This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 14 British army ordered to seize Basra vilayet WWI

1914 Sheikh of Islam called for jihad against British and French during WWI Call was repeated in

all Sunni mosques in Mosul, Baghdad and Basra vilayets

Review Alissa Walter, Contested City, Citizen Advocacy and Survival in Modern Baghdad, Stanford University Press, 2025

  

Alissa Walter in Contested City, Citizen Advocacy and Survival in Modern Baghdad provides another important piece of modern scholarship on Iraq. Through interviews and government documents she was able to analyze how Iraqis interacted with the state in Baghdad from the Baathist to U.S. occupation periods. She found that the government created a system of patronage and clientism which the Americans failed to grasp when they took over the country leading another mistake in the occupation.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 13 PM Sadoun shot himself over criticism of his govt Said he couldn’t live being seen as a puppet to the British

1929 PM Sadoun shot himself due to criticism he faced over his performance Suicide note said he

couldn’t live being seen as a puppet of the British Called Iraqis weak

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 12 Baath National Guard went on rampage in Baghdad after party leader Saadi expelled Bombed presidential palace

1914 British forces in Faw launched reconnaissance in force near Saihan, Basra

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 11 League of Nations announced the British mandate in Iraq

1914 Ottomans declared war on England and France

KRG Elects New Speaker of Parliament Increasing KDP-PUK Divide

  

On November 4 the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was able to elect a new speaker of parliament two years after elections in Kurdistan. This angered the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which announced it was withdrawing from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 10 Irbil Agreement led to PM Maliki’s 2nd term Allawi to head new strategic council Deal never implemented

1958 Iraqi Communist Party issued plan for Kurdistan saying it supported Kurdish self-govt within

Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004)

(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)