This is a BBC podcast.

You can get all our podcasts and our terms of use

at BBCWorldservice.com slash podcasts. 35 years ago the 20th century's longest war broke out.

I tell you all that now the situation between Iraq and Iran is light completely wrong.

The Iran-Iraq war erupted in 1980 after Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded its neighbor Iran

after a history of border tensions. It lasted eight long years.

I can see the radio jets going over the city.

And you can get it in accurate fire at the distance.

What impact has this warhead on the Middle East since then? Can it help explain today's

conflicts shattering the region? I'm Lee's Doucette. Over the next hour on the BBC World Service, we'll look back at the events of 1980 to 88 and ask what did they mean for those involved?

And how should we understand them now? I think it was beautiful.

It was very elegant moment. I would rather die in that moment than live after the war. It was so nice. On the Iraqi side my people were

hopeless. We reached a stage we thought this war will never finish. There was no gain. In half an hour we'll debate

the legacy of this long war but first the memories. What was it like to live

through the war the world needs to remember?

I remember the day the war started I was sleeping in my grandparents house.

In 1980 Ahmed al-Mushatat was finishing secondary school in Baghdad.

He was dreaming of becoming a doctor.

We sleep in the summer on the roof because of the hot weather.

And in the early morning around 8 o'clock there were aircraft,

Iranian aircrafts, and the sky of Baghdad flying very low. We were absolutely terrified.

We knew that Saddam Hussein was mad enough to do anything.

...