A chronology of key events: 1920 25 April - Iraq is placed under British mandate.NAJAF Shrine of the Imam Ali, one of Shia Islam's holiest places
1921 23 August - Faysal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, is crowned Iraq's first king.
1932 3 October - Iraq becomes an independent state.
1958 14 July - The monarchy is overthrown in a military coup led by Brig Abd-al-Karim Qasim and Col Abd-al-Salam Muhammad Arif. Iraq is declared a republic and Qasim becomes prime minister.
1963 8 February - Qasim is ousted in a coup led by the Arab Socialist Baath Party (ASBP). Arif becomes president.
1963 18 November - The Baathist government is overthrown by Arif and a group of officers.
1966 17 April - After Arif is killed in a helicopter crash on 13 April, his elder brother, Maj-Gen Abd-al-Rahman Muhammad Arif, succeeds him as president.
1968 17 July - A Baathist led-coup ousts Arif and Gen Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr becomes president.
1970 11 March - The Revolution Command Council (RCC) and Mullah Mustafa Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), sign a peace agreement.
1972 - A 15-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation is signed between Iraq and the Soviet Union.
Petroleum firm nationalised
1972 - Iraq nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).
1974 - In implementation of the 1970 agreement, Iraq grants limited autonomy to the Kurds but the KDP rejects it.
1975 March - At a meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in Algiers, Iraq and Iran sign a treaty ending their border disputes.
1979 16 July - President Al-Bakr resigns and is succeeded by Vice-President Saddam Hussein.
1980 1 April - The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for an attack on Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.
Iran-Iraq war
1980 4 September - Iran shells Iraqi border towns (Iraq considers this as the start of the Iran/Iraq war).
IRAN-IRAQ WAR Almost one million people died in the conflict; exchanges of war dead continued for years
1980 17 September - Iraq abrogates the 1975 treaty with Iran.
1980 22 September - Iraq attacks Iranian air bases.
1980 23 September - Iran bombs Iraqi military and economic targets.
1981 7 June - Israel attacks an Iraqi nuclear research centre at Tuwaythah near Baghdad.
Chemical attack on Kurds
1988 16 March - Iraq is said to have used chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabjah.
1988 20 August - A ceasefire comes into effect to be monitored by the UN Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (Uniimog).
1990 15 March - Farzad Bazoft, an Iranian-born journalist with the London Observer newspaper, accused of spying on a military installation, is hanged in Baghdad.
Iraq invades Kuwait
1990 2 August - Iraq invades Kuwait and is condemned by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 660 which calls for full withdrawal.
1990 6 August - UNSC Resolution 661 imposes economic sanctions on Iraq.
1991 GULF WAR Iraq's army was all but destroyed in the six-week conflict
1990 8 August - Iraq announces the merger of Iraq and Kuwait. 1990 29 November - UNSC Resolution 678 authorizes the states cooperating with Kuwait to use "all necessary means" to uphold UNSC Resolution 660.
1991 16 -17 January - The Gulf War starts when the coalition forces begin aerial bombing of Iraq ("Operation Desert Storm").
1991 13 February - US planes destroy an air raid shelter at Amiriyah in Baghdad, killing more than 300 people.
1991 24 February - The start of a ground operation which results in the liberation of Kuwait on 27 February.
Ceasefire
1991 3 March - Iraq accepts the terms of a ceasefire.
1991 Mid-March/early April - Iraqi forces suppress rebellions in the south and the north of the country.
1991 8 April - A plan to establish a UN safe-haven in northern Iraq to protect the Kurds is approved at a European Union meeting. On 10 April the USA orders Iraq to end all military activity in this area.
1992 26 August - A no-fly zone, which Iraqi planes are not allowed to enter, is set up in southern Iraq, south of latitude 32 degrees north.
1993 27 June - US forces launch a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the attempted assassination of US President George Bush in Kuwait in April.
1994 29 May - Saddam Hussein becomes prime minister.
1994 10 November - Iraqi National Assembly recognises Kuwait's borders and its independence.
Oil-for-food
1995 14 April - UNSC Resolution 986 allows the partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports to buy food and medicine ( the "oil-for-food programme"). It is not accepted by Iraq until May 1996 and is not implemented until December 1996.
1995 August - Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, Gen Hussein Kamil Hasan al-Majid, his brother and their families leave Iraq and are granted asylum in Jordan.
1995 15 October - Saddam Hussein wins a referendum allowing him to remain president for another 7 years.
Pardoned son-in-law killed
1996 20 February - Hussein Kamil Hasan al-Majid and his brother, promised a pardon by Saddam Hussein, return to Baghdad and are killed on 23 February.
SADDAM HUSSEIN Former president was tracked down in his home town
1996 31 August - After call for aid from KDP, Iraqi forces launch offensive into northern no-fly zone and capture Irbil. 1996 3 September - US extends northern limit of southern no-fly zone to latitude 33 degrees north, just south of Baghdad.
1996 12 December - Saddam Hussein's elder son, Uday, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in Baghdad.
1998 31 October - Iraq ends cooperation with UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (Unscom).
Operation Desert Fox
1998 16-19 December - After UN staff are evacuated from Baghdad, the USA and UK launch a bombing campaign, "Operation Desert Fox", to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes.
1999 19 February - Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, spiritual leader of the Shia community, is assassinated in Najaf.
1999 17 December - UNSC Resolution 1284 creates the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) to replace Unscom. Iraq rejects the resolution.
2001 February - Britain, US carry out bombing raids to try to disable Iraq's air defence network. The bombings have little international support.
2001 May - Saddam's son Qusay elected to the leadership of the ruling Baath Party, fuelling speculation that he's being groomed to succeed his father.
The light of truth belongs to us, while our enemy has the darkness of the present and the darkness of distant horizons... Saddam Hussein TV address, January 2003
2002 April - Baghdad suspends oil exports to protest against Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories. Despite calls by Saddam Hussein, no other Arab countries follow suit. Exports resume after 30 days. Weapons inspectors return
2002 September - US President George W Bush tells sceptical world leaders at a UN General Assembly session to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq - or stand aside as the US acts. In the same month British Prime Minister Tony Blair publishes a dossier on Iraq's military capability.
2002 November - UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq backed by a UN resolution which threatens serious consequences if Iraq is in "material breach" of its terms.
In Iraq a dictator is building and hiding weapons that could enable him to dominate the Middle East and intimidate the civilised world - and we will not allow it US President George W Bush, February 2003
2003 March - Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reports that Iraq has accelerated its cooperation but says inspectors need more time to verify Iraq's compliance.
Saddam ousted
2003 17 March - UK's ambassador to the UN says the diplomatic process on Iraq has ended; arms inspectors evacuate; US President George W Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.
2003 20 March - American missiles hit targets in Baghdad, marking the start of a US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. In the following days US and British ground troops enter Iraq from the south.
BAGHDAD, 9 APRIL 2003 A symbol of Saddam's power tumbles BBC's Rageh Omaar on the day's drama
2003 9 April - US forces advance into central Baghdad. Saddam Hussein's grip on the city is broken. In the following days Kurdish fighters and US forces take control of the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. There is widespread looting in the capital and other cities. 2003 April - US lists 55 most-wanted members of former regime in the form of a deck of cards. Former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz taken into custody.
2003 May - UN Security Council approves resolution backing US-led administration in Iraq and lifting of economic sanctions. US administrator abolishes Baath Party and institutions of former regime.
2003 July - US-appointed Governing Council meets for first time. Commander of US forces says his troops face low-intensity guerrilla-style war. Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul.
Guerrilla warfare intensifies
2003 August - Bomb attack at Jordanian embassy in Baghdad kills 11; attack at UN HQ in Baghdad kills 22 including UN's chief envoy. Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, or Chemical Ali, captured. Car bomb in Najaf kills 125 including Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.
2003 October - UN Security Council approves amended US resolution on Iraq giving new legitimacy to US-led administration but stressing early transfer of power to Iraqis.
2003 November - Security situation deteriorates. By early November - six months after President Bush declared the war over - more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq than died during the war to oust Saddam. In the course of the month 105 coalition troops are killed - the highest monthly death toll since the war began. 2003 14 December - Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit.
2004 February - More than 100 killed in Irbil in suicide attacks on offices of main Kurdish factions.
2004 April/May - Shia militias loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr take on coalition forces.
Hundreds reported killed in fighting during month-long US military siege of Sunni Muslim city of Falluja.
Photographic evidence emerges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops.
2004 June - US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Saddam Hussein transferred to Iraqi legal custody.
2004 August - Fighting in Najaf between US forces and Shia militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Shia alliance received the most votes in 2005 landmark poll
2004 November - Major US-led offensive against insurgents in Falluja.
2005 30 January - An estimated eight million people vote in elections for a Transitional National Assembly. The Shia United Iraqi Alliance wins a majority of assembly seats. Kurdish parties come second in the poll.
2005 28 February - More than 100 people are killed by a massive car bomb in Hilla, south of Baghdad. It is the worst single such incident since the US-led invasion.
2005 April - Parliament selects Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq's new president. The newly-inaugurated presidency names Ibrahim Jaafari, the Shia alliance's preferred candidate, as prime minister.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/737483.stm
