Armies Of Death

Author : Simon Valentine
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781983102370
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (23 download)

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Download or read book Peshmerga 'Those Who Face Death' written by Simon Valentine and published by . This book was released on 2018-07-07 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kurds, although a courageous people, have been, until recently, little known beyond the Kurdish mountains. Before the invasion of northern Iraq by ISIS in 2014 few people in the West knew where Kurdistan was as a country, and even fewer had heard of Peshmerga as a fighting force. This has now changed. With the appearance of ISIS Peshmerga was catapulted onto the world stage as a courageous and capable military force, a main contributor to the downfall of the Islamic State.Despite its significance however, in both Kurdish as well as English, very little has been written about the Kurdish army. Countless works have been published, giving detailed accounts of the social, economic, geographic, political, religious and historical background of Kurdistan, but very little on Peshmerga itself. There is no official history of Peshmerga, no standard work informing the general reader of the development and role of the Kurdish army. This book is an attempt to fill that gap. It is important to stress this book is not a history of the Kurdish people. Instead it is an account - the first account ever written - of the Kurdish fighting spirit which first emerged in the ancient world, and later developed during the Kurd's struggles under Islamic rulers and against later regimes, particularly the Ottoman and British Empires. The central theme of the book is the development of Peshmerga from tribal militias; to a mountain based Guerrilla force which could hold its own often against much larger, and better equipped, Iraqi armies sent against it. This partisan force later became the modern "battlefield", western trained, army of today. This theme is inextricably linked with the Kurdish struggle for independence in the face of ongoing western promises of hope then betrayal and disappointment. Particular attention is given to the short-lived Kurdish republic in Mahabad, Iran, in 1946 under Qazi Muhammad and the subsequent famous march to Russia by Mulla Mustafa Barzani and the legendary "500" Peshmerga in 1947; the 14 July revolution in 1958; the Iraqi-Kurdish wars of the 1960's and 70's and the defeat of the Kurds (mainly due to American and Iranian betrayal) following the Algiers Accord 1975. The role of Peshmerga in the Iran-Iraq War, and against Saddam Hussein (particularly the brutal Anfal campaign) are discussed in detail. Attention is also given to the significant role of Peshmerga in the two Gulf Wars and the tragedy of the Kurdish civil war in the mid-1990s. The emergence and development of the KDP under Mustafa Barzani and later his son Masoud Barzani, and the PUK under Jalal Talabani (the two dominant political groups in Kurdistan) is an important thread of this Peshmerga story. In the post-Saddam era the book looks at the fight by Peshmerga against the militant Islamic group Ansar al Islam, which gave the Kurds and Iraqis a foretaste, albeit much smaller, of the devastating brutality of the so called Islamic State. An entire chapter is given to women Peshmerga and the significant contribution made by female fighters to the development of Kurdish military capability.The author lived for three years in Kurdistan and Iraq gathering information for this book. Drawing on direct contact with Peshmerga (he interviewed hundreds of Kurdish soldiers from infantrymen to Generals); living with Peshmerga on the front-line, and knowing many of the leading military commanders and Kurdish politicians (both KDP and PUK), the author (as an experienced journalist and academic writer) considers, not only the tumultuous history of Peshmerga, but also its significance, role and its ongoing needs. As such the author lets Peshmergas speak for themselves and tell their own unique and exciting story.