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  • Essay / The Unification of Saudi Arabia

    The unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign by which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states and kingdoms of most of the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud, between 1902 and 1932, when the current Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of Ibn Saud, creating what is sometimes called the Third Saudi State, for the differentiate from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the second Saudi State, also the House of Saud. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The Al-Saud had been in exile in the British protected emirate of Kuwait since 1893 after their third episode of removal from power and dissolution of their policy, this time by the Al Rashid Emirate of Ha'il. In 1902, Ibn Saud retook Riyadh, the former capital of the Al Saud dynasty. He then subjugated the rest of Nejd, Al-Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Asir and Hejaz (location of the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina) between 1913 and 1926. The resulting political regime was named Kingdom of Nejd and of Hejaz from 1927 until it was further consolidated with Al-Hasa and Qatif in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In 1901, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal's son, the future Ibn Saud, requested the Emir of Kuwait men and supplies for an attack on Riyadh. Already involved in several wars with the Rashidis, the emir granted the request, giving Ibn Saud horses and weapons. Although the exact number of men rose and fell during the subsequent journey, it is believed that he left with around 40 men. In January 1902, Ibn Saud and his men reached Riyadh. With only a small force, he felt that the only way to take the city was to capture Masmak Fort and kill Ibn Ajlan, ruler of Riyadh, and after achieving these objectives, they managed to take the city that night. With the capture of his family's ancestral home, Ibn Saud proved that he possessed the qualities necessary to be a sheikh or emir: leadership, courage and luck, and this marked the beginning of the emirate of Nejd and Hasa, which lasted until 'in 1921. – Rashidi War The Saudi-Rashidi War, also called the "First Saudi-Rashidi War" or "Battles for Qasim", was fought between loyal Saudi forces of the new Nejd Sultanate and the Emirate of Ha'il (Jabal Shammar), under the Rashidis. The war period consisting of sporadic battles ended with the Saudi takeover of the Al-Qassim region, following a decisive victory at Qasim on April 13, 1906, although further engagements followed in 1907. Al -Hasa and Qatif In 1913, Ibn Saud, with the support of the Ikhwan, conquered al-Hasa from an Ottoman garrison, which had controlled the region since 1871. He then integrated al-Hasa and Qatif into the Emirate. The inhabitants of these areas were Shia and puritan Saudi Wahhabis, which led to heavy sanctions against Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia, in contrast to the tolerant policies of the Sunni Ottomans that they had traditionally implemented. Kuwait–Najd War Main articles: Kuwait–Najd War and Uqair Protocol of 1922 The Kuwait–Najd War occurred because Ibn Saud wanted to annex Kuwait. Ibn Saud insisted that the territory of Kuwait belonged to him. The heightened conflict between Kuwait and Najd has led to the deaths of hundreds of Kuwaitis. The war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919-1920. Following the Kuwait-Najd War, Ibn Saud imposed a strict trade blockade against Kuwait for 14 years, from 1923 to 1937. The aim of the Saudi economic and military attacks against theKuwait was to annex as much Kuwaiti territory as possible. At the Uqair Conference in 1922, the borders of Kuwait and Najd were fixed. Kuwait had no representatives at the Uqair conference. Ibn Saud persuaded Sir Percy Cox to cede two-thirds of Kuwait's territory to him. More than half of Kuwait was lost to Uqair. After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subject to the Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raids. During World War I, in December, the British government (begun in early 1915) attempted to cultivate favor with Ibn Saud via his secret agent, Captain William Shakespear, resulting in the Treaty of Darin. After Shakespeare's death at the Battle of Jarrab, the British began to support Ibn Saud's rival, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, leader of the Hejaz. Lord Kitchener also appealed to Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, for help in the conflict and Hussein wanted political recognition in return. An exchange of letters with Henry McMahon assured him that his aid would be rewarded between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden, and the Syrian coast. Unlike their negotiations with Ali, the British concluded the Treaty of Darin, which made the lands of the House of Saud a British protectorate. Ibn Saud pledged to wage war again against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans. Ibn Saud also received a monthly allowance in exchange for waging war against Ibn Rashid. Nejd and the Hashemites of the Kingdom of Hejaz. The war was part of the historic conflict between the Hashemites of Hejaz and the Saudis of Riyadh (Nejd) for supremacy in Arabia. This resulted in the defeat of the Hashemite forces and the capture of al-Khurma by the Saudis and its ally Ikhwan, but British intervention prevented the immediate collapse of the Hashemite kingdom, establishing a sensitive ceasefire, which would last until 1924. Ha'il Main article: Conquest of Ha'il See also: Jabal Shammar The conquest of Ha'il, also called the Second Saudi-Rashidi War, was waged by Saudi forces with its allies from the Ikhwan tribe on the emirate of Ha'il. (Jabal Shammar), under the last Rashidi rulers. On November 2, 1921, Jebel Shammar was completely conquered by Saudi forces and subsequently incorporated into the Nejd Sultanate. members of the tribes of Najd, in Transjordan between 1922 and 1924. Although the raids were not orchestrated by Ibn Saud, the ruler of Nejd, he did nothing to stop the raids of his ally Ikhwanis. This changed, however, after the conquest of Hejaz, when Ibn Saud's increasingly critical and negative stance on the Ikhwan raids developed into an open feud and essentially a bloody conflict since 1927. In the early 1920s, repeated Wahhabi incursions of Ikhwan of Najd into the southern regions. of its territory constituted the most serious threat to the position of Emir Abdullah in Transjordan. The Emir was powerless to repel these raids on his own, so the British maintained a military base, with a small air force, at Marka, near Amman. 1921 Raid on Iraq In 1921, an Ikhwan party attacked southern Iraq, pillaging Shiite villages, resulting in the deaths of 700 Iraqi Shiites. Second Nejd-Hijaz War Main article: Saudi conquest of Hejaz The Saudi conquest of Hejaz was a campaign initiated by Saudi Arabia. Sultan Abdulaziz Ibn Saud would retake the Hashemite kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–1925. The campaign ended successfully in December 1925, with the fall of Jeddah. Subsequently, in 1926, Ibn Saud was proclaimed king of Hejaz and also elevated Nejd to the status of a kingdom in 1927. During the five years 1933