Figure 1.--This stereoview photograph shows the Arab youth overlooking the Eurphates Valley somewhate in Iraq. The photograph was takem sometime in the lare-1910 at the time The British seized control from the Ottomans. This is card No. V27702. The caption read,"Where tradition locates the Garden of Eden - Valley of the Euphrates, 250 miles NW of Babylon, Iraq." Iraq at thevtime was a land virtually unchanged by time. Even so, the Iraqis and many other Arabs are prone to blame the British and west for their lack of development. Source: Keystone View Company

The area of modern Iraq was a prize which the major Middle Easter powers struggled to control. It became a buffer zone between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire of Persia. The Ottomans fearful that the Safavids might spread their Shi'ite faith to Anatolia, invaded Mesopotamia in the early 16th century. Most of what is modern Iraq was conquered by the Ottoman Empire (1533). Iraq became the pashalik of Baghdad. It was a contested province between rival empires. Internal tribal and religious divisions (especially the Shi'a/Sunni split) made it a difficult province to govern. The Safavid dynasty of Persia was the primary refional rival. The Safavids controlled much of modern Iraq for short periods (1508-1533 and 1622-1638). The Ottomons finally seized Bagdad in 1638. The Ottomans administered modern Iraq and adjacent areas as three different provinces, dominated by Kurds in the north, Sunni Arabs in the center, and Shi'ite Arabs in the south. With the exception of a brief period of Safavid rule in the 17th century, Iraq was dominated by the Ottomons. Another regional power was the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt. The Mamluks were officers of Georgian origin who managed to exert secular autonomy from the Ottoman Sultan. The Mamaluks managed to not only exert autnomy, but seized control of some other areas of the Ottoman Empire. The Mamaluks seized conrol of Iraq (747-1831). The Mamaluks during their era of control managed to restore order, primarily by suppressing the tribes who had partcipated in various revolts and intersecine conflicts. The Mamaluks also curbed the Janissaries and began a program of economic and military reform. The Ottomans managed to overthrow the Mamluks who had been weakened by the struggle over Greece (1831). The Ottoman Empire was in the 19th century the "sick man of Europe". It managed to survive only because the Great Powers could not decide on how to divide it. The area of modern Iraq, as the influence of the Ottomon declined, became the scene of a struggle for influence between Britain and Germany. The area was seen as an important route to Asia. One of the issues was the Bagdad railway. The importance of the region increased with the discivery of oil around Mosul (near ancient Nineveh). The Ottomon Empire entered World War on the side of the Central Powers. Iraq at the beginning of World War I was still part of three Ottoman provinces, dominated by Kurds in the north, Sunni Arabs in the center, and Shi'ite Arabs in the south.

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Created: 8:50 AM 8/12/2012
Last updated: 8:50 AM 8/12/2012