These amazing pictures show what Iraq was like before the country's decades of chaos
Baghdad was a modernizing city, with wide boulevards and grassy traffic circles.
Public pools were becoming more common throughout the city.
And girls were encouraged to go to school, where they studied and played games like volleyball.
There was an aspiring middle class, which shared combined western and local norms.
A national police force was also formed.
In the south of Iraq, the port city of Basra was hailed as a Middle Eastern Venice.
Basra was a bustling global hub as it exported goods out into the Persian Gulf.
The city of #Basra was once called 'The Venice of the East' for its many rivers & canals
— Iraq Pictures (@IraqPics) May 1, 2014
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In the marshes in southern Iraq, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the "Marsh Arabs" continued their centuries-old way of life.
Many of the marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq.
Kurds in northern Iraq also retained their unique culture ...
Below is the original British Pathe video:
A mother with her son on a camel in the deserts of western Iraq 1960
— Iraq Pictures (@IraqPics) April 16, 2014
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