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The Story of

Iraq

612 BCE – 2024

Sovereign state in Western Asia

  1. Fall of Nineveh

    612 BCE

    The Fall of Nineveh, also called the Battle of Nineveh, was a major battle that marked the climax of the Conquest of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC. After the Assyrian defeat at the Fall of Assur, an allied army which involved the combined forces of Medes and the Babylonians besieged Nineveh (in modern-day Mosul) and took what was, at that time, one of the greatest cities in the world. The fall of Nineveh led to the destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the dominant state in the Ancient Near East over the following three years.

  2. Fall of Babylon

    539 BCE

    The fall of Babylon occurred in 539 BCE, when the Achaemenid Empire conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The success of the Persian campaign, led by Cyrus the Great, brought an end to the reign of the last native dynasty of Mesopotamia and gave the Persians control over the rest of the Fertile Crescent.

  3. Battle of Opis

    September 539 BCE

    The Battle of Opis was the last major military engagement between the Achaemenid Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which took place in September 539 BC, during the Persian invasion of Mesopotamia. At the time, Babylonia was the last major power in Western Asia that was not yet under Persian control.

  4. Battle of Cunaxa

    401 BCE

    The Battle of Cunaxa was fought in the late summer of 401 BC between the Persian king Artaxerxes II and his brother Cyrus the Younger for control of the Achaemenid throne. The great battle of the revolt of Cyrus took place 70 km north of Babylon, at Cunaxa (Greek: Κούναξα), on the left bank of the Euphrates.

  5. Battle of Gaugamela

    1 October 331 BCE

    The Battle of Gaugamela ( GAW-gə-MEE-lə; Ancient Greek: Γαυγάμηλα, romanized: Gaugámēla, lit. 'the Camel's House'), also called the Battle of Arbela (Ἄρβηλα, Árbēla), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Achaemenid Empire, resulting in its complete conquest by Alexander. The fighting took place in Gaugamela, a village on the banks of the river Bumodus, north of Arbela (modern-day Erbil, in…

  6. Babylonian War

    311 BCE – 309 BCE

    The Babylonian War was a conflict fought between 311–309 BC between Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator, ending in a victory for Seleucus. This conflict ended any possibility of restoration of the former empire of Alexander the Great, a result confirmed in the Battle of Ipsus.

  7. Battle of Misiche

    244

    The Battle of Misiche (Greek: Μισιχή), Mesiche, or Massice (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭱‎𐭩‎𐭪‎‎‎‎ mšyk; Parthian: 𐭌‎𐭔‎𐭉‎𐭊‎ mšyk) (dated between January 13 and March 14, 244 AD) was fought between the Sasanians and the Romans in Misiche, Mesopotamia.

  8. Battle of Ctesiphon

    29 May 363

    The Battle of Ctesiphon took place on 29 May 363 between the armies of Roman Emperor Julian and an army of the Sasanian Empire (during Shapur II's reign) outside the walls of the Persian capital Ctesiphon. The battle resulted in a Roman victory, but eventually the Roman forces found themselves unable to continue their campaign as they were too far from their supply lines.

  9. Battle of Samarra

    June 363

    The Battle of Samarra took place in June 363, during the invasion of the Sasanian Empire by the Roman emperor Julian. After marching his army to the gates of Ctesiphon and failing to take the city, Julian, realizing his army was low on provisions and in enemy territory, started marching towards Samarra.

  10. Battle of Nineveh

    12 December 627

    The Battle of Nineveh was the climactic battle of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. In mid-September 627, Heraclius invaded Sasanian Mesopotamia in a surprising, risky winter campaign.

  11. Battle of al-Anbar

    633

    The Battle of Al-Anbar (Arabic: معركة الأنبار) was between the Muslim Arab army under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid and the Sasanian Empire. The battle took place at Anbar which is located approximately 80 miles from the ancient city of Babylon.

  12. Battle of Ayn al-Tamr

    633

    The Battle of Ayn al-Tamr (Arabic: معركة عين التمر) took place in modern-day Iraq (Mesopotamia) between the early Muslim Arab forces and the Sassanians along with their Arab Christian auxiliary forces. Ayn al-Tamr is located west of Anbar and was a frontier post which had been established to aid the Sassanids.

  13. Battle of Hira

    May 633

    The Battle of Hira (Arabic: معركة الحيرة) was fought between the Sasanian Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate in 633. It was one of the early battles of the Muslim conquest of Persia.

  14. Battle of Firaz

    January 634

    The Battle of Firaz (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة الْفِرَاض) also known as Battle of Firad, took place around January 634 between the Rashidun Caliphate and, reportedly, a combined force from the Byzantine Empire and Sasanian Empire.

  15. Battle of the Bridge

    22 October 634

    The Battle of the Bridge or the Battle of al-Jisr (Arabic: معركة الجسر) was fought at the bank of the Euphrates between Arab Muslims, led by Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi, and the Persian Sasanians, led by Bahman Jaduya. It is traditionally dated to the year 634 and was the only major Sasanian victory over the invading Rashidun Caliphate army.

  16. Battle of al-Qadisiyyah

    16 November 636 – 19 November 636

    The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, romanized: Maʿrakat al-Qādisīya; Persian: نبرد قادسیه, romanized: Nabard-i Qādisiya) took place between the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sasanian Empire in November 636. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Rashidun army and is considered to be one of the most significant engagements of the Muslim conquest of Persia, and thereby of the early Muslim conquests as a whole.

  17. Battle of the Camel

    7 November 656

    The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Basra (Arabic: معركة الجمل, romanized: Maʿrakat al-Jamal), took place in 656 CE outside of Basra in Iraq. It was fought between the partisans of the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali and the Uthmaniyya led by Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr.

  18. Battle of Karbala

    10 October 680

    The Battle of Karbala (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة كَرْبَلَاء, romanized: Maʿrakat Karbalāʾ) was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar) between the forces of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683), and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, second son of Ali and grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, at Karbala, in modern-day southern Iraq. Prior to his death, the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) appointed his son Yazid as his successor, making the caliphate hereditary.

  19. Alid revolt of 762–763

    September 762 – February 763

    The Alid revolt of 762–763 or Revolt of Muhammad the Pure Soul was an uprising by the Hasanid branch of the Alids against the newly established Abbasid Caliphate. The Hasanids, led by the brothers Muhammad (called "the Pure Soul") and Ibrahim, rejected the legitimacy of the Abbasid family's claim to power.

  20. Capture of Baghdad

    December 1534

    The 1534 capture of Baghdad by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent from the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I was part of his Campaign of the Two Iraqs during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555). The city was taken without resistance, the Safavid government having fled and leaving the city undefended.