in the 1980s the Middle East was set for a collision of two irrational regimes on one side Iraq under the control of Saddam Hussein on the other Iran who recently fell to an Islamic theocracy fuelled by revolutionary zeal eventually conflict began between the two nations this was the iran-iraq war an 8 year long devastating conflict which cost hundreds of thousands of lives for soldiers and civilians on both sides only to end in a stalemate so since neither side actually achieved their objectives this made me wonder what if Iran won the war first some brief history what led to the iran-iraq war going back to the eve of the war in 1980 the political climate had dramatically shifted in the Middle East Iran’s secular but corrupt Shah had been overthrown in an Islamic Revolution turning the nation into a theocratic state their neighbor to the west rock had been under the control of the Baathist party for years Saddam Hussein on its head while baathism already was an ideology of Arab superiority Saddam believed Iraq was a superior nation of the Arab world and he wanted to show it through military might Iran controlled a predominantly Arab region neighbouring Iraq called Kusa Stan Saddam hated the idea of Persians controlling Arabs in wish to take it while also taking control to Shatt al-arab the connecting point of the Tigris and Euphrates which both countries shared now when the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran Khomeini called for the overthrow of secular governments like Saddam’s calling for the spread of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Muslim world this really didn’t pleased Saddam while Iran was in political disarray Saddam saw it as a perfect opportunity to invade and seize valuable land and resources on September 22nd 1980 Iraq’s ground forces swept across into Iran taking land in Kooza Stan and western territory of the country however Saddam terribly must calculated instead of his invasion disbanding Iran’s people it rallied them around the new government with thousands volunteering to fight due to poor planning Iraq allowed Iran to organize themselves and soon enough Iran fought back a counter-attack first Saddam to retreat his forces behind the border angry at the incursion Iran went on the offensive into Iraq aiming to overthrow Saddam and to install a theocratic government of their own however their invasion was stalled as well eventually the war went into a stalemate the two countries evenly matched began to fight similar to World War one Iraq using mustard gas attacks on both civilians and troops alike Ron launching massive human wave attacks just total war nobody was safe from the conflict and civilians were always stuck in the crossfire an effort to draw on a superpower Saddam bombed Iranian shipping in the Persian Gulf Iraq’s oil was carried through foreign ships due to Iran land locking the country and so when abroad did retaliate they attacked Kuwaiti and Saudi ships carrying Iraqi oil this attack on the oil angered much of the world countries like the u.s. USSR in Britain began to fund Saddam’s army to combat Iran and protect their own oil shipping and the Gulf eventually after years of constant fighting attacks on civilians and hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides Iraq and Iran agreed on peace the borders went back to their previous boundaries and neither gained an advantage from the conflict now this topic will be split into two videos this video will focus on what if Iran won the war it’s kind of a trick question because if Iran did take Baghdad they could have won the war if it was just between them and Iraq but in reality Iran never would have been allowed to achieve victory against Saddam at least depending on how they fought the war Iran was universally hated throughout the globe by both the west and the Soviets may Ayatollah and Islamic fundamentalism isolated the country for both Saddam in the u.s. there was fear the Islamic fundamentalists would spread their revolution to other nations as well Reagan remarked the US would do all in its power to make sure Iran does not achieve victory against a rock and our timeline this was by giving weapons and equipment to Saddam’s army to use in this alternate timeline Iran pushes back Saddam’s military past the Iraqi boundary reclaiming the land they lost in this time deciding to go on the offensive in this alternate timeline although unrealistic Iran is able to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime either by capturing Baghdad or by funding and uprising among the Kurdish and Shia population against the Baathist government either way Iran’s total victory was to install a Shia fundamentalist government inside Iraq if achieve this run would have been at war with the United States and her allies Saddam while a brutal madman was still seen as a deterrent to Islamic Iran if Iran overthrew Saddam they would have seen airstrikes bombings and perhaps even international boots on the ground imagine a situation like the Persian Gulf War but instead of Iraq being the enemy it’s Iran and instead of Kuwait being the occupied Ally it’s a rock bombings of Tehran and Persian cities by the West could occur enough to convince the Iranians victory could not be possible and forced them to the negotiating table in our timeline the Kurds who had been fighting for independence for decades became allies with Iran to combat Saddam however this insurgency ended when Saddam used chemical weapons to wipe out entire Kurd villages in this alternate timeline since the West would aim to kick Iran out the Kurds could have potentially become enemies with the u.s. since US interest would be to keep Saddam in power this is just a footnote speculation though in summary if Iran defeated the Iraqis and were able to overthrow Saddam or capture Baghdad they would face an international coalition similar to the Persian Gulf War this wouldn’t be an Iraq war situation like in 2003 as Saddam’s party and military would not have been disbanded allowing for a vile but stable government to come back in power in this alternate timeline Iraq becomes a u.s. partner the relationship is built on the transfer of oil and deterring Iranian superiority in the region Saddam’s regime is brutal but the u.s. doesn’t seem to have a problem with that in our timeline so I don’t see that as an issue in this alternate one Iran is even further isolated from the world whether or not Iran would have been invaded by international forces during the war is hard to predict if they were not overthrown at the Iranian state would be even more zealous and as alternate timelines Saddam never invades Kuwait because it was directly the actions of the iran-iraq war which led to the invasion and the Gulf War in the first place I’ll explain more in detail in my next video part 2 what if a rock won the iran-iraq war this video was suggested by patreon contributors Jesse thank you Jesse for your support and for suggesting such a fascinating topic as for the rest like on Facebook and subscribe if you have not done so this is Cody from the altering history hub Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufilxkLcqns
