Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutiona
Zaki Arsuzi, politician who influenced Ba'athist thought and, after the Ba'ath Party splintered, became the chief ideologist of the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath Party
Michel Aflaq, the founder of Ba'athist thought who, after the Ba'ath Party splintered, became the chief ideologist for the Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath Party
Syrian neo-Ba'athist leader Salah Jadid (right) alongside Michel Aflaq (centre), 1963
Saddam Hussein (right) talking with Michel Aflaq (left) in 1988
Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the Iraq war. He previously served as the vice president
Ba'athism
…Zaki al-Arsuzi (per the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party), and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. Ba'athist leaders of the modern era include the former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein, and former presidents of Syria Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad. The Ba'athist ideology advocates the "enlightenment of the Arabs" as well…
Saddam in his youth as a shepherd in his village, near Tikrit, 1956
Saddam and other Ba'athists posing on top of a tank after a successful coup in February 1963
Saddam and al-Bakr, de jure president of Iraq alongside Hafez al-Assad of Syria at an Arab League summit in Baghdad in November 1978