ABSTRACT
Iraq is slightly more than three times the size of New York State. In A.D. 637 the Arab armies of Islam swept north from the Arabian Peninsula and occupied Iraq. By 1638, Iraq had come under Ottoman rule. After a period of relative autonomy, the Ottomans centralized their rule in the nineteenth century, where after Iraqi resentment against foreign occupation crystalized even as the Ottomans undertook a massive program of modernization. Iraq became independent in 1932 and the period that followed was distinguished by a succession of coups, countercoups and by the discovery of massive reserves of oil. On 14 July 1958 the monarchy was overthrown in a military coup and Iraq became a republic. Full-scale war broke out on 22 September 1980, with Iraqi forces entering Iran along a 500 km front. In the southern connection between Iraq and Syria, 4 positions were found to be common to both Syrian and British lists.
