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The cost of the war and the interruption of Iraq’s oil exports caused Saddam to scale down his ambitious programs for economic development. Saddam launched an invasion of Iran’s oil fields in September 1980, but the campaign bogged down in a war of attrition. His goals as president were to supplant Egypt as leader of the Arab world and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf. He used an extensive secret-police establishment to suppress any internal opposition to his rule, and he made himself the object of an extensive personality cult among the Iraqi public. He then became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and prime minister, among other positions. Saddam began to assert open control of the government in 1979 and became president upon Bakr’s resignation. Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, and in 1972 he directed the nationalization of Iraq’s oil industry. Saddam effectively held power in Iraq along with the head of state, Pres. He escaped, becoming a leader of the Baʿath Party, and was instrumental in the coup that brought the party back to power in 1968. The Baʿathists were overthrown that same year, however, and Saddam spent several years in prison in Iraq. He attended Cairo Law School (1962–63) and continued his studies at Baghdad Law College after the Baʿathists took power in Iraq in 1963. In 1959 he participated in an unsuccessful attempt by Baʿathists to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister, ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim Saddam was wounded in the attempt and escaped first to Syria and then to Egypt. If you want to ace it, you’ll need to know the history of the United States, some of the most famous people in history, what happened during World War II, and much more.
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This quiz collects 41 of the toughest questions from Britannica’s most popular quizzes on world history.
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#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
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