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Tikrit (تكريت, also transliterated as Takrit or Tekrit) is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river (at 34.61°N, 43.68°E). The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 28,900, is the administrative centre of the province of Salah ad Din.The town was founded over a thousand years ago, at which time it possessed a fortress and a large Christian monastery. It was renowned as a centre for the production of woolen textiles. Around 1137, the legendary Muslim leader Saladin was born there; among his many achievements he defended Egypt against the Crusaders, and recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. The modern province of which Tikrit is the capital is named after him. The town, and much of Iraq with it, was devastated in the 14th century by the Mongol invasion under Timur Lenk. In September 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti-, BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly forces captured the town during a major advance against the Ottoman EmpireOsmanlı İmparatorluğu Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye The Ottoman Coat of Arms Imperial motto: unknown The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople) Sovereigns Sultans during World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of.
The town is now perhaps best known for being the birthplace in 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam HusseinSaddm Hussein 'Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti Hussein also spelled Husayn and Hussain Arabic: ; born April 28, 1937 1) was President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. A rising star in the revolutionary Ba'ath Party, which espoused secular Arab nationalism, economic mod, who frequently liked to compare himself with Saladin. Many senior members of the Iraqi government during his rule were drawn from Saddam's own Tikriti tribe, the Al Bu Nasir, as were members of his Iraqi Republican GuardThe Iraqi Republican Guard RG was the core of the Iraqi military. There were between 80,000 and 100,000 troops in the Republican Guard itself, and an additional 15,000-20,000 troops in the Special Republican Guard SRG . Not counting troops of the SRG, the, chiefly because Saddam apparently felt that he was most able to rely on relatives and allies of his family. The Tikriti domination of the Iraqi government became something of an embarrassment to Saddam and prompted him in 1977 to abolish the use of surnames in Iraq to conceal the fact that so many of his key supporters bore the same surname, al-Tikriti (as did Saddam himself).
1 2003
In the opening weeks of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many observers speculated that Saddam would return to Tikrit as his "last stronghold". The town was subjected to intense aerial bombardment and on April 13, 2003 several thousand US Marines aboard 300 lightly armored vehicles converged on the town, meeting little or no resistance. With the fall of Tikrit, U.S. Major General Stanley McChrystal said, "I would anticipate that the major combat operations are over."
This did indeed mark the end of major military action in Iraq, but during the subsequent occupation Tikrit became the scene of a number of insurgent attacks against the occupying forces. It is commonly regarded as being the northern axis of the notorious " Sunni Triangle" within which the insurgency is at its most intense.
After the fall of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein was sheltered in and around Tikrit by relatives and allies for a period of about six months. During his final period in hiding, he lived just outside the town of ad-Dawr, fifteen kilometres south of Tikrit. He was captured by Coalition forces, primarily the US 4th Infantry Division, on December 13, 2003.
During the 2003 occupation of Iraq, AFN Iraq ("Freedom Radio") broadcast news and entertainment within Tikrit, among other locations.
