The Iran-Iraq war ends with the border between the countries unchanged and more than a million dead

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein uses chemical weapons against the Kurds of northern Iraq

Iraqi troops cross the border into Kuwait and are soon in control of the whole country and its oil wells

Saddam Hussein announces the annexation of Kuwait, claiming it to have been historically part of Iraq

The Gulf War begins when Iraq fails to meet the UN deadline for withdrawal from Kuwait

With all Iraqi troops expelled from Kuwait by Allied tanks, President Bush declares a ceasefire in the Gulf War

Kurds in northern Iraq achieves a measure of autonomy in a safe haven imposed by the UN

Moderate Shiite cleric Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr and two of his sons are assassinated in the Iraqi city of Najaf

Around the world millions of people march in protest against the war planned by the USA and UK against Iraq

US, British, Australian and Polish forces invade Iraq

US forces are in control of Baghdad and an excited crowd topples from its plinth a massive statue of Saddam Hussein

President Bush prematurely celebrates his Iraq achievement with a speech on a US aircraft carrier in front of a banner declaring 'Mission Accomplished'

UK scientist David Kelly commits suicide, apparently for reasons linked with the Iraq War

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is found hiding in a subterranean hole in a farmyard near Tikrit

Abuses in the US military prison at Abu Ghraib in Iraq are revealed on US television

The first general election is held in Iraq, for 275 members of a permanent Iraqi General Assembly

An Iraqi court sentences former dictator Saddam Hussein and two of his senior colleagues to death by hanging

The Republicans lose control of both houses of the US Congress in an electoral backlash against the Iraq War

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad, a month after being convicted of a few of his crimes

The USA formally declares an end to the Iraq War

The number of Iraqis killed in 2014 (according to the UN, 8868 deaths) is the greatest since 2008, the main reason being the escalating terrorist conflict between Shia and Sunni

Iraq permanently closes the Abu Ghraib prison, notorious for abuses there when in the hand of the US military

In the Camp Speicher massacre Isis kills 1,566 Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets. It is the second deadliest terrorist attack in history.

The Sinjar massacre is the beginning of ISIS attacks resulting in the massacre of over 4,000 Yazidis in Iraq's Sinjar District.

The UN warns that the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, with up to 20 million people at risk of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria