Military History of Iraq - Ancient Times

Ancient Times

• In 2525 BC, there was a battle between King Eannatum of Lagash, and Umma. The battle is recorded on the Stele of the Vultures. The king won the battle by using armored soldiers who were in phalanx formation, and also used chariots pulled by onagers.
• About 2300 BC, Sargon of Akkad attacked and conquered 34 Sumerian cities, beginning the Akkadian Empire.
• The Sumerians living in Iraq had to battle the Elamites from western Iran.
• Kassites attacked Babylonia in the 16th century BC
• About 1263 BC, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I defeated a rebellion led by Shattuara II of Hanigalbat.
• Nebuchadnezzar I (1119-1098 BC) attacked Assyria.
• The Chaldeans took over Babylonia in the 9th century BC, forming the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and had to fight many revolts and aggressors.
• Nebuchadrezzar II (605-562 BC) conquered Jerusalem taking 15,000 Jewish captives, who were put into exile for 70 years. (See Babylonian captivity.)
• Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, defeated the Neo-Babylonian Empire and conquered the region in 539-538 BC
• In 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Gaugamela, east of present day Mosul. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC.
• In later centuries, starting from 190 BC, the Persians ruled Iraq for hundreds of years under different dynasties including the Parthian and Sassanid dynasties, after the first conquest in the 6th century BC.
• In 627 AD, the Byzantines sacked Ctesiphon, which was invaded again in 637, this time by Muslim Arabs. The battle between 18,000 Arab tribesmen led by General Khalid ibn al-Walid (The Sword of Allah) and the Persians led by Rostam Farrokhzād, was fought at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, south of Baghdad.