Monuments to the 1959 Mosul Uprising Leaders

Baghdad monuments to the leaders of the failed 1959 Mosul Uprising — a contested site of modern Iraqi memory.

These statues in Baghdad commemorate the leaders of the 1959 Mosul Uprising — a failed coup attempt by Arab nationalist officers against Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. The attempt to unite Iraq with the United Arab Republic collapsed for lack of military backing. After the uprising was suppressed, violent clashes between rival groups broke out across Mosul. The monuments stand today as contested sites of memory from one of the most turbulent periods in modern Iraqi history.