Under his rule, segments of the populace enjoyed the benefits of oil wealth, while those in opposition faced torture and execution. Captured by U.S. troops, Saddam Hussein was put on trial for crimes against humanity (he killed thousands of his own people) and was ultimately executed on December 30, 2006. After military conflicts with U.S.-led armed forces, Hussein was captured in 2003. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Either just before or just after his birth, his father disappeared from his life. Despite this, on March 20, 2003, under the pretense that Iraq did in fact have a covert weapons program and that it was planning attacks, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. He did much to modernize Iraq's infrastructure, industry and health-care system, and raised social services, education and farming subsidies to levels unparalleled in other Arab countries in the region. He started out as a low-ranking member of the Party responsible for leading his schoolmates in rioting. Saddam apparently intended to use that nation’s vast oil revenues to bolster Iraq’s economy, but his occupation of Kuwait quickly triggered a worldwide trade embargo against Iraq. José Rizal called for peaceful reform of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippines. In October 2005, Saddam was tried by the Iraqi High Tribunal on charges of killing the people of the town of Al-Dujay. In July 1968, when the Baath Party again gained power, Saddam was made vice president. Iraq’s crushing defeat triggered internal rebellions by both Shiʿis and Kurds, but Saddam suppressed their uprisings, causing thousands to flee to refugee camps along the country’s northern border. The actions of Saddam Hussein have had a powerful impact on international politics for the 21st century. He was the adversary of the United States during the Persian Gulf War and found himself once again at odds with the U.S. in 2003 during the Iraq War.

The Persian Gulf War began on January 16, 1991, and ended six weeks later when the allied military coalition drove Iraq’s armies out of Kuwait. Biography of Saddam Hussein, Dictator of Iraq. Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He was the adversary of the United States during the Persian Gulf War and found himself once again at odds with the U.S. in 2003 during the Iraq War. Saddam was shot in the leg. His fascist agenda led to World War II and the deaths of at least 11 million people, including some six million Jews. Kim Il-sung served as premier and president of North Korea and ran the country for decades, spearheading the creation of an Orwellian regime.
He lived in exile in Syria for three months and then moved to Egypt, where he lived for three years. The Baʿthists were overthrown that same year, however, and Saddam spent several years in prison in Iraq. He joined the Baʿth Party in 1957. He was known in particular for his role in the Iran-Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War. Definition and List of Dictators. A ceasefire agreement was signed, the terms of which included Iraq dismantling its germ and chemical weapons programs. He was also the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd President. Saddam Hussein has the dubious distinction of being the best-known Middle Eastern dictator. Of those 68, all were tried and found guilty of treason and 22 were sentenced to death. Omissions? Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian and writer who specializes in 20th-century history. Iraq, which had been a British colony from the end of World War I until 1932, was bubbling with internal power struggles. Later that year, UN inspections of suspected weapons sites in Iraq began, but little or no evidence that such programs existed was ultimately found. Saddam, however, managed to elude capture.
When Saddam refused to leave, U.S. and allied forces launched an attack on Iraq on March 20. In the aftermath of the conflict, seeking a means of revitalizing Iraq's war-ravaged economy and infrastructure, at the end of the 1980s, Saddam turned his attention toward Iraq's wealthy neighbor, Kuwait. Madeleine Albright became the first woman to represent the United States in foreign affairs as the Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton.

George H.W. By early August 1979, hundreds of Saddam's political foes had been executed. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. © 2020 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC.

Saddam began to assert open control of the government in 1979 and became president upon Bakr’s resignation. From there, he was moved to a U.S. base in Baghdad, where he would remain until June 30, 2004, when he was officially handed over to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. During the meeting, a list of 68 names was read out loud, and each person on the list was promptly arrested and removed from the room. His father, who was a shepherd, disappeared several months before Saddam was born. On November 5, 2006, Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death. Since Saddam's fall, however, a number of challenges made life in Iraq extraordinarily difficult; employment remains low, and the rise of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) led to violence. A few months later, Saddam's older brother died of cancer. In 1968, Saddam participated in a bloodless but successful Ba'athist coup that resulted in Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr becoming Iraq's president and Saddam his deputy. In October 2005 Saddam went on trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal, a panel court established to try officials of the former Iraqi government. In 1957 at age 20, Saddam joined the Baath Party. Why Did the United States Go to War with Iraq? The tribunal finally adjourned in July 2006 and handed down its verdicts in November. Updates? His goal was to become the leader of the Arab world, with territory to include the oil fields of the Persian Gulf. Saddam’s half brother (an intelligence officer) and Iraq’s former chief judge were also sentenced to death. The once dapper leader was pulled, disheveled and dirty, from a small underground hiding place near a farmhouse in the vicinity of Tikrīt. To assert Iraq’s hegemony over its neighbours, Saddam led Iraq into war with Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and with Kuwait in the lead-up to the Persian Gulf War. In 1963, when Qasim's government was overthrown in the so-called Ramadan Revolution, Saddam returned to Iraq, but he was arrested the following year as the result of in-fighting in the Ba'ath Party. Saddam, the son of peasants, was born in a village near the city of Tikrīt in northern Iraq. A UN Security Council resolution was promptly passed, imposing economic sanctions on Iraq and setting a deadline by which Iraqi forces must leave Kuwait. Saddam launched an invasion of Iran’s oil fields in September 1980, but the campaign bogged down in a war of attrition. In 1963, the Baath Party successfully overthrew the government and took power, which allowed Saddam to return to Iraq from exile. Joining the military had been Saddam's dream and when he wasn't able to pass the entrance exam, he was devastated. At the same time, Iraq remained under intense international scrutiny as well. On July 16, 1979, the president of Iraq was forced to resign and Saddam officially took the position. Saddam Hussein following his capture by U.S. forces in Tikrīt, Iraq, December 14, 2003. Saddam’s continued refusal to cooperate with UN arms inspectors led to a four-day air strike by the United States and Great Britain in late 1998 (Operation Desert Fox). Saddam's uncle, an ardent Arab nationalist, introduced him to the world of politics. When the January 15, 1991 deadline was ignored, a UN coalition force headed by the United States confronted Iraqi forces, and a mere six weeks later, had driven them from Kuwait. Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, and in 1972 he directed the nationalization of Iraq’s oil industry. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, Impacts of the Iraq War on the Middle East, What Makes a Ruler a Dictator? The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took place on Saturday, 30 December 2006. As the Ba’th Party leader he was instrumental in the coup in 1968 and effectively held power from that time until formally becoming president in 1979. His father died before he was born, and he went at an early age to live with an uncle in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein appearing in a Baghdad courtroom, 2004. Several of the would-be assassins were caught, tried and executed, but Saddam and several others managed to escape to Syria, where Saddam stayed briefly before fleeing to Egypt, where he attended law school. Days after an Iraqi court upheld his sentence in December 2006, Saddam was executed. In his January 2002 State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush named Iraq as part of his so-called "Axis of Evil," along with Iran and North Korea, and claimed that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.