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This article presents a different chronological framework than the one traditionally put forth to understand the birth of the Iraqi army and the key role it played in building the Iraqi State. Between the country’s formal independence in 1932 and the Baath party’s rise to power in 1968, the nation-building process and the rise of the army as a political tool were largely synonymous phenomena. This article retraces the evolving power dynamics and regime changes from a military perspective. Initially non-existent, the army then began to arbitrate between various factions, before ultimately gaining power itself. However, this stranglehold on power prompted its own collapse as a military tool and several groups of rival militias took its place.