Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Wars and Resistance.
The Kurdish victory at Handrin on 11–12 May 1966 disrupted an Iraqi offensive near Rawanduz. Battlefield histories, a participant’s later recollection and the ensuing peace proposals explain its significance.
Read article →War and the Ottoman collapse changed the political setting for Kurdish communities, while violence and forced displacement devastated civilian life. This selected timeline separates wartime events, diplomatic proposals and the later peace settlement. It also explains what Sèvres and Lausanne actually provided.
Read article →Kurdish-led self-rule in northern Syria developed through civil war, the campaign against ISIS, Turkish interventions and negotiations with Damascus. This history follows distinct military and administrative phases, including the announced dissolution of the SDF in August 2026 and continuing disputes reported that September.
Read article →Kurdish politics in Iran includes competing parties, periods of insurgency, exile and civilian campaigns for rights. This history follows the post-1979 conflict, assassinations abroad and the documented effects of repression on communities.
Read article →Key stages from the PKK's 1984 armed campaign to the 2025 dissolution announcement and 2026 parliamentary developments, with dated sources and civilian impacts.
Read article →Iraqi Kurdish self-government developed through the 1991 crisis, elections, internal war, reconciliation and federal recognition. The 2017 referendum and fighting over disputed territories show why political aspiration, constitutional status and military control must be distinguished.
Read article →War, conditional treaty proposals and several distinct movements reshaped Kurdish politics between 1914 and 1947. Their leaders, constituencies and aims differed; Mahabad belongs to the aftermath of the Second World War.
Read article →Ottoman centralisation displaced hereditary Kurdish rulers through campaigns, administrative changes and exile. The experiences of Baban, Soran and Botan show how local autonomy, imperial rivalry and later forms of tribal rule intersected.
Read article →From the Ottoman victory at Chaldiran in 1514 to the diplomacy of the eighteenth century, Kurdish rulers negotiated, fought and changed allegiance between powerful neighbours. The frontier developed through campaigns, local decisions and successive treaties. Bitlis and Dimdim show both the scope of local rule and the violence of imperial intervention.
Read article →After Saladin, Ayyubid princes faced crusading invasions, family rivalry and Mongol expansion. Victories in Egypt strengthened the military households that displaced the dynasty there, while other Ayyubid branches continued to rule.
Read article →The Shaddadids and Rawwadids governed different territories in the medieval Caucasus and Azerbaijan. Their histories connect warfare with tribute, diplomacy, urban rebuilding and relationships across religious communities.
Read article →The Kurdish Marwanid dynasty governed from Mayyafariqin, modern Silvan, in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Its history is documented through changing alliances, chronicles, silver coins, manuscripts and building inscriptions.
Read article →Early Kurdish ruling families held forts, towns and routes across the Zagros. Their histories involve kinship, Buyid intervention, warfare, public works and accommodation with the Seljuks, with less certain beginnings and endings than a simple dynastic timeline suggests.
Read article →The early Islamic history of Kurdish communities includes military conquest, negotiated submission, conversion, rebellion and service in larger states. Medieval narratives preserve important evidence, while differing dates and identities require careful interpretation.
Read article →Nisibis, Amida and the upper Tigris were important places in the long rivalry between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Their history includes fortification, trade, sieges, negotiated borders and displaced communities. The frontier changed repeatedly from the third to the seventh century CE.
Read article →Ancient accounts place Cyrtian slingers in Molon’s army, at Magnesia and among Eumenes II’s auxiliaries. The passages explain their battlefield roles while leaving their language, recruitment and relationship to modern Kurds less certain.
Read article →The inscriptions of Ashurnasirpal II record three Zamua expeditions in 881–880 BCE. Read alongside regional archaeology, they reveal local coalitions, coercive tribute and the gradual establishment of Assyrian administration.
Read article →Gordyene was an ancient territory of the upper Tigris, recorded under several Greek, Latin and regional names. Its history includes mountain villages, fortified towns, local kings and changing relationships with Armenia, Rome and Persia.
Read article →Xenophon describes seven difficult days among the Karduchoi, including fighting, seized provisions and negotiated truces. His account requires care when discussing geography and Kurdish ancestry.
Read article →Median and Babylonian armies brought down Assyria’s imperial centers through several campaigns. The evidence distinguishes Assur in 614 BCE, Nineveh in 612, Harran in 610 and a failed Assyrian-Egyptian counterattack in 609.
Read article →Naram-Sin’s stele and Anubanini’s cliff inscription present different royal voices from the Zagros. Comparing their dates, claims and later literary echoes with Kunara’s records reveals a highland history beyond the image of mountain warriors.
Read article →Gutian kings appear in the records of late third-millennium BCE Mesopotamia. Their relationship to the end of Akkadian power must be reconstructed from royal inscriptions, later king lists, literary compositions and archaeology. These sources answer different questions and sometimes disagree.
Read article →A sourced comparison of Kurdish-linked forces in Iraq and Syria, Peshmerga reform, anti-IS partnerships and the limits of outdated descriptions.
Read article →The complete history of how Kurdish Peshmerga, YPG, YPJ, and SDF forces fought ISIS across Iraq and Syria — from Sinjar and Kobani to Raqqa and Baghuz.
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