Modern Iraq

The Great Iraqi Revolt

A widespread revolt against British occupation unites Sunni and Shia and forges a sense of Iraqi nationhood.

When Britain received a League of Nations mandate over Iraq, tribes and townsfolk across the middle Euphrates rose in a costly rebellion. Though crushed, the 1920 revolt convinced Britain to rule through an Arab monarchy rather than direct administration — and it became a founding myth of Iraqi nationalism, remembered as the moment the country's communities acted as one.