History of Iraq, Top 10 Battles for the Control of Iraq. (ancient, Romans)

[JD59]

For more than 4500 years many peoples have fought for dominance in what is now modern day Iraq (Mesopotamia). Though it is the United States and its "coalition of the willing" that now militarily occupies the country, the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, and British have all buried their dead -- not to mention the indigenous peoples, too -- in this land.

Top 10 Battles for the Control of Iraq | LiveScience

[tablemtn]

Iraq is a place I'd like to visit once things calm down across the country. As your article notes, its history is incredible, going back all the way to ancient Sumeria.

[ParkTwain]

Regarding #7 and #4 in that article:

Here is a much more interesting story about what happened at Gaugamela (just northeast of today's oil-rich city of Mosul in northern Iraq). It has to do with the Babylonians' knowledge of the stars and what they believed to be the celestial omens relating to the days leading up to the battle.
What happened at the Battle of Gaugamela?

Here is a relatively recent article (2005, New Yorker magazine) about the Mongol destruction of Baghdad, after which the city would never regain its past cultural importance. The Mongols had the bad habit of destroying a city's water system while also decimating the city's defenders.
Annals of History: Invaders: The New Yorker

Here's what is left today of the defensive wall around the ancient city of Balkh, in today's north-central Afghanistan, after the Mongols passed through: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gal...of%20Balkh.jpg

The geographical extent of the military achievements of the Mongol armies greatly surpasses that of Alexander the Great. Hulagu Khan (one of Genghis Khan's grandsons) sacked Baghdad, then Aleppo (whose monstrous citadel still exists: Citadel of Aleppo (http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=246402136&size=o - broken link) and Aleppo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/syrian_moody/142275261/ - broken link)), and next entered Damascus without facing a fight. Other Mongol armies eventually reached parts of what are now Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland (Mongol invasion of Europe).

But Alexander was doing his thing about 1,500 years earlier than the Khans, so one has to give him his due. The Greek-ruled societies that were established in the wake of Alexander's conquests eventually governed areas that extended as far east as Patna, in northeast India (Gandara civilization), by about 125 BCE (King Menander I), a reach that is absolutely amazing. And read about the incredible lost city of Ai-Khanoum in today's northeastern Afghanistan. Alexander himself actually led some of his men to the ancient Central Asian city of Samarkand (north of today's Afghanistan), and others in his army founded a city even farther to the east, in the Ferghana Valley in today's Tajikistan (see Alexandria Eschate and Dayuan people).

[fuquere]

Iraq can never be conquered. Hopefully we don't **** our own country away trying to subdue it.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by John1960

For more than 4500 years many peoples have fought for dominance in what is now modern day Iraq (Mesopotamia). Though it is the United States and its "coalition of the willing" that now militarily occupies the country, the Greeks, Romans, Ottomans, and British have all buried their dead -- not to mention the indigenous peoples, too -- in this land.

Indeed so my friend!!!!! (A good article you posted)

I dont agree with ANYTHING that has happend in Iraq as far as this country goes....... THEY SHOULDNT HAVE VEER INVADED THEM YEARS AGO AND THEY DONT BELONG THERE NOW......... ITS NOT ANYONE'S PROBLEM EXCEPT IRAQ!!!!!!!!

People wonder why the world hates this country..... THIS IS WHY!!!!!!!!!!!! -- THEY TRY TO FORCE THEMSELVES ON EVERYONE and its sickening!!!!!!


THERE IS NO THREAT OUT THERE OTHER THAN THE USA!!!!!!!!!! -- THEY CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS FOR EVERYONE THAN ANYONE EVER HAS!!!!!!!!!!