Modern History of Iraq

OSHER 788-001 Dates: Tuesdays, 9/22/15-11/3/15, no class 10/13 Times: 9:30AM-11:00AM Location: Commander’s House, Fort Douglas Instructor: Richard Alvarez

Course Overview

This course will examine the history of Iraq focusing primarily on the foundation and subsequent downfall of the modern state. A comprehensive understanding of early religious, political, and social forces is required to understand fully the assorted players and secular struggles that shaped present-day Iraq. The sectarian strife between Sunni and Shi’i Muslims is based on a complex difference in theology and, in fact, religious differences played a major role in the political and social structure of Iraq throughout its history. A monarchy fully invented by the British following World War I was overthrown in the late 1950s. It was eventually replaced by a military dictatorship with political and economic control concentrated in the hands of the ruling Ba'ath Party. By the late 1970s, Saddam Hussein had risen to power, and his corrupt and brutally tyrannical regime with its multi-level security system dominated Iraqi history until it was toppled by the US led invasion in 2003.

• Recommended Readings and Discussion Rather than require expensive history books in the syllabus, copies of selected articles will be made available for outside reading to enhance classroom lectures and to encourage class discussion throughout the course.

• Instructor Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Rick Alvarez received a BS in Operations Research at the US Naval Academy in 1971. Beginning in early 1978, after a seven-year stint as a US Navy carrier fighter pilot, he worked for Grumman Aerospace Corporation as an instructor for the company’s F-14A operations in Isfahan, Iran. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he returned to the United States and flew commercial aircraft until his early retirement in 2004. In 2001, he enrolled as a full-time graduate student at the University of Utah to fulfill his passion for history. He earned his MA in history in 2003 and his Ph.D. in 2006. Rick taught history as an adjunct at the University of Utah and Salt Lake community college from 2004 – 2008. From 2008 – 2012, Rick worked as the Egypt Program Manager for L-3 Communications, which involved many trips to Egypt and other Middle East countries including Jordan and Iraq. He is currently retired but occasionally acts as a consultant for projects in the Middle East.

(4) Schedule

Week One – 22 September

Course introduction Sunni and Shi’a defined Early Islamic Empires Shrine Cities

Week Two - 29 September

The Mongol invasion Mamluks Ottomans versus Safavids Battle of Caldiran

Week 3 – 6 October

Restoration of Ottoman Authority Tanzimat Reforms (reorganization) Land Law Provincial Law Young Turks World War I

Week 4 – 20 October

British Mandate Monarchy World War II Overthrow of the Monarchy Ba’th Party UAR Kurds of Iraq

Week 5 – 27 October

Saddam Hussein Iran – Iraq War Al-Anfal (“spoils of war”) Invasion of Kuwait

Week 6 – 3 November

“Cruelty and Silence” “Republic of Fear” Personal observations Course Conclusion

Recommended Reading • Bennison, Amira K., The Great Caliphs, Yale University Press, 2009.

• Ceylan, Ebubekir, The Ottoman Origins of Modern Iraq, I. B. Tauris, 2011.

• Makiya, Kanan, Republic of Fear, University of California Press, 1989.

• Makiya, Kanan, Cruelty and Silence, W.W. Norton, 1993.

• Sluglett, Peter, Britain in Iraq, Columbia University Press, 2007.

• Farouk-Sluglett, Marion and Sluglett, Peter, Iraq Since 1958, I. B. Tauris, 1987.

• Rogan, Eugene, The Fall of the Ottomans, Basic Books, 2015.

• Yildiz, Kerim, The Kurds of Iraq, Pluto Press, 2004.

• Currie Andrew and Sluglett, Atlas of Islamic History, Routledge, 2014.

• Marr, Phebe, The Modern History of Iraq, Westview Press, 2004.

• Tripp, Charles, A History of Iraq, Cambridge University Press, 2000. (12) Wallach, Janet, Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell, Anchor Books, 1999.