Blood, Borders and Betrayal: A Military History of Kurds Volume 1

Blood, Borders and Betrayal covers Kurdish military history from antiquity through the Ottoman Empire and Kemal Atatürk’s failure to create a Kurdish state, and the Kurdish insurgencies and divisions seeking autonomy or independence.

Volume 1 sheds light on historical milestones including Barzanji’s rebellions and the rise of the Barzanis, the First and Second Iraqi Kurdish Wars and Saddam’s Anfal Campaigns, including several chemical attacks, the most prominent of which occurred at Halabja. The chronology of events goes as far as modern-day Iraq, covering the post-Desert Storm operations against Saddam, Kurdish cooperation with American forces to secure northern Iraq, and the post-Saddam Iraqi security architecture. Volume 1 also examines the trajectory of Iranian Kurdish insurgency from the formation of KDPI to the modern-day PJAK.