List of wars involving Iraq

This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Results Iraqi losses Head of State Prime Minister
Military Civilians
Mesopotamian Campaign
(1914–1918 WWI)
Ottoman Empire United Kingdom Defeat ~89,500 ~35,500 Mehmed VI (Ottoman rule) Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (Ottoman rule)
Mahmud Barzanji Revolts (1919–1924) United Kingdom Kingdom of Kurdistan

Kurdish Tribesmen

Government victory ? ? Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox

(British High Commissioner)

After 1920: King Faisal I

Before 1920: Sir Percy Cox

(British High Commissioner)

After 1920: Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani

Iraqi War of Independence
(1920)
Iraqi Rebels United Kingdom Iraqi Political Victory 6,000–10,000 2,050–4,000 None
Ikhwan revolt (1927-1930) United Kingdom Ikhwan Coalition Victory 2,000 killed in total Faisal I of Iraq Faisal bin Sultan
Yazidi Revolt (1935) Kingdom of Iraq Yazidi Tribesmen Government victory
  • Uprising Quelled
? ? Ghazi of Iraq Ali Jawdat al-Ayyubi
Iraqi Shia Revolts
(1935–1936)
Kingdom of Iraq Shia Tribesmen Government victory
  • Uprising Quelled
~500
Iraqi Coup D'état
(1941)
Kingdom of Iraq Golden Square Rebels Golden Square Victory ? Faisal II of Iraq Taha al-Hashimi
Anglo-Iraqi War
(1941 WWII)
Kingdom of Iraq (Golden Square)
 Germany
 Italy
 United Kingdom
 India
Iraq Levies
Royalists
Transjordan
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Greece
Defeat
  • Re-installation of Hashemite royal dynasty and pro-British government
~500 ? Sherif Sharaf Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
Barzani Revolt
(1943–1945)
Kingdom of Iraq Barzani Kurds Government victory
  • Uprising quelled
? Faisal II of Iraq Nuri al-Said
Al-Wathbah Uprising (1948) Kingdom of Iraq Communists Government victory
  • Uprising quelled
300–400 Mohammad Hassan al-Sadr
First Arab–Israeli War
(1948–1949)
Egypt
Kingdom of Iraq
Transjordan
Syria
 Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
 Kingdom of Yemen
HWA
ALA
 Israel
 USA
 United Kingdom
Victory
  • Repulsion of attempted invasion of United States Marine group into the area of Palestine. British and USA attempt of invasion and annexation of Mandatory Palestine repelled
? None Muzahim al-Pachachi
14 July Revolution
(1958)
Hashemite Arab Federation

Support:

Hashemite Arab Federation

Free Officers Free Officers Victory ~100 Nuri al-Said
Mosul Uprising
(1959)
Iraqi Republic Arab Nationalists Government victory 2,426 Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i Abd al-Karim Qasim
First Iraqi–Kurdish War
(1961–1970)
Iraqi Republic
Syria Syria
KDP Stalemate ~10,000 ?
Ramadan Revolution
(1963)
Iraqi Republic Arab Nationalists Ba'athist Victory 100
Ar-Rashid Revolt (1963) Iraqi Republic Communists Government victory
  • Revolt suppressed
1+ Abdul Salam Arif Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
November coup d'état (1963) Iraqi Republic Nasserists Nasserist victory 250
Six-Day War
(1967)
United Arab Republic
 Syria
 Jordan
Iraqi Republic
 Lebanon
 Israel Defeat 10 None Abdul Rahman Arif Abdul Rahman Arif
October War
(1973)
 Egypt
 Syria
Ba'athist Iraq
 Jordan
 Algeria
Morocco
 Saudi Arabia
 Cuba
 Israel Defeat[1] 278 None Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
(1974–1975)
Ba'athist Iraq KDP
 Iran
Government victory[3]
  • Iraq re-established control over Kurdistan
7,000 ?
Arvand Conflict
(1974–1975)
Iraq Iran Defeat Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein
Iran–Iraq War
(1980–1988)
 Iraq
MEK
DRFLA
 Sudan
 Iran
KDP
PUK
Badr Brigades
Stalemate 105,000
375,000
~100,000
Invasion of Kuwait (1990)  Iraq  Kuwait Victory 295+ None
Gulf War
(1990–1991)
 Iraq  Kuwait
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Saudi Arabia
 France
 Canada
 Egypt
 Syria
 Oman
 United Arab Emirates
 Qatar
 Italy
 Australia
Defeat
  • Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait; Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah restored
  • Heavy casualties and destruction of Iraqi and Kuwaiti infrastructure
20,000–35,000 3,664
1991 Iraqi uprisings
(1991)
 Iraq
MEK
Badr Brigades
Dawa
Government victory (Southern Front)
  • Uprising suppressed
~5,000 80,000–230,000
KDP
PUK
Government Military Victory (Northern Front)
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War
(1995–1996)
KDP
 Iraq
KDPI
PUK
United States
Stalemate ?
Bombing of Iraq
(1998)
 Iraq United States
 United Kingdom
Defeat
  • Much Iraqi military infrastructure destroyed
1,400[4](KIA or WIA) ?
Second Sadr Uprising
(1999)
 Iraq Badr Brigades
Dawa
Government victory
  • Uprising suppressed
40+ 200+[5]
Iraq War
(2003–2011)
 Iraq United States
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Poland
Peshmerga
Defeat (Phase 1) 7,600–10,800 151,000–1,033,000+
 Iraq
Peshmerga
MNF–I
SCJL
Naqshbandi Army
Free Iraqi Army
al-Qaeda
ISI
Ansar al-Islam
IAI
Mahdi Army
Badr Brigades
Kata'ib Hezbollah
Government victory (Phase 2) 17,690 Jalal Talabani Nouri al-Maliki
Second Iraqi Civil War
(2013–2017)
 Iraq
Peshmerga
Sinjar Alliance
CJTF–OIR

 Iran
Hezbollah

ISIL
Ansar al-Islam
SCJL
Naqshbandi Army
Mujahideen Army
Government victory
  • Iraqi territorial integrity preserved
  • ISIL expelled from all strongholds in Iraq[6]
  • ISIL genocides against Yazidis, Shias, and Christians in 2014
25,000+ 67,000+ Fuad Masum Haider al-Abadi
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
(2017)
 Iraq Peshmerga Victory
  • Iraq defeats Peshmerga and retakes disputed territories
None None
Iraqi Insurgency
(2017–present)
 Iraq Naqshbandi Army
ISIL
Ongoing 2,254+ None
Iraqi intervention in the Syrian Civil War
(2017–2019)
ISIL Victory
  • ISIL loses remaining territory in Syria
None None Barham Salih Adil Abdul-Mahdi

Other armed conflicts involving Iraq

References

  1. ^ References:
    • Herzog, The War of Atonement, Little, Brown and Company, 1975. Forward
    • Insight Team of the London Sunday Times, Yom Kippur War, Doubleday and Company, 1974, page 450
    • Luttwak and Horowitz, The Israeli Army. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Abt Books, 1983
    • Rabinovich, The Yom Kippur War, Schocken Books, 2004. Page 498
    • Revisiting The Yom Kippur War, P. R. Kumaraswamy, pages 1–2
    • Johnson and Tierney, Failing To Win, Perception of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Page 177
    • Charles Liebman, "The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur war in Israeli Society"[permanent dead link] Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, July 1993. Published by Frank Cass, London. Page 411.
  2. ^ Loyola, Mario (7 October 2013). "How We Used to Do It – American diplomacy in the". National Review. p. 1. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  3. ^ J. Schofield, Militarization and War, p. 122
  4. ^ Rossiter, Mike, Target Basra, Corgi, 2009 ISBN 0552157007 ISBN 978-0552157001, p. 210
  5. ^ Dan Murphy (27 April 2004). "Sadr the agitator: like father, like son". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  6. ^ "With Iraqi-Kurdish Talks Stalled, Phone Diplomacy Averts New Clashes". New York Times.