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The first Assyrian Empire began with Shamshi-Adad I (r. c. 1814-1782 b.c.e.), who established limited Assyrian rule in the ancient Middle Eastern region with the purpose of controlling strategic trade routes in and near the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys. However, the great king of the Babylonian Empire, Hammurabi, defeated the Assyrian’s son, Ishme-Dagan I (1782-c. 1741 b.c.e.), and the first Assyrian Empire collapsed. With the fall of Babylon in the sixteenth century b.c.e. as a result of a very powerful Kassite invasion force, Assyria also succumbed to the Kassites and endured repeated invasions by various marauding nomadic tribes. In the fifteenth century b.c.e., the powerful Mitanni kingdom invaded and enslaved the Assyrian heartland, as well as other states within the northern Mesopotamia region, for more than two centuries. In the thirteenth century b.c.e., the once mighty Mitanni kingdom collapsed because of a massive and successful Hittite invasion. The Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I (r. c. 1363-1330 b.c.e.), taking full advantage of the regional turmoil with the fall of the Mitanni kingdom, temporarily restored Assyria’s independence and freedom of action by strengthening the field army and using it to recapture Assyrian territories.

The Simele massacre was part of a program created by the Kingdom of Iraq to systematically target and destroy the country’s native Assyrian population. Most Assyrians lived in the northern part of the country, in or near the town of Simele. In early August of 1933, Iraq began looting Assyrian villages. Many Assyrians fled into the larger town of Simele, where Iraqi troops forced them to move into a different part of the city. As they traveled, the troops opened fire on them. When they fled, soldiers fired into homes, tortured children, and raped women and girls. At the end of the massacre, at least six thousand Assyrians had been killed and more than one hundred villages were destroyed. The true cost in loss of life and property is unknown, as it went largely undocumented at the time. This massacre forever altered Iraq’s history.