Iraq

• 1920


  League of Nations approves British mandate in Iraq, prompting nationwide revolt.
• 1921


  Britain appoints Feisal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sherif of Mecca, as king.
• 1932


  Mandate ends, Iraq becomes independent. Britain retains military bases.
• 1941


  Britain re-occupies Iraq after pro-Axis coup during Second World War.
• 1958


  The monarchy is overthrown in a left-wing military coup led by Abd-al-Karim Qasim. Iraq leaves the pro-British Baghdad Pact.
• 1963

  Prime Minister Qasim is ousted in a coup led by the pan-Arab Baath Party.
• 1963


  The Baathist government is overthrown, but seizes power again five years later
• 1972


  Iraq nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company.
• 1974


  Iraq grants limited autonomy to Kurdish region but plans are never realised
• 1979


  Saddam Hussein takes over from President Al-Bakr.
• 1980-1988


  Iran-Iraq war results in stalemate.
• 1988 March


  Iraq attacks Kurdish town of Halabjah with poison gas, killing thousands.
• 1990


  Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait, prompting what becomes known as the first Gulf War. A massive US-led military campaign forces Iraq to withdraw in February 1991.
• 1991 April


  Iraq subjected to weapons inspection programme.
• 1991 Mid-March/early April


  Southern Shia and northern Kurdish populations - encouraged by Iraq's defeat in Kuwait - rebel, prompting a brutal crackdown.
• 1992 August


  A no-fly zone, which Iraqi planes are not allowed to enter, is set up in southern Iraq.
• 1995 April


  UN allows partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports to buy food and medicine in an oil-for-food programme.
• 2002 September


  US President George W Bush tells UN Iraq poses "grave and gathering danger".
• 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.
• 2003 March


  US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein's government, marks start of years of violent conflict with different groups competing for power.
• 2003 July


  US-appointed Governing Council meets for first time. Commander of US forces says his troops face low-intensity guerrilla-style war.
• 2003 December


  Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit.
• 2005 December


  Iraqis vote for the first, full-term government and parliament since the US-led invasion.
• 2006 February onwards


  A bomb attack on an important Shia shrine in Samarra unleashes a wave of sectarian violence in which hundreds of people are killed.
• 2006 December


  Saddam Hussein is executed for crimes against humanity.
• 2007 December


  Britain hands over security of Basra province to Iraqi forces, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
• 2011 December


  US completes troop pull-out.