|
3500 BC |
Mesopotamia, known as the
world's first civilization, developed in South
Eastern Iraq |
|
539 BC |
Mesopotamia was conquered by
the Persians |
|
332 BC |
Alexander the Great conquers
the Persians |
|
226 AD |
The Persian Sassanid dynasty
took control of Mesopotamia |
|
126 BC |
The Greek rule ended when the
Parthians established control of Iraq |
|
633AD |
Arab Muslims conquer the
Sassanids and Iraq |
|
750 |
The Abbasids conquer the
Islamic world. Baghdad was founded as the capital |
|
1258 |
Mesopatamia and its capital
Baghdad falls to Mongol invaders led by the grandson
of Genghis Khan. The Arab Empire was destroyed
|
|
1500s |
The Ottoman Empire conquers
the region |
|
1700s |
The Ottoman power in
Mesopotamia begins to decline |
|
1800s |
Great Britain becomes involved
with Mesapotamia needing to protect their trade
routes with India and the East
|
|
1914 |
1914-1918 World War I |
|
1917 |
British troops occupy Baghdad |
|
1920 |
The League of Nations give
Great Britain a mandate to rule over Mesopotamia |
|
1920 |
The San Remo Peace Conference
of Allied Powers. Mesopotamia is renamed Iraq |
|
1921 |
The British set up King Faisal
I as the monarch and control the government |
|
1925 |
The League of Nations sets the
border between Turkey and Iraq which places the
Mosul region in Iraq rather than Turkey against the
wishes of the Kurdish population
|
|
1932 |
Iraq become independent |
|
1937 |
April 28 - Saddam Hussein was
born |
|
1939 |
WW11 breaks out |
|
1940 |
1940-1941 The Iraqi government
allies with Germany, Italy and Japan seeking to rid
Iraq of British power and influence
|
|
1941 |
Great Britain defeat Iraq |
|
1945 |
End of WW11 and Iraq helps to
form the Arab League |
|
1948 |
The Arab League declares war
against the newly formed Israel |
|
1950 |
1950-1952 Iraq signs
agreements with foreign oil companies and receives
50% of the oil profits |
|
1953 |
Faisal II became king of Iraq |
|
1950s |
Many Iraqis began to oppose
the monarchy. They wanted a say in the government |
|
1955 |
Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact
with Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey |
|
1958 |
Iraq becomes a republic during
a military coup and the monarchy is killed |
|
1972 |
Treaty of Friendship and
Cooperation signed between Iraq and the Soviet
Union.
The country nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company
(IPC)
|
|
1975 |
Iraq and Iran sign a treaty
ending border disputes |
|
1979 |
Saddam Hussein succeeds Al-Bakr
as Iraqi President |
|
1980 |
4 September: Iraq invades Iran
starting the Iran-Iraq war |
|
1981 |
7 June: Israel attacks an
Iraqi nuclear research centre at Tuwaythah near
Baghdad.
|
|
1988 |
16 March: Chemical attack on
Kurds Iraq believed to have used chemical
weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabjah
|
|
1990 |
2 August: Iraq invades Kuwait
United Nations Security Council imposes economic
sanctions on Iraq
8 August: Iraq announces the merger of Iraq and
Kuwait
|
|
1991 |
17 January: A coalition of 39
countries begin bombing Iraq starting the Persian
Gulf War
The aerial bombing of Iraq is called "Operation
Desert Storm"27
February: The liberation of Kuwait
3 March - Iraq accepts the
terms of a ceasefire
|
|
1992 |
26 August: A no-fly zone
banning Iraqi planes set up in southern Iraq |
|
1993 |
27 June - US launch cruise
missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in
Baghdad |
|
1994 |
29 May - Saddam Hussein
becomes prime minister of Iraq |
|
1995 |
14 April - UNSC agree to allow
the partial resumption of oil exports to buy food
and medicine called the "oil-for-food programme" -
implemented December 1996
|
|
1995 |
15 October - Referendum allows
Saddam Hussein to remain president for another seven
years. |
|
1996 |
31 August: Iraqi forces launch
offensive into northern no-fly zone and capture
Irbil.
3 September: US extends northern limit of no-fly
zone to latitude to the south of Baghdad.
|
|
1998 |
31 October - Iraq ends
cooperation with UN Special Commission to Oversee
the Destruction of Iraq's Weapons of Mass
Destruction (Unscom).
16-19 December: Operation Desert Fox - US and UK
forces launch a bombing campaign, to destroy Iraq's
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes
|
|
2002 |
September: Weapons inspectors
return |
|
2003 |
17 March Saddam Hussein given
48 hours to leave Iraq or face war
20 March: American missiles
hit targets in Baghdad and US and British ground
troops enter Iraq
9 April 2003: Baghdad and
the power of Saddam Hussein crumbles and the US
lists 55 most-wanted members of former regime which
is issued as packs of cards
July: Saddam's sons Uday
and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul
14 December: Saddam Hussein
captured in Tikrit.
|
|
2004 |
Fighting continues
US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
Saddam Hussein transferred to
Iraqi legal custody
|
|
2005 |
Elections: The Shia United
Iraqi Alliance win a majority
Parliament appoints the
Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president and
Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, is named as prime minister
October: Saddam Hussein
goes on trial
|
|
2006 |
7 June: The Al-Qaeda leader in
Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is killed |
