What happened to Iraq?

[Il-Principe]

Lately I was reading a lot about ancient civilizations. Mesopotamia aka Iraq was the cradle of civilization, home to many great cities over the times like Uruk, Ur, Babylon, Seleucia, Ktesiphon, Baghdad to name just a very few. Mesopotamia bred or housed glorious and great civilizations like the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Achaemenid Persians, Macedonians/Seleucids, Parthians etc. pp .

But now Iraq is just a degenerated hell-hole with a depressing close past and no real future. Really, what happened to this great place? And who's to blame? Was it the Arab's fault? But Harun al-Rashid's Baghdad was probably the most marvelous city in the early middle ages. Was it the sack and the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258? Are the Turks and their long occupation and negligence of Iraq to blame? Or what about the British occupation or the American one?

This question really puzzles me.

[hellheaven1987]

Because Ottoman...

That is a joke. The real reason is European became more advanced during 18th Century, hence able to beat most of world militarily.

[Erebus Pasha]

Because Ottoman...

That is a joke. The real reason is European became more advanced during 18th Century, hence able to beat most of world militarily.

Well possibly a variety of reasons but mostly because of the two disastrous sackings by the Mongols and Timurids, the decline of the overland trade routes between East and West as the Europeans came to dominate existing maritime trade routes and opened up new ones to the East, and last of all was the fact that from the 16th century until the 18th century Baghdad, and indeed most of Iraq, became a battlground between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. By the time the British took control after the Great War Baghdad was no longer a worthy prize to be taken, as it was the oil in Iraq that was the main attraction.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

saddam hussein happened

[husker9.2]

saddam hussein happened

this

[The Noble Lord]

saddam hussein happened

He may have been a terrible dictator and he did kill many innocent people but he was a true Iraqi-Arab nationalist and was proud of Iraq's ancient glory and history. He even rebuild the ancient city of Babylon in 1988-89 and tried to present it in the way it was presented 3.000 years ago. Plus, Saddam and his Bath party were proud Iraqi-Arab nationalists who wanted to preserve glorious memory of Iraq's past!

[motiv-8]

He may have been a terrible dictator and he did kill many innocent people but he was a true Iraqi-Arab nationalist and was proud of Iraq's ancient glory and history. He even rebuild the ancient city of Babylon in 1988-89 and tried to present it in the way it was presented 3.000 years ago. Plus, Saddam and his Bath party were proud Iraqi-Arab nationalists who wanted to preserve glorious memory of Iraq's past!

Uh... Who the cares? He killed whoever didn't play along with his megalomaniac plans.

[bushbush]

saddam hussein happened

its decline started way before him. In fact, colonial power's extensive activities in the region in early 20th century shows just how weak the regional powers were. The decline likely began with mongol invasion and subsequent political instability.

[motiv-8]

Iraq had issues before Saddam was in primary school and was in serious crisis before he reached 22.

[Dr. Oza]

many reasons but basically after thousands of years of prominence the world changed and it was not in a position to benefit from that change

who is to say that in a thousand years New York, London or Hong Kong will be important?

[Valmir238]

Not only did Suddam cause problems, America offically ****ed the country up. Now, after the invasion many Iraqi's are starving and they only get electricity 40% of the day in Bagdad.

Edited.

Censor bypassing is not allowed.

[0N3]

Honest question: What did Saddam do?

[motiv-8]

Not only did Suddam cause problems, America offically :wub:ed the country up. Now, after the invasion many Iraqi's are starving and they only get electricity 40% of the day in Bagdad.

Umm many Iraqis were starving and electricity was becoming erratic before the invasion thanks to Ba'athist economic and technical ineptitude and the sanctions imposed by the UN because of their rather murderous activities.

[Angrychris]

create stability through fear and violence.

[Heathen Hammer]

create stability through fear and violence.

Still, beats having no stability and American occupation.

[Fluttershy]

Still, beats having no stability and American occupation.

according to you.

[Heathen Hammer]

according to you.

I bet you'd love to get killed by an air raid. Not my thing, sorry.
But seriously, Iraq was much better off under Saddam.

[Captain Jin]

Erebus hit the nail on the head.

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

Blame USA!

[Каие]

How a thread starts often dictates it's directions. Lets not let the thread devolve into sound bite one liners and borderline trolling so early on that it has to be closed. This discussion has a LOT of scope and a wide base to illicit academic and analytical responses.