Review Arbella Bet-Shlimon, City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk, Stanford University Press, 2019

  

Arbella Bet-Shlimon can be considered one of the new Iraq researchers who attempted to break free of the conventional wisdom that shaped much of the discourse about the country after 2003. Her City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk takes a look at the political and economic development of the city from Ottoman times to the present. Rather than seeing the city as always being divided by competing ethnicities the book creates a history where Kirkuk was shaped by Turkey, England, Iraq, oil and where ethnicity changed over time.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 28 Iraq annexed Kuwait as 19th province

1915 British started attack on Kut starting in Suqada Marsh Took Turkish trenches

            forcing them to retreat to Kut

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 27 Iraq denied Assyrian massacre which killed 600 people and destroyed 60 villages

  

1920 British forced to withdraw from Shatra during 1920 Revolt British were able to retake

Baquba from tribes

(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 26 Saddam ordered shelling of Iranian border looking for excuse to invade

  

1920 War Minister Churchill wrote PM George that he thought reinforcements from India

            would lead to victory in 1920 Revolt Said 20 battalions were being sent

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

Iraq Govt Backs Down On Disarming Pro-Iran Resistance

  

Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi repeatedly said that September 30 was the deadline for the pro-Iran Resistance to disarm. After coming under pressure from Tehran and leading members of the ruling Coordination Framework he has now backed down over that date.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 25 British invaded Iran from Iraq after Shah refused to expel Germans

1914 British admiralty ordered 2 ships to be sent to Shatt al-Arab to block Ottoman

supplies and ground forces and to protect oil interests in Persia

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

(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 - Aug 24 Ayatollah Khomeini said Iran would fight until Saddam deposed

1922 On anniversary of King Faisal’s coronation opposition gave him a petition calling for an

assembly to draft a constitution, elections for a parliament, and independence for Iraq