bayt-al-hikmah] - 836 CE: **Samarra becomes the Abbasid capital** — The caliphs move their capital upriver to Samarra, building immense palaces and the Great Mosque with its spiral Malwiya minaret, today a UNESCO World Heritage site. [unesco-samarra] - 1258 CE: **The Mongol sack of Baghdad** — The Mongol forces of Hulagu Khan besiege and storm Baghdad, executing the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim and destroying the city; the sack ends the Abbasid Caliphate and devastates the region. [britannica-later-abbasids, britannica-iraq-history] Figures: - Al-Mansur (reigned 754–775 CE) — Abbasid caliph, founder of Baghdad. The second Abbasid caliph, generally regarded as the true founder of the dynasty's power, who in 762 built Baghdad as the round 'City of Peace' on the Tigris and set the capital at the heart of the Islamic world. - Harun al-Rashid (reigned 786–809 CE) — Abbasid caliph. The fifth Abbasid caliph, who ruled at the height of the empire and made Baghdad a celebrated centre of art, science and learning. His court's splendour was later mythologised in the Thousand and One Nights. ## Ottoman Rule, the British Mandate and the Kingdom — 1258 – 1958 CE After the Mongols came centuries of Ottoman rule, then a British mandate after the First World War, the crowning of Faisal I, and independence as the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932. - 1638 CE: **Ottoman conquest of Baghdad** — The Ottoman Empire takes definitive control of Baghdad from Safavid Persia, ruling Mesopotamia for nearly three centuries as the provinces of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. [britannica-iraq-history] - 1920: **British mandate and the Iraqi revolt** — After capturing Baghdad in 1917, Britain is granted a League of Nations mandate over Iraq; a widespread anti-British revolt in 1920 pushes Britain toward installing an Arab monarchy. [britannica-iraq-mandate] - 23 August 1921: **Faisal I crowned king of Iraq** — Britain installs the Hashemite prince Faisal I, a leader of the wartime Arab Revolt, as king of the new Iraqi state, creating a monarchy and parliament under British supervision. [britannica-faisal, britannica-iraq-mandate] - 3 October 1932: **Independence and entry into the League of Nations** — The British mandate ends and the Kingdom of Iraq is admitted to the League of Nations as an independent state — the first League mandate anywhere to achieve independence. [britannica-iraq-independence, statedept-iraq] Figures: - Faisal I (1885–1933) — First king of modern Iraq. A Hashemite prince and leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans, installed by Britain as king of Iraq in 1921. He presided over the country's path to independence in 1932 and the building of its early institutions. ## The Republic, Saddam Hussein and the Wars — 1958 – 2003 CE A republican coup in 1958 ended the monarchy; Ba'athist rule and the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein brought modernisation but also repression and three catastrophic wars. - 14 July 1958: **Republican coup ends the monarchy** — Army officers led by Abd al-Karim Qasim overthrow the Hashemite monarchy in a predawn coup; King Faisal II is killed and the Republic of Iraq is proclaimed. [britannica-qasim, britannica-iraq-republic] - July 1979: **Saddam Hussein assumes the presidency** — After years consolidating power within the Ba'ath Party, Saddam Hussein formally becomes president of Iraq in July 1979 and establishes a brutal one-man dictatorship. [britannica-saddam, britannica-iraq-saddam] - 1980–1988: **The Iran–Iraq War** — Iraq invades Iran in September 1980, beginning an eight-year war of attrition that kills an estimated several hundred thousand to over a million people on both sides before a UN-mediated ceasefire takes effect in 1988. [britannica-iran-iraq-war] - 1990–1991: **Invasion of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War** — Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait in August 1990; a United States-led coalition of many nations expels Iraqi forces in early 1991, after which Iraq is placed under severe international sanctions. [britannica-gulf-war] Figures: - Abd al-Karim Qasim (1914–1963) — Leader of the 1958 revolution, prime minister of Iraq. The army officer who overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958 and led the new republic as prime minister until he himself was deposed and executed in a 1963 coup. - Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) — President of Iraq. The Ba'athist ruler who dominated Iraq from 1979 to 2003, presiding over the Iran–Iraq War and the invasion of Kuwait. His repressive dictatorship ended with the 2003 US-led invasion; he was captured, tried and executed in 2006. ## Iraq Since 2003 — Invasion, Insurgency and Recovery — 2003 – present The 2003 invasion toppled Saddam Hussein but unleashed insurgency and sectarian war; Iraq endured the rise and defeat of ISIS and now works to rebuild a fractured but enduring state. - March–April 2003: **US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein** — A United States-led coalition invades Iraq and overthrows Saddam Hussein's government within weeks; Saddam is captured in December 2003 and later executed in 2006. [britannica-iraq-war, britannica-iraq-saddam] - 2005: **New constitution and sectarian war** — Iraq adopts a federal, power-sharing constitution, but a Sunni-led insurgency and, after the 2006 al-Askari shrine bombing, brutal Shiʿi–Sunni sectarian violence engulf the country. [britannica-iraq-war, britannica-iraq-republic] - June 2014: **ISIS seizes Mosul and proclaims a caliphate** — The jihadist group ISIS sweeps across northern Iraq, captures Mosul, and declares a 'caliphate', imposing extreme violence and destroying heritage sites including parts of Hatra, Ashur and Nimrud. [britannica-isis] - 2017: **Liberation of Mosul and defeat of ISIS** — Backed by a US-led coalition, Iraqi forces retake Mosul in July 2017 after months of urban warfare, and Iraq declares victory over ISIS in December 2017, ending its territorial control. [britannica-isis, britannica-iraq-war] Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:IRQ:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/IRQ/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [britannica-iraq-history] Iraq — History — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/History - [britannica-mesopotamia] History of Mesopotamia — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia - [bm-mesopotamia] Mesopotamia — collection gallery — The British Museum · https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/mesopotamia - [bm-cuneiform] How to write cuneiform — The British Museum · https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/how-write-cuneiform - [britannica-sargon] Sargon — king of Akkad — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sargon - [britannica-hammurabi] Hammurabi — king of Babylonia — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hammurabi - [britannica-code-hammurabi] Code of Hammurabi — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Code-of-Hammurabi - [louvre-hammurabi] The Code of Hammurabi — Musée du Louvre · https://www.louvre.fr/en/the-code-of-hammurabi - [britannica-nineveh] Nineveh — ancient city, Iraq — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq - [bm-ashurbanipal] Who was Ashurbanipal? — The British Museum · https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/who-was-ashurbanipal - [unesco-hatra] Hatra — UNESCO World Heritage List — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/277/ - [unesco-babylon] Babylon — UNESCO World Heritage List — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/278/ - [unesco-ashur] Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat) — UNESCO World Heritage List — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1130/ - [unesco-samarra] Samarra Archaeological City — UNESCO World Heritage List — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/276/ - [britannica-qadisiyyah] Battle of al-Qādisiyyah — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-al-Qadisiyyah - [britannica-abbasid-iraq] Iraq — The Abbasid Caliphate — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/The-Abbasid-Caliphate - [britannica-mansur] al-Manṣūr — Abbasid caliph — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Mansur-Abbasid-caliph - [britannica-bayt-al-hikmah] Bayt al-Ḥikmah — House of Wisdom — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bayt-al-Hikmah - [britannica-harun] Hārūn al-Rashīd — Abbasid caliph — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harun-al-Rashid - [britannica-later-abbasids] Iraq — The later Abbasids (1152–1258) — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/The-later-Abbasids-1152-1258 - [britannica-iraq-mandate] Iraq — British occupation and the mandatory regime — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/British-occupation-and-the-mandatory-regime - [britannica-faisal] Faisal I — king of Iraq — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Faisal-I - [britannica-iraq-independence] Iraq — Independence (1932–39) — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/Independence-1932-39 - [statedept-iraq] A Guide to the History of Recognition: Iraq — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/iraq - [britannica-qasim] ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Karim-Qasim - [britannica-iraq-republic] Iraq — The Republic of Iraq — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/The-Republic-of-Iraq - [britannica-saddam] Saddam Hussein — president of Iraq — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saddam-Hussein - [britannica-iraq-saddam] Iraq — Iraq under Saddam Hussein — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/Iraq-under-Saddam-Hussein - [britannica-iran-iraq-war] Iran–Iraq War — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Iran-Iraq-War - [britannica-gulf-war] Persian Gulf War — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War - [britannica-iraq-war] Iraq War — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War - [britannica-isis] Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) — Encyclopædia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-State-in-Iraq-and-the-Levant - [wikipedia-mandatory-iraq] Mandatory Iraq — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_Iraq - [nwe-iraq] Iraq — New World Encyclopedia · https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Iraq Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Iraq: From the first cities of Sumer to the modern republic on the Tigris and Euphrates.", terralore.co/country/IRQ/chronicle, retrieved .