Home Learning - extend

1. Home Learning - extend • Using the summary sheet of the Iran / Kurdistan / Iraq history. • Create a timeline of key events that have happened over the years.

2. ‘At the Border’ • Iraq is credited as being the home of the first civilisation, that between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This means that people have lived in ordered communities there for eight thousand years. Some scholars believe that the first writing system was used in Iraq. Whether particular dates or discoveries occurred is irrelevant to the fact that the culture is very old and there is a sense of the ancient ingrained in the people. • However, its history has been far from peaceful. Elamites, Alexander the Great, Parthians, Romans and Persians are amongst the early conquerors of the region. In the 7th century CE Islam was established in the area and Baghdad became the leading Islamic city for five hundred years. • Iraq continued to be a disputed region over the centuries. For example, during the First World War over 90,000 British troops were lost in the area. • In 1926 the modern Iraqi state included the regions of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul under the rule of the British. However, this changed in 1932 with independence. Several coups and occupations followed until 1979 when Saddam Hussein took over. Soon after he became ruler, Iraq came into conflict with Iran. Saddam Hussein decided to punish the Kurds for supporting Iran by using chemical weapons against them. These attacks continued for some time. • When the Iraq–Iran War ended in 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait for its oil. This caused the start of the First Gulf War. As well, Saddam Hussein was portrayed as being ‘evil’ because he attacked his own people, the Kurds. • The end of the war saw renewed attacks on the Kurdish and Shiite populations, as well as continual conflict with the UN. The conflict culminated in the Second Gulf War (2003), which was justified by claims that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. The history Iran / Iraq and Kurdistan in Brief