17 July Revolution

Date: July 17, 1968 • Location: Rome, Italy

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1968–1968.

Led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (pictured), the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party overthrew Iraqi president Abdul Rahman Arif in a bloodless coup.

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.