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These amazing pictures show what Iraq was like before the country's decades of chaos

These amazing pictures show what Iraq was like before the country's decades of chaos

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Baghdad was a modernizing city, with wide boulevards and grassy traffic circles.

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Public pools were becoming more common throughout the city.

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And girls were encouraged to go to school, where they studied and played games like volleyball.

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There was an aspiring middle class, which shared combined western and local norms.

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A national police force was also formed.

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In the south of Iraq, the port city of Basra was hailed as a Middle Eastern Venice.

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Basra was a bustling global hub as it exported goods out into the Persian Gulf.

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The city of #Basra was once called 'The Venice of the East' for its many rivers & canals
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— Iraq Pictures (@IraqPics) May 1, 2014

In the marshes in southern Iraq, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the "Marsh Arabs" continued their centuries-old way of life.

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Many of the marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq.

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Kurds in northern Iraq also retained their unique culture ...

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Below is the original British Pathe video:

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A mother with her son on a camel in the deserts of western Iraq 1960
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— Iraq Pictures (@IraqPics) April 16, 2014

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