Summary of: Walsh, BEN "IGCSE Modern World History" (Hodder Education - 2013) Cantrell, Smith, Smith, Ennion "20th Century History for Cambridge IGCSE" (Oxford University Press - 2013) Google Images

1. Why did events in the Gulfmatter?
Why was Saddam Hussein able to come to power in Iraq?
What was the nature of Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq?

2. Why was Saddam able to come to
power in Iraq? (p. 149)
• 1921 to 1958 Iraq was ruled by monarchy set up and
controlled by the British
• In 1958 the monarchy was overthrown and Iraq
became a republic.
• After another coup in 1968, the republic
was ruled by the Baath Party.
• Its motto was “Unity, Liberation &
Socialism”
• It was against intervention in the Middle
East by the colonial powers. It was
strongly against the existence of the state
of Israel.
• There was ofter friction between the
Baath Party in Syria and Iraq as to which
country should lead the Arab world.
• Most Baathist were Sunni Muslims.

3. Saddam’s rise to power
(p. 150 – 151)
POWER BASE
1968: coup - President: Bakr
Vicepresident : Saddam Hussein
He placed family and friends in:
• key positions in Baath party
• most important departmetns in government
• army
• Revolutionary Command Council (RCC)
CONTROL
• Trade unions, schools, sports clubs
• Membership of Baath party to obtain positions in
govt.
• Education to immunise young Arabs against foreign
culture & topromote Arab unity and “love of order”
(ideal st. …)
POPULARITY
1972: NATIONALISATION OF OIL - $ to build up
education, health & welfare
1973: together with other Arab oil-producing states
made price rise – used $ to improved national
economy and infrastructure
REPRESSION
1976: Saddam made general in army
Extended govt control of army and secret police
Spending to keep army happy
Indoctrination & rotation
Imprisonment & execution
Repression throughout society
Secret police came to dominate army and Baath party
Having control of the party’s security apparatus he was
ideally placed to uncover or invent plots & conspiracies.
Targets: civilian politicians & high-ranking military
personnel

4. 1979
Saddam forced President Bakr to resign
and became
• President of Iraq
• Chairman of the Revolutionary
Command Council
• Prime Minister
• Commander in Chief of the Armed
Forces

5. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
REPRESSION PURGES AND TERROR
• Once he had displaced Bakr from the presidency,
Saddam set out to deal with those who
questioned the transition to power.
• First obvious target: the RCC’s Secretary General,
Mashhadi. He and 66 alleged co-conspirators
(including a former close friend) were tried. 22 sentenced to
death and 33 received prison sentences.
• False accusations, arrests, torture and summary
trials followed by lengthy prison sentences or
executions became a regular feature.

6. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
REPRESSION WAGING WAR ON HIS OWN
PEOPLE
• One of his aims was to unify Iraq. However, the Kurds (20% of
population) in the oil-rich north of the country wanted independence and the Shiites (60%) in the central
and southern parts were generally hostile to the Sunni regime.
• The Kurds (1987 – 1988 and 1991) Saddam destroyed half of Kurdistan’s villages and towns
(bulldozing).
• “Chemical Ali”, Saddam’s cousin, who was in charge, killed about 180 000 Kurds using mustard gas and
cyanide, and displaced more than a million people. Many fled to Iran or Turkey while others were housed
in concentration camps in the Iraqi desert. (Halabja - March 1988)
• (Source based activity – p. 153)

7. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
REPRESSION WAGING WAR ON HIS OWN
PEOPLE
• One of his aims was to unify Iraq. However, the Kurds (20% of
population) in the oil-rich north of the country wanted independence and the Shiites (60%) in the central
and southern parts were generally hostile to the Sunni regime.
• The Shiites Most Shiites wanted greater inclusion in Iraqi government and society, not the
separatism that many Kurds wanted.
• However, after the Islamic revolution in neighbouring Shiite Iran (1979), Saddam became increasingly
suspicious of the Shiite majority in Iraq.
• In 1980 – 1981, 200 000 Shiites were deported to Iran as their “loyalty was not proven”. Many were
successful businessmen whose businnesses were then handed over to the government’s supporters.
• After the outbreak of revolts in Basra and Karbala (1991), the Republican Guard stormed rebel
strongholds carrying our arrests and summary executions. Civilians were roped to the front of tanks as
shields while women and children were shot on sight.
• That same year Saddam determined to build a new waterway in SE Iraq destroying the marshes and
displacing a group of Arabs whose culture stretched back centuries. Some of the Marsh Arabs moved
voluntarily, some were victims of chemical weapon attacks while others starved to death once their food
source had been destroyed. The population of Marsh Arabs dropped from 250 000 to approximately 30
000.

8. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
POPULARITY PERSONALITY CULT
• Permanent exhibition about Saddam in Baghdad,
his life story regularly featured in newspapers and
magazines, an autobiographical film, portraits of
him adorning streets and party and governement
offices.
• He liked visiting ordinary homes in disguise to
discover what people thought of him.
• It is possible he used doubles to “attend” as many
functions and official engagements as possible.
• Streets and squares named after him.

10. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
POPULARITY MODERNISATION
With the nationalisation of the Iraqi oil and the
increased oil revenues Saddam carried out extensive
modernisation.

11. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
POWER BASE MILITARY EXPANSION
• Army increased from 10 to 12 divisions.
• Major supplier of conventional arms was Soviet Russia,
followed by France.
• Non-conventional weapons: CHEMICAL: In the 1980s he
was producing significant quantities of Distilled Mustard (a
blister agent), Tabun and VX (which attack nervous system).
BIOLOGICAL: anthrax, typhoid, cholera
(NUCLEAR: less successful. Saddam purchased a reactor from
France but the Israelis destroyed it in a bombing raid in 1981.
Allied raids during Gulf War in 1990 frustrated further
attempts to develop nuclear capacity.)

12. Why would Saddam Hussein have wanted to
convert Iraq into a major military power?

13. Why would Israel have wanted to destroy Iraq’s
nuclear programme?

14. Why would Saddam Hussein have wanted to build up a
stockpile of chemical and biological weapons?

15. Why do you think so many countries were willing to assist Iraq’s
military expansion programme?

16. What was the nature of Saddam’s rule?
POWER BASE TOTALITARIANISM
• Indoctrination of schoolchildren.
• Censorship and tightly controlled media
• Special courts run by the President’s office
• While economy was a mixture of state owned and
privately run enterprises, all production was geared to
the needs of the state.
• Membership of the Baath Party was essential for a
public career or for admission to a university or higher
education.
• Family members held important positions in the Iraqi
government.