Ch.39 The 1980s in the East and the Mideast
Indian After Partition
- At the time of partition, in 1947, Pakistan had been divided into two parts, East Pakistan and West Pakistan. But it was never a very good arrangement, because the two halves of this one country lay on either side of India separated from each other by thousands of miles. The government offices and the army headquarters were in West Pakistan. As time went on, East Pakistan became poorer and poorer, while West Pakistan prospered.
In 1970, East Pakistan
- Now, East Pakistan could declare itself independent from West Pakistan. It changed its name to Bangladesh. West Pakistan became known, simply, as Pakistan.
Iran and Iraq
- On September 22nd, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The Iraqis hoped for a short war. Their army had almost two hundred thousand soldiers in it. They were well-armed with Soviet weapons and tanks, and with guns from China, Germany, France, and England. Even the United States had agreed to support Iraq‘s attack against Iran and Khomeini.
- Even though the Iranians were taken by surprise, they fought back-ferociously! Instead of ending quickly, the Iran-Irag war dragged on for eight years. Saddam Hussein‘s planes bombed Iran‘s oil wells. Khomeini‘s planes bombed Irag‘s oil wells. No one knows for sure, but perhaps as many as one and a half million people died during the eight years of fighting. And the oil wells and pipelines in both countries were so badly damaged that it took years after the war ended to rebuild them.
- In 1988, Iran and Iraq agreed to stop fighting. Neither country had won.
