Even though as a country modern-day Iraq has existed for less than a century, the land now known as Iraq has an ancient history dating back more than 5,000 years. The fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the centre of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumeria, one of the oldest on record. Home to a succession of civilizations in the ensuing centuries, the region was taken over by the Turks in 1638 and became part of their vast Ottoman Empire.

At the beginning of World War One what is now Iraq was comprised of the three Turkish provinces of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul and, by this time, had become of great interest to various of the European powers. While Germany was interested in the region to extend the Berlin-Baghdad railway all the way to the port of Kuwait, Britain and France saw the war as an opportunity to defeat the Ottoman Empire and divide the entire area between them. In 1916 they signed the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement in which they decided which parts of the Ottoman Middle East each of them would control after the war. Britain was to get what would become Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan, while France would take control of Lebanon and Syria.

In order to ensure their support in the war, Britain and France encouraged the Arab peoples to rise up and fight with them against the Turks. At the same time they made vague promises that the Arabs would get their independence after the war. Although the Arab peoples had great hopes going into the Paris peace conference in 1919, these were dashed when Britain and France as well as the United States ignored their claims and established a system of mandates over their lands. British historian Margaret MacMillan has described the attitude of the big powers towards the Arabs at the peace conference: they were viewed as "a people at a lower stage of development [who] wouldn't be ready to rule themselves [but] would accept what they were told". (1)

However, in the event this was not the response the colonizers faced. In April 1920 Britain acquired the mandate over Iraq and began to set out the borders of the new country. By June 1920 there was a widespread uprising throughout the territory. Using systematic aerial bombardment for the first time in history, the British crushed the rebellion, but it took months and cost thousands of lives to do so.

The British decided against direct colonial rule of the new country and chose instead to install a friendly Arab leader as king of Iraq. Their choice was Prince Faisal, who had represented the Arabs at the Paris peace conference and was a close friend of the British colonel T.E.Lawrence. In 1921 Britain installed him as King Faisal I, drew up a constitution and put in place a two-chamber legislature. In the same year the British Colonial Office arbitrarily drew a line across southern Iraq and created the country of Kuwait, thus limiting Iraqi access to the Persian Gulf.

An Anglo-Iraqi treaty was signed in 1922. This provided for the maintenance of British military bases in the country, which had been there since 1914, and for a British right of veto over legislation. Although self-governing in name, it was clear that Iraq remained effectively under military occupation. This subjugation was further underlined by an oil deal signed in 1925. The agreement granted Iraq token royalties from any future oil revenues, but denied it any share in the British-dominated Turkish Petroleum Company. This agreement has been described by writer and former consultant to the Iraqi government Said Aburish as "one of the most criminal documents I have ever read…It is aimed at keeping Iraq in the dark ages". (2) The agreement soon became significant with the first discovery of oil in northern Iraq in 1927.

Despite the British control and domination, by 1926 an Iraqi parliament and administration were in place under King Faisal. This laid the way for the end of the British mandate and nominal independence in 1932 when Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations. In exchange a Treaty of Alliance was signed with Britain. Under its terms while Iraq would now be responsible for its own defence Britain would retain its air bases and the right to move its troops through Iraq in the event of war. Britain also committed to train the Iraqi military and supply it with equipment. In other words Britain retained its domination and control. In addition, Britain ensured that a concession for oil exploration and exploitation was given to the Iraq Petroleum Company, a conglomerate of British, French and U.S. interests.

King Faisal died in 1933 and was succeeded by his son for a few years and then his grandson who became Faisal II. In 1941 a group of military officers who supported the Third Reich briefly seized power. Britain immediately sent troops to crush the coup, secure the oil pipeline in the north and reoccupy the country. Within a couple of months the status quo was restored and in 1943 Iraq itself declared war against the Nazi-led axis powers.

After the end of World War Two anti-British sentiment continued. In 1948 a British-sponsored modification of the 1930 Treaty of Alliance was defeated by the Iraqi parliament, primarily because of increasing animosity over what was happening in Palestine. In the same year Iraq joined other members of the Arab League in waging war against the new Zionist State of Israel.

Arab nationalism and anti-western sentiment were on the rise throughout the region; but despite their participation in the 1948 war against Israel, the Iraqi monarchy and government still clung to their relationship with Britain. In 1956, urged on by the British, Iraq joined the Baghdad Pact with Britain, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran. Ostensibly established for regional collective security, this was an anti-communist alliance backed by the United States, which was beginning to exercise its influence in the region. To this end, in 1956 the U.S. began providing technical aid and military assistance to Iraq.

Two years later, in July 1958, a group of army officers headed by Abd al-Karim Kassem led a popular uprising to overthrow Faisal II and declare Iraq a republic. The following year Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad Pact. Formal British involvement in Iraq was ended, but the interests of the United States remained and would play a significant role in the coming years.