1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
3.
Cavalry
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Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses
4.
Boise, Idaho
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Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U. S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, the population of Boise at the 2010 Census was 205,671 and its estimated population in 2013 was 214,237. The Boise-Nampa metropolitan area, also known as the Treasure Valley, includes five counties with a population of 664,422. It contains the three largest cities, Boise, Nampa, and Meridian. Boise is the third most populous area in the United States Pacific Northwest region, behind Seattle. Accounts differ about the origin of the name, Bonneville of the U. S. Army as its source. After trekking for weeks through dry and rough terrain, his party reached an overlook with a view of the Boise River Valley. The place where they stood is called Bonneville Point, located on the Oregon Trail east of the city, according to the story, a French-speaking guide, overwhelmed by the sight of the verdant river, yelled Les bois. Les bois. —and the name stuck, the name may instead derive from earlier mountain men, who named the river that flows through it. In the 1820s, French Canadian fur trappers set trap lines in the vicinity, set in a high-desert area, the tree-lined valley of the Boise River became a distinct landmark, an oasis dominated by cottonwood trees. They called this La rivière boisée, which means the wooded river, the area was called Boise long before the establishment of Fort Boise by the federal government. The original Fort Boise was 40 miles west, near Parma and this private sector defense was erected by the Hudsons Bay Company in the 1830s. It was abandoned in the 1850s, but massacres along the Oregon Trail prompted the U. S. Army to re-establish a fort in the area in 1863 during the U. S. Civil War. The new location was selected because it was near the intersection of the Oregon Trail with a road connecting the Boise Basin. During the mid-1860s, Idaho City was the largest city in the Northwest, the original territory was larger than Texas. Mullett, the U. S. Assay Office at 210 Main Street was built in 1871, natives and longtime residents use the pronunciation /ˈbɔɪsiː/, as given on the citys website. The pronunciation is used as a shibboleth, as outsiders tend to pronounce the citys name as /ˈbɔɪziː/. Boise is located in southwestern Idaho, about 41 miles east of the Oregon border, the downtown areas elevation is 2,704 feet above sea level
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Snake River
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The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At 1,078 miles long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River and its drainage basin encompasses parts of six U. S. states, and its average discharge is over 54,000 cubic feet per second. Rugged mountains divided by rolling plains characterize the physiographically diverse watershed of the Snake River, the Snake River Plain was created by a volcanic hotspot which now lies underneath Yellowstone National Park, where the headwaters of the Snake River arise. Two of these flooding events significantly affected the river and its surrounds. More than 11,000 years ago, prehistoric Native Americans lived along the Snake, Salmon from the Pacific Ocean spawned by the millions in the river. These fish were central to the lives of the people along the Snake below Shoshone Falls, by the time Lewis and Clark crossed the Rockies and sighted the valley of a Snake tributary, the Nez Perce and Shoshone were the most powerful peoples in the region. Some tribes adopted use of horses after contact with Europeans, which reshaped their hunting, later explorers and fur trappers further changed and used the resources of the Snake River basin. At one point, a sign made by the Shoshones representing fish was misinterpreted to represent a snake. By the middle 19th century, the Oregon Trail, a trail of which a major portion followed the Snake River, had been established by aspiring settlers and traders. Steamboats and railroads moved agricultural products and minerals along the river throughout the 19th, several of these have been proposed for removal in order to restore some of the rivers once-tremendous salmon runs. Its first 50-mile run through the valley of Jackson Hole, which cuts between the Teton Range and the Continental Divide, there it is also met by the Salt River at the mouth of Star Valley. Southwest of the city of Rexburg, the Snake receives from the right the Henrys Fork, the confluence with the Henrys Fork takes the river southwards through downtown Idaho Falls, rounding the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and into American Falls Reservoir, receiving the Portneuf River. Close to Twin Falls, the Snake approaches the southernmost point in its entire course, after which it starts to flow generally northwest. Shortly after it passes within 30 miles of the Idaho state capital of Boise, there were hundreds of rapids in Hells Canyon, some of which have been stilled by the three dams of the Hells Canyon Hydroelectric Project, Hells Canyon, Oxbow, and Brownlee. The Salmon River, the largest tributary of the Snake River, meets it in one of the most remote areas of its entire course, the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers has been submerged in Lake Wallula, the reservoir of McNary Dam. The Columbia River flows about 325 miles further west to the Pacific Ocean, as recently as 165 million years ago, most of western North America was still part of the Pacific Ocean. Even larger lava flows of Columbia River basalts issued over eastern Washington, forming the Columbia Plateau southeast of the Columbia River, separate volcanic activity formed the northwestern portion of the plain, an area far from the path of the hotspot which now lies beneath Yellowstone National Park. At this point, the Snake River watershed was beginning to take shape, the Snake River Plain and the gap between the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range formed a moisture channel, running as far inland as the headwaters of the Snake River
6.
163rd Infantry Regiment (United States)
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The 163rd Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the Montana National Guard. It went overseas with the 41st Infantry Division in World War II, in December 1942, General Douglas MacArthur decided to commit more American troops to the Battle of Buna-Gona. The 163rd Regimental Combat Team, under the command of Colonel Jens A. Doe, was alerted on 14 December 1942 and it arrived at Port Moresby on 27 December. The 163rd Regimental Combat Team was attached to Major General George Alan Vaseys 7th Division, the front line consisted of a raised road with Japanese positions on relatively dry ground astride it, surrounded by jungle swamp. Roadblocks had been established behind the Japanese positions but they had not been budged, constituted in the Montana National Guard as the 1st Regiment of Infantry and organized 1884-1887 from existing companies. Redesignated as the 1st Montana Volunteer Infantry and mustered into federal service 5–10 May 1898 at Helena, served in the Philippines and mustered out 17 October 1899 at San Francisco, reorganized 30 May 1901-1 December 1903 as the 2nd infantry Montana National Guard. Mustered into federal service at Fort William Henry Harrison 27 June 1916 for Mexican border, mustered into federal service 7 April 1917 at Fort William H. Harrison. Demobilized 21 February 1919 at Camp Dix, NJ, reconstituted as the 2nd Infantry Montana National Guard and reorganized during 1921-1922. Redesignated as the 163rd Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 41st Infantry Division 1 May 1922, federally recognized 20 January 1924 with headquarters at Helena. Headquarters relocated to Billings 29 December 1939 Inducted into federal service 16 September 1940 at Billings Inactivated 31 December 1945 in Japan, relieved from the 41st Infantry Division 17 June 1946 and assigned to the 163rd Regimental Combat Team. Reorganized and federally recognized 21 April 1947 with headquarters at Bozeman, attached below the shield is a Blue scroll doubled and inscribed MEN, DO YOUR DUTY in Gold letters. Symbolism The palm tree represents Philippine service, the giant cactus Mexican Border duty, Blue and white are the colors associated with Infantry and refer to the organization’s combat service as the 163d Infantry during World War II. Background The distinctive unit insignia was approved for the 163d Infantry Regiment. It was redesignated for the 163d Armored Cavalry Regiment, Montana National Guard on 17 September 1953 and it was amended to change the symbolism on 21 January 1970. The insignia was updated to include both the Montana and Nevada Army National Guard on 20 January 1975 and it was redesignated for the 163d Infantry Regiment, Montana Army National Guard on 1 February 1989. Blazon Shield Per fess Argent and Azure, in chief a palm tree on mount Proper and in base a giant cactus, symbolism Shield The palm tree represents Philippine service, the giant cactus Mexican Border duty and the fleur-de-lis service in France during World War I. Blue and white are the associated with Infantry and refer to the organization’s combat service as the 163d Infantry during World War II. Crest The crest is that of the Montana Army National Guard, background The coat of arms was originally approved for the 163d Infantry Regiment, Montana National Guard on 15 December 1941
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Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, in short, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe located on the Balkan Peninsula. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city, in the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland is a larger region and has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold. The southern tip of the country has a Mediterranean climate and plain topography, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a region that traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic age, during and after which it was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilizations. Culturally, politically, and socially, the country has a rich history, the Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which lasted up until World War I. In the interwar period, Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after World War II, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the country proclaimed independence in 1992, which was followed by the Bosnian War, lasting until late 1995. The country is home to three ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks are the largest group of the three, with Serbs second and Croats third, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is identified in English as a Bosnian. The terms Herzegovinian and Bosnian are maintained as a rather than ethnic distinction. Moreover, the country was simply called Bosnia until the Austro-Hungarian occupation at the end of the 19th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is itself complex and consists of 10 cantons, additionally, the country has been a member of the Council of Europe since April 2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment in July 2008. The name is believed to have derived from the hydronym of the river Bosna coursing through the Bosnian heartland. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root bos or bogh, meaning the running water. According to English medievalist William Miller the Slavic settlers in Bosnia adapted the Latin designation Basante, to their own idiom by calling the stream Bosna, the name Herzegovina originates from Bosnian magnate Stephen Vukčić Kosačas title, Herceg of Hum and the Coast. Hum, formerly Zahumlje, was a medieval principality that was conquered by the Bosnian Banate in the first half of the 14th century. Bosnia is located in the western Balkans, bordering Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east and it has a coastline about 20 kilometres long surrounding the city of Neum. It lies between latitudes 42° and 46° N, and longitudes 15° and 20° E, the countrys name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a very vaguely defined border between them
8.
25th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 25th Infantry Division is a U. S. Army division based in Hawaii. The division, which was activated on 1 October 1941 in Hawaii and its present deployment is composed of Stryker, light infantry, airborne, and aviation units. The 25th Division was formed from the 27th and 35th Infantry regiments of the original Hawaiian Division− a pre–Second World War square division composed of two brigades with four infantry regiments, the remaining units of the Hawaiian Division were reorganized as the 24th Infantry Division. These steps, part of the Triangular division organization, were undertaken to provide more flexibility with direct control of three regiments. Sources, Constituted 26 August 1941 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division, following intensive training, the 25th began moving to Guadalcanal,25 November 1942, to relieve Marines near Henderson Field. The threat of enemy attacks caused a temporary withdrawal, but Division elements under XIV Corps control relieved the 147th Infantry. The junction of these elements with Americal Division forces near the cape,5 February 1943, a period of garrison duty followed, ending 21 July, On that date, advance elements debarked on Munda, New Georgia. The 25th Infantry, under the Northern Landing Force, took part in the capture of Vella Lavella,15 August to 15 September 1943. Meanwhile, other elements landed on New Georgia, took Zieta, marched through jungle mud for 19 days, elements cleared Arundel Island,24 September 1943, and Kolombangara island with its important Vila Airport,6 October. Organized resistance on New Georgia ended,25 August, and the moved to New Zealand for rest and training. The 25th was transferred to New Caledonia,3 February-14 March 1944 and it drove across the Luzon Central Plain, meeting the enemy at Binalonan,17 January. Moving through the rice paddies, the 25th occupied Umingan, Lupao, on 21 February, the division began operations in the Caraballo Mountains. It fought its way along Highway No,5, taking Digdig, Putlan, and Kapintalan against fierce enemy counterattacks and took Balete Pass,13 May, and opened the gateway to the Cagayan Valley,27 May, with the capture of Santa Fe. Until 30 June, when the division was relieved, it carried out mopping-up activities, on 1 July, the division moved to Tarlac for training, leaving for Japan,20 September. It remained on duty in Japan for the next five years. Open warfare once again flared in Asia, now the primary area of concern. The North Korean military crossed the 38th parallel on that day in an attack on South Korea, acting under United Nations orders, the Tropic Lightning Division moved from its base in Japan to Korea between 5–18 July 1950. The division, then under the command of Major General William B, kean, successfully completed its first mission by blocking the approaches to the port city Pusan
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Fort Bliss
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Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in the U. S. states of New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters located in El Paso, Texas. It is FORSCOMs largest installation, and has the Armys largest Maneuver Area ahead of the National Training Center, part of the post in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place, it had a population of 8,591 at the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract of restricted airspace in the Continental United States, the airspace is used for missile and artillery training and testing. Fort Bliss is home to the 1st Armored Division, which returned to US soil in 2011, the division is supported by the 15th Sustainment Brigade. The installation is also home to the 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command, the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, the 212th Fires Brigade, the headquarters for the El Paso Intelligence Center, a federal tactical operational intelligence center, is hosted at Fort Bliss. Its DoD counterpart, Joint Task Force North, is at Biggs Army Airfield, Biggs Field, a military airport located at Fort Bliss, is designated a military power projection platform. Fort Bliss National Cemetery is located on the post, in 1846, Colonel Alexander Doniphan led 1st Regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers through El Paso del Norte, with victories at the Battle of El Brazito and the Battle of the Sacramento. Then on 7 November 1848, War Department General Order no.58 ordered the establishment of a post across from El Paso del Norte. Van Horne also had command of the Post at San Elizario. With constant Indian raids, garrisons had to be moved frequently to meet the shifting threats, in September 1851, the Post Opposite El Paso and the Post at San Elizario were closed, the soldiers moved 40 miles north to Fort Fillmore. On 11 January 1854, Companies B, E, I and K of the 8th Infantry, Alexander, established Post of El Paso at Magoffinsville under orders from Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. The post became Fort Bliss on 8 March 1854, there it remained for the next 14 years, serving as a base for troops guarding the area against Apache attacks. Until 1861 most of troops were units of the 8th Infantry Brigade. Initially the Confederate Army had success in their attempts to control of New Mexico. The Confederate garrison abandoned Fort Bliss without a fight the next year when a Federal column of 2,350 men under the command of Colonel James H. Carleton advanced from California. After May 1867 Rio Grande flooding seriously damaged the Magoffinsville post, Camp Concordias location was immediately south of what is now Interstate 10, across from Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. The Rio Grande was about a mile south of the camp at that time, on 11 March 1869 the old name of Fort Bliss was resumed. The Concordia post was abandoned in January 1877, and after troops left in January, by that time, the town and its environs on the north side of the river had swelled to a population of almost 800
10.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
11.
Kirkuk
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Kirkuk is an Iraqi city in northern Iraq,236 kilometres north of Baghdad and 83 kilometres south of Erbil. It is the capital of Kirkuk Governorate, Kirkuk lies in a wide zone with an enormously diverse population and has been multilingual for centuries. There were dramatic changes during Kirkuks urbanization in the twentieth century. Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrians lay conflicting claims to this zone, the city sits on the ruins of the original Kirkuk Citadel, site of the ancient mid 3rd millennium BC, Assyrian city of Arrapha, and which sits near the Khasa River. The city is mentioned during the Sumero-Akkadian period of Assyria in cuneiform script from about 2400 BC, the region became a part of the Akkadian empire which united all of the Akkadian and Sumerian speaking Mesopotamians under one rule. Arrapha remained an important Assyrian city until the fall of the Assyrian empire between 615-599 BC, the Arab Islamic conquest of the 7th century AD saw the dissolution of Assyria as a geo-political entity. Kurds and Turkmens have claimed the city as a cultural capital and it was named the capital of Iraqi culture by the Iraqi ministry of culture in 2010. The city currently consists mainly of people who self-identify as Kurds, Arabs, with changes in population after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the US invasion, and the advent of Daesh The ancient name of Kirkuk was the Assyrian Arrapha. During the Parthian era, a Korkura/Corcura is mentioned by Ptolemy, since the Seleucid Empire it was known as Karkha D-Bet Slokh, which means Citadel of the House of Seleucid in Mesopotamian Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent in that era. The region around Kirkuk was known historically in the Eastern Aramaic and it was one of a number of independent Neo-Assyrian states which flourished during the Parthian empire. Kirkuk itself was the Assyrian Karkha DBeth Slokh, the centre of Beth Garmai. It is also thought that region was known during the Parthian and Sassanid periods as Garmakan, which means the Land of Warmth or the Hot Land. In Persian Garm means warm, During the Seleucid period, the city was renamed after king Seleucus, Karkha d Beth Slokh, after the 7th century, Muslim writers used the name Kirkheni to refer to the city. Others used other variant, such as Bajermi (a corruption of Aramaic Bth Garmayeh or Jermakan, a cuneiform script found in 1927 at the foot of Kirkuk Citadel stated that the city of Erekha of Babylonia was on the site of Kirkuk. Other sources consider Erekha to have simply one part of the larger Arrapha metropolis. It is suggested that Kirkuk was one of the occupied by Neanderthals based on archeological findings in the Shanidar Cave settlement. A large amount of pottery dating to the Ubaid period were also excavated from several Tells in the city. Ancient Arrapkha was a part of Sargon of Akkads Akkadian Empire, later the city was occupied around 2150 BC by language Isolate speaking Zagros Mountains dwellers who were known as the Gutian people by the Semitic and Sumerian of Mesopotamians
12.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
United States