Iraq is where the roots of human civilisation lie, between the Euphrates and the Tigris. The country is also the producer of one of the most elegant chess games of the museum´s collection.
The large chess pieces are made of copper and come in nickel and brass colours. The chess set is part of the G.M. Glotzbach collection and was purchased in 1979. That same year, Saddam Hussein was sworn in as president of the Republic of Iraq. The Republic was still young (established in 1958) and had only been independent since 1932. Before that, the Iraqis had fallen under the mandate of Great Britain. This European influence can be observed in the realistic design of the chess pieces.
The origin of civilisation
If we define civilisation based on script, then the oldest civilisation can be found in South Iraq, with Uruk as the most important city. The Sumerians lived in this area in the fourth and third millennium BC. They are the first people whose writing we can actually read. This makes Sumerian the oldest known language that is unrelated to any other languages, as far as we know.
The texts have been handed down in cuneiform script on clay tablets. The tablets were able to withstand the test of time more easily than the delicate papyrus, for example. If caught in a fire, the clay tablets would be baked, instead of destroyed… About 4.000 years ago Sumerian disappeared as a spoken language. In order to continue reading the manuscripts, the new leaders of Babylon taught their children in cuneiform script until after the beginning of our calendar.
The Ottomans advance
With the arrival and dissemination of the Islam, present-day Iraq was also converted. In the 16th century the Ottomans conquered a great part of the Middle East, including Iraq. They would be in charge of the area until World War I, and the population enjoyed a great amount of autonomy. As long as taxes were being paid, the sultan of Constantinople –present-day Istanbul- left the people alone.
The threat of a war at the beginning of the 20th century made the Ottomans choose the side of the Germans. This would turn out to be a mistake. After losing the war, the vast Ottoman Empire fell apart, including the Iraqi territory. The League of Nations proclaimed the Mandate of Mesopotamia in 1920. The mandate had more or less the same boundaries as the current country of Iraq and consisted of three totally different regions: the Kurdish province of Mosul, the area surrounding the Sunnite city of Baghdad and the area surrounding the Shiite port city of Basra.
The new situation led to strong protests among the residents, resulting in a revolution. The revolution cost thousands of people their lives and it would go down in history as the Great Iraqi Revolution. Great Britain violently repressed the uprising and would continue their government for twelve more years. They bestowed privileges upon the Sunnite tribal chiefs, such as turning public land into private property, to secure the Sunnites´ loyalty to England. It was then the responsibility of the tribal chiefs to keep the rest of the population under control.
Mandate boundaries unwanted
The 1920 mandate was temporary and on October 3, 1932, Iraq became officially independent. The British government appointed a king that came from a loyal family and in this way they were still in control, only behind the scenes. Only with the birth of the Republic of Iraq in 1958 did they lose much of their power in the area.
The manner in which politics were conducted wasn´t lost. It meant taking care of your own tribe first, instead of the entire population. The Kurdish minority and also the Shiites, the majority of the population, were still oppressed. Only since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the formation of a mixed government in 2005, have the Iraqis tried to put an end to this and govern the country together.
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