Cees Roffelsen, May 27,

2020 https://medium.com/@ceesroffelsen/the-emergence-of-the-saudi-states-5982828be86b

Masmak Fort in Riyadh

The Emergence of the Saudi States

In the mid-1700s, Arabia was a political backwater, largely ignored by the great
powers. Outside the annual Hajj, there was little reason for outsiders to venture into
the vast deserts that spanned the peninsula, and while the cradle of Arab civilization
may lie in Arabia, its major political, cultural, and religious institutions had left the
region centuries ago. What’s left were the tribal confederations that formed the
primary social structure. The Al Saud were not part of any of these major tribes.
Instead, they were but settled farmers in the Nejd (Central Arabia), who grew dates
and invested in trade caravans. They would have a hard time believing that their
family would become one of the richest dynasties of the 20th and 21st century, with its
head being one of the most powerful world leaders. This short history gives an
overview of how the Al Saud struck a mutually beneficial alliance with the puritan
clerics of the Wahhabi movement, and how, over the course of three centuries, they
established multiple states that would eventually come to rule most of Arabia.
The Emirate of Diriyah (1744–1818)

The first Saudi state, known as the Emirate of Diriyah, was formed in 1744, when the
ruler of al-Diriyya, Muhammad ibn Saud, met the theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-
Wahhab. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab argued for a return to the practices of the early Muslim
community of the Prophet Muhammad and the first caliphs. Central to his philosophy
is a strict adherence to the principle of Tawhid, or the ‘oneness of God’, and
condemning the idea of God having partners or agents as polytheism, or shirk. Ibn
‘Abd al-Wahhab was particularly intolerant of saint worship and Sufism, believing it
to be deviations from the true path.

The Diriyya Agreement between Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Ibn Saud set out that the
Saudi ruler and his subjects would follow the teachings of the cleric, known as
‘Wahhabism’, and actively work to convert all of Sunni-Islam to it . The alliance would
also prove beneficial to the Al Saud, as they were no longer just another minor clan of
the Nejd, but crusaders for the one true faith. This gave them an edge in the constant
struggle for control between the various tribes and clans. However, the pan-Islamic
ambitions of the Wahhabi ideology, would set the alliance on a collision course with
the Ottoman Empire, that ruled over most of the Sunni-Islamic world at the
time. Both Sufism and saint worship were fundamental to Ottoman religious and
social life, and by characterizing these practices as polytheistic the Wahhabis were
directly undermining the religious legitimacy of the empire, and the sultan’s status as
protector of the faith.
The Emirate of Diriyah in the 18th and 19th century

However, the early decades of Wahhabi expansion would go largely unnoticed by the
Ottoman leadership. From 1744 until the 1780s, the Al Saud were occupied with
conquering oasis towns in the Nejd, a large region in central Arabia, far beyond
Ottoman borders. But by the 1790s , Saudi troops were moving into the Ottoman
province of Iraq, and the sultan urged the governor of Baghdad to take action. Aware
of how poorly his troops would fare in Nejd, the governor stalled as long as he could,
until he finally sends a 10.000-man strong army in 1798 to meet the Saudi threat.
Waging war in the Nejd comes with huge logistical problems, as troops have to
traverse scorching deserts with long, vulnerable supply lines. Conditions that the
Bedouin tribes, including the Saudis, were well accustomed to. As the governor
predicated, his men struggled in enemy territory and they were quickly forced to
negotiate a truce with the Al Saud.
In 1802 the Saudis would again invade Iraq, this time attacking the southern city of
Karbala. Karbala holds a special place in Shia Islam, due to it being the final resting
place of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia imam and grandson of the prophet
Muhammad. His shrine still attracts millions of pilgrims each year, bearing gifts and
to undertake acts of devotion for the imam. Needless to say, the Wahabbis found these
practices abhorrent, and the attack on the city would be particularly ruthless; they
killed between 2000 and 5000 residents, desecrated Husayn’s shrine and mosque,
and took everything of value. The brutal attack shocked the Muslim world, and calls
came from across the Ottoman Empire for the imperial government to apprehend the
Wahhabi threat. However, the Ottoman authorities were powerless to do anything, as
they lacked the means to counter the tribal Arabs in the hostile territory of the Nejd,
far away from the Ottoman heartland.

Photographic image of Mecca in 1888

In 1803 the Al Saud advanced on the Hijaz in western Arabia and claimed Mecca and
Medina. Unlike Karbala, this invasion was without violence or plunder, and the
Wahhabis withdrew after a few months, only to return in 1806 and permanently add
the whole Hijaz to their state. They imposed their strict beliefs on the residents,
destroyed all shrines in the cities, and denied entry to pilgrims from the Ottoman
Empire, who wished to travel to Mecca and Medina for the Hajj. Still denouncing
Ottoman Muslims as polytheists, the Wahhabis barred them from entering the holy
cities of Islam.

Mecca and Medina being in the hands of hostile powers struck at the very foundation
of Ottoman legitimacy; one of the sultan’s many imperial titles is that of defender of
the faith and protector of the holy cities. With the Wahhabis having annexed the Hijaz
and barring Ottomans from performing the Hajj — one of the five pillars of Islam —
they not only challenged the sultan’s ability to defend his territory, but also his core
duty as a guarantor of the pilgrimage and as defender of Islam. There was no question
of the necessity to end the Wahhabi presence in the Hijaz, but the Ottomans lacked
the resources to send a force from Anatolia to fight in Arabia. Instead, they pleaded
with the local governors of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo to take up arms.
Unfortunately, the governor of Baghdad was occupied with Wahhabi raiders at his
own borders, and the governor of Damascus did not have the men or the resources for
a 40-day march from Damascus to the Hijaz. Only Muhammad Ali, the new ruler of
Cairo, had the means and will to end the Saudi hold on Medina and Mecca.
Portrait of Muhammad’ Ali from 1840

Through a power struggle from 1803 to 1805, the military commander, Muhammad
Ali, had become the de facto ruler of Cairo. To legitimize his rule, he petitioned the
sultan to have him appointed governor of Egypt. The sultan, recognizing Muhammad
Ali’s talent and ambition, but also fearing his independence and power base in Cairo,
instead made him governor of the Hijaz and charged him with ending the Wahhabi
problem. Unfortunately for the Ottomans, Muhammad Ali would use his new title to
clean house in Egypt and consolidate his position. Only in 1811, with all his domestic
enemies neutralized, did he send his son, Tussun Pasha, on a campaign to Arabia.

As with earlier campaigns against the Saudis, this one too proved to be an arduous
and costly one; the battlefield was far from home, the communication and supply lines
were vulnerable to Bedouin raids, and the harsh environment took a heavy toll on the
Egyptian forces. It took until 1813 for the Saudis to be driven out of Mecca and
Medina. The Al Saud however, were not defeated and fighting continued until a truce
between Abdullah ibn Saud and Tussun was struck. Unfortunately, Tussun would die
that same year of the plague and upon his death, Ibn Saud resumed his war against
the Egyptians. Muhammad Ali ordered his oldest son, Ibrahim Pasha, to restart the
campaign. Ibrahim took up command in 1817, secured the Hijaz for the Ottoman
Empire, and drove the Saudis back into the Nejd.

Though his orders had only been to undo the Saudi occupation of the Hijaz province,
Ibrahim aimed to finally put an end to two decades’ of Saudi aggression. His troops
pursued them into the Nejd, all the way back to their stronghold in al-Diriya. What
followed was a terrible, 2 month siege, where the Saudis suffered shortages of food
and water, while the Egyptians died of disease and the terrible summer heat of Central
Arabia. By 1818 the Egyptians took the city and ended the first Saudi state; al-Diriya
was destroyed and the Saudi leadership, including Abdullah ibn Saud and senior
Wahhabi clerics, were taken to Istanbul for execution. With its capital destroyed, its
Imam dead, and senior royal family members in Egyptian captivity, the first Saudi
state had come to an end.

The Emirate of Nejd (1824–1891)

After the execution of Abdullah ibn Saud and the destruction of al-Diriya, Abdullah’s
son, Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, went into hiding to escape the persecution of
the Al Saud by the Ottomans. An uncle of Turki, Mushari bin Saud, managed to escape
Egyptian custody and tried to reestablish the Saudi state. However, one of
Muhammad Ali’s allies successfully defeated Mushari and brought him back into
custody, leaving Turki as one of the few left who could lead the Al Saud clan. In 1923
he emerged from hiding and, with the help of local allies, established himself in Irqah,
Central Arabia. With al-Diriya destroyed, Turki designated Riyadh as the future
capital for his new state, and his forces quickly seized major settlements around the
city and cut its Egyptian garrison of from the Ottoman Empire. In 1824 he laid siege to
Riyadh and took the city in a few months. With Riyadh under his control, Turki
established the second Saudi state, the Emirate of the Nejd. Unlike the first emirate,
Turki’s new state would rely less on the Wahhabi ideology and its ambition to conquer
and convert. Instead, it functioned as a more conventional Bedouin kingdom.

Fearing the same fate as his father, Turki avoided open confrontations with the
Ottomans and acted nominally as a vassal of the sultan. He stayed out of Ottoman
territory, and focused on consolidating and expanding his power in the Nejd and
Eastern Arabia. The Eastern Province was conquered by 1830, and Oman submitted
by 1833. Bahrain however, rose up in revolt against the Emirate in 1833, forcing Turki
to send his son, Faisal ibn Turki Al Saud, to deal with the insurgents.
The Emirate of Nejd during the rule of Faisal

But after the initial successes, infighting among the Al Saud would continuously
hamper the functioning of the Emirate and eventually lead to its downfall. In 1834,
Turki was assassinated by men in service of his cousin, Mushari ibn Abdul Rahman,
who aspired to be the new Imam of the Emirate. Faisal quickly learned about his
father’s death and returned from his campaign against Bahrain, to confront Mushari.
After a few weeks of conflict, Faisal emerged victorious and had Mushari executed.
But Faisal’s family troubles did not end there, as the Egyptians conspired with rival
kinsmen to undermine his rule. With Egyptian support, Khalid ibn Saud, one of
Faisal’s last grand uncles, took the throne in 1838, and had Faisal taken to Cairo as a
prisoner. Khalid never succeeded in consolidating his power, or gaining local
legitimacy, and his rule in Riyadh relied on Egyptian troops. When those left the Nejd
due to a larger crisis in the Ottoman Empire, Khalid was quickly overthrown by his
cousin, Abdullah ibn Thunayan, in 1841. In the meantime, Faisal had been released by
the Egyptians, and after a three year conflict, he overthrew Ibn Thunayan and
reclaimed the throne in Riyadh. During this conflict, Faisal had to rely on the Al
Rashid from Hail and his alliance with them would continue for the rest of his rule.
When Faisal died in 1865, the Al Saud and Al Rashid were extensively intermarried,
and the Al Rashid would often involve themselves with the internal affairs of the Saudi
emirate.

Before his death, Faisal had divided his dominion between his four sons: Abdullah,
Abdul Rahman, Saud and Muhammad, with Abdullah as heir apparent. Upon his
father’s death, Abdullah succeeded him as ruler of the emirate, but he was soon
challenged by Saud. Faisal had made Saud governor of the Southern Nejd, where he
proved highly successful and developed a strong power base. He quickly grew more
popular than his brother Abdullah, who had shown little skill or success in politics
since he succeeded his father. Muhammad and Abdul Rahman sided with Abdullah,
and together they forced Saud out of Riyadh and the kingdom. Following this initial
defeat, Saud gathered allies in the east and with the support of Oman, Abu Dhabi and
Bahrain, he waged a long civil war with his brothers in which Riyadh switched
ownership several times. After five years, in 1870, Abdullah and his allies were
defeated. Abdullah fled Riyadh, Muhammad and Abdul Rahman were captured, and
Saud had himself proclaimed Imam of the Nejd in 1871.

Saud’s rule would be short lived, as his coronation was immediately followed by a new
rebellion, lead by his uncle, Abdullah ibn Turki. Saud’s reliance on foreign emirates
had alienated the population of Riyadh and Abdullah ibn Turki was able to quickly
take the capital and depose Saud. While Saud lost the throne to his uncle, his brothers
were plotting to reclaim it. With the help of the governor of Baghdad, Abdullah freed
Muhammad and Abdul Rahman from captivity in 1873, and together they moved on
Riyadh to challenge their uncle. But before they even reached Riyadh, Saud had
already reclaimed the throne from his uncle and subsequently banished his brothers
to the outskirts of the emirate. Two years later, Saud would die of smallpox.

Abdul Rahman was the recognized successor after Saud’s death, but in the first year of
his rule he was deposed and succeeded by Abdullah. To end the cycle of fraternal
violence, and for the stability of the emirate, Abdullah, Abdul Rahman and
Muhammad agreed to an alliance. Together they fought against Saud’s sons, who
claimed their father’s throne. In 1887 the sons succeeded in capturing Abdullah,
forcing the Al Saud to once again turn to the Al Rashid for help. With their help,
Muhammad and Abdul Rahman were able to eliminate Saud’s sons in 1887, and free
Abdullah. But the Al Rashid betrayed the brothers and kept Abdullah as their own
prisoner, while forcing Abdul Rahman to serve as their governor in Riyadh, effectively
putting the Saudi emirate under Rashidi control. Abdul Rahman rose up against the
Al Rashid and retook Riyadh for the Al Saud in 1889, in the process also succeeding
his brothers as the undisputed leader of the clan. But by 1891, during the Battle of
Mulayda, the Al Rashid ended the uprising and forced Abdul Rahman and his
household into exile. The Rashidis took full control over Riyadh and the remaining
territories, thus ending the second Saudi state.

The Al Saud Restoration

After they were exiled, Abdul Rahman and his household initially took refuge with the
Al Murrah, a Bedouin tribe in the southern desert of Arabia. Later, the Al Saud moved
to Qatar and stayed there for two months, followed by a short stay in Bahrain.
Eventually they were invited to come and stay in the city state of Kuwait by the ruling
Al Sabah family. Mubarak Al Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait, took the son of Abdul
Rahman, Ibn Saud, under his wing and gave him an education in realpolitik, foreign
policy, the art of war, and on how to survive in the desert. This was combined with a
spartan lifestyle and a stern religious education on the tenets of Wahhabism. At an
early stage in his life, Ibn Saud had two goals instilled in him by his father: to restore
the Saudi dynasty as the one true ruler of Arabia, and to spread Wahhabism across the
Sunni-Islamic world.

Ibn Saud (sitting on the left) and Mubarak Al Sabah (sitting in the middle) in 1910

The education provided by Mubarak would soon repay itself, when the Ottoman
Empire incites the Al Rashid to attack Kuwait in 1900. As a diversionary tactic,
Mubarak sends Ibn Saud on a mission to retake Riyadh. While the attack on Riyadh
would not succeed, it did create enough confusion among the Rashidis for the
Kuwaitis to successfully repel their attack, and it would prove to be the first step on
the path of Ibn Saud to Saudi restoration. After the Kuwaiti-Rashid conflict was over,
Ibn Saud began to organize raiding parties into the Nejd, targeting tribes associated
with the Al Rashid. In 1901, while observing Ramadan in the Yabrin oasis, Ibn Saud
and his raiding party, now known as the Ikhwan, agreed on a second attempt to take
Riyadh. In 1902 he leads 40 men over the city walls, kills the Rashidi governor, and
retakes the city. In celebration, Abdul Rahman proclaims Ibn Saud Governor of
Riyadh and Imam of the Wahhabis.

Arabia in the early 20th century

In response, the Al Rashid appeal to the Ottoman Empire for support, and the
Ottomans send troops into the Nejd to retake Riyadh. After the Ikhwan suffer initial
defeats against the combined Rashidi-Ottoman forces, they regroup and switch to
guerrilla warfare; for two years, the Ikhwan harass the Ottomans, while avoiding open
combat, and attack their vulnerable supply lines. The Ottomans are eventually forced
to retreat out of the Nejd, and the Saudi–Rashid War comes to an end in 1806, with
the Al Rashid forced to submit to Ibn Saud.
In 1913 the Ikhwan also drove the Ottomans out of Eastern Arabia; during the 1870s,
as the descendants of Faisal ibn Turki were fighting for control of Riyadh, the
Ottomans had been expanding their empire along the Arabian Gulf and into Eastern
Arabia. By 1913 however, the domestic situation of the Ottoman Empire had
deteriorated so drastically, they had all but abandoned their administration in these
regions.

Ibn Saud in 1911

During these conquests, the Ikhwan had grown into the most formidable fighting
force in all of Arabia. These fighters were fanatically devoted to Wahhabism and
wished to impose this strict interpretation of Islam wherever they came. Ibn Saud
allowed the Ikhwan to enrich themselves through the plunder of defiant towns, and in
return the they had made him the most powerful man of Arabia. Powerful enough to
attract the attention of the British Empire.

As Ibn Saud was expanding his power in Arabia, the conflicts between the great
empires of the world had escalated into all out war in 1914. The Ottoman Empire had
sided with the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the British,
French and Russian empires. As part of their plot to destroy the Ottoman Empire
from within, the British government had been in contact since 1915 with Husayn ibn
Ali al-Hashimi, the Sharif of Mecca and ruler of the Hijaz. If the Sharif agreed to a
revolt against his Ottoman masters, the British would help him establish a united
Arab kingdom that would stretch from Arabia to Syria, ruled by the Sharif’s
Hashemite clan. With Ibn Saud having emerged as a power that could threaten that of
the Sharif, the British moved quickly to conclude a treaty with him; the 1915 treaty
stipulates that the British recognized Ibn Saud as the legitimate ruler of his territories
and that they would protect Ibn Saud’s territories from external attacks. Furthermore,
Ibn Saud received the sum of £20,000 upon signing the treaty, followed by a monthly
stipend of £5,000, and large caches of weaponry, to be used against the Ottomans. In
exchange, Ibn Saud would not sell territory or enter into agreements with foreign
powers without British consent, nor would he threaten any of the other Gulf states.

But Ibn Saud had no interest in helping the British fight the Ottomans, and he
certainly had no intention of having his territories become part of a future Hashemite
kingdom. As the Hashemites fought against the Ottomans in the Arab Revolt of 1916–
1918, and their forces were stretched thin across a 1,300-kilometer front, Ibn Saud
used British guns and British money to expand his territory westwards. The Hijaz was
vulnerable and Ibn Saud sought to succeed where his ancestors had failed over a
century ago.

The Hashemites VS. the Al Saud

At the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in 1916, Sharif Husayn proclaimed himself ‘King of
the Arab Countries’, making it clear that even Ibn Saud, the great ruler of the Gulf,
would eventually have to bow before him. Mostly thanks to the mediation of the
British, the Hashemites and the Al Saud stayed out of each other’s way during the war
against the Ottomans. But as the Sharif remained focused on the Ottomans, Ibn Saud
was already converting Bedouins in the Hijaz to the Wahhabi cause with weaponry
and money. While this was in itself frustrating enough for the Sharif, the situation
escalated when one of his own governors, Khalid ibn Luway, of the oasis town al-
Khurma, converted to Wahhabism and joined the Saudi cause.
Portrait of Sharif Husayn in 1916

Al-Khurma was strategically located between the territories of the two kings and
Khalid fanatically persecuted the Hashemite tribes that refused to join the Wahhabi
movement. The conflict over al-Khurma was the first time that the rivalry between the
Hashemites and Saudis escalated to violence, with the Sharif sending a force in June
1918 to retake the town. However, the local contingent of Ikhwan fighters decimated
the Hashemite troops. The British were quick to intervene and pressured Ibn Saud to
make peace with Sharif Husayn, at least for until the Ottomans were defeated. Ibn
Saud offered a truce where al-Khurma would remain in Saudi hands, and the tribes of
the Hijaz and the Nejd would not further interfere in each other’s affairs. Sharif
Husayn rejected the offer and sent another force to al-Khurma. This expedition too,
was easily repelled by the Ikhwan. Angered by his multiple defeats against the Saudis,
the Sharif ordered his son, Amir Abdullah, to lead another expedition to al-Khurma.
As Abdullah’s forces were still tied up in a siege against an Ottoman garrison in
Medina, it would take until May 1919 before he took up arms against the Ikhwan. On
his way to al-Khurma, Abdullah captured the oasis town of Turaba, which had also
pledged allegiance to Ibn Saud. To make an example out of it for other rebellious
towns, Abdullah allowed his men to plunder Turaba. The residents of Turaba sent for
help to Ibn Saud and he had dispatched a contingent of Ikhwan fighters to retake the
town. After a short battle, Abdullah’s forces were almost entirely eliminated, with
Abdullah himself barely escaping capture.

This string of defeats against the Saudis caused a period of unrest among the
Hashemites, as they feared the Saudis would soon invade the Hijaz. The British too,
were surprised by the successes of the Saudis and worried that their investments in
the Hashemites might soon have been in vain. Hence, the British resident in Jeddah
ordered Ibn Saud to have his men leave Turaba and al-Khurma, and that
noncompliance would result in the termination of the 1915 Saudi-British Treaty. Not
wanting to risk the anger of the British just yet, Ibn Saud yielded and ordered his
troops back to Riyadh. As for the Hashemites, the British saw in them a convenient
buffer against the growing Saudi state, and from 1921 to 1923 tried to negotiate with
Sharif Husayn for a new treaty. They tried unsuccessfully to convince the Sharif to
accept the new reality where he would only be king of the Hijaz, but at this point the
Sharif felt too betrayed by the British to accept any kind of new treaty with them. He
had watched his dreams of a Hashemite kingdom come to naught as the British
allowed the French to take Syria and throw out Husayn’s son, and the British
established their own mandate over Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. Embittered, Husayn
forfeited all British protection of his remaining territory in the Hijaz.
Mounted Ikhwan warriors

Ibn Saud had been gathering his forces for a final attack against the Hashemites, and
once it became clear the Hijaz could no longer depend on British protection, he knew
the time to strike was now. With the old alliance between the Hashemites and the
British dead, Ibn Saud was free to wage his war against his old rival. In July 1924, he
began his invasion by attacking the mountain town Taif, close to Mecca. The Ikhwan
massacred and plundered for three days, leaving hundreds of residents dead. The
sacking of Taif sent shockwaves through the Hijaz and the local notables pleaded with
the Sharif to step down. They believed the Saudi attack on the Hijaz was due to the
personal animosity between Ibn Saud and Sharif Husayn, and that a change of
leadership might open up new opportunities for peaceful coexistence with the Saudis.
The Sharif complied in October by going into exile, and he was succeeded by his son,
Ali ibn Husayn. But a change in monarchy did not help the Hashemites, and the
Saudis continued to advance on their position: in the same month that Husayn
abdicated, the Ikhwan took Mecca without resistance, followed by laying siege to
Medina and Jeddah in January 1925. Ali managed to hold on to this kingdom for
almost a full year, but in December he surrendered the Hijaz to the Saudis and
followed his father in exile. After more than 20 years’ of fighting, Saudi rule had at last
returned to the Hijaz and in 1926, Ibn Saud had himself crowned ‘Sultan of the Nejd
and King of the Hijaz’. But just as he had bested his foreign adversaries, a new
problem arose from inside his new kingdom.

The Ikhwan, who had carried Ibn Saud from victory to victory for over twenty years,
began to criticize the king for backsliding on Wahhabism; in their view, the king was
too enthusiastic about introducing Western inventions into the kingdom, like the
telegraph, the radio, or the motorcar, which the Ikhwan believed to be the tools of the
devil. Also, Ibn Saud continued to yield to the demands of infidels like the British,
such as when he withdrew his troops from al-Khurma and Turaba. In 1927 they rose
up against their former master and engaged in cross-border raids against Trans-
Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait, which at the time were still under British protection. In
retaliation, the British bombed several locations in the Nejd, forcing Ibn Saud to
publicly denounce the leaders of the Ikhwan revolt in 1928. With the Ikhwan
continuing to defy his rule, Ibn Saud took to the field to personally lead his army
against his former allies, and with the help of British air support, forced the Ikhwan to
surrender in January 1930. The Ikhwan movement was immediately disbanded, but
to avoid antagonizing the bulk of its former warriors, Ibn Saud rehabilitated those that
had remained on the sidelines, by integrating them into the military institutions of the
new kingdom. The rebel leadership and its supporters however, were either locked up
or had their possessions confiscated by the state. With both his foreign and domestic
enemies now eliminated, Ibn Saud continued to further expand his kingdom and
renamed it ‘Saudi Arabia’ in 1932.
Borders of Saudi Arabia in the 21st century

After Victory

Ibn Saud had accomplished what his ancestors could not, found a dynasty that would
rule over the heartlands of Arabia unopposed. He gained powerful allies in the British
Empire, and later the United States of America. These allies would not only protect
him and his descendants from foreign threats, but also help with the discovery and
exploitation of the oil that laid under the kingdom’s surface. This commodity would
provide the Al Saud unimaginable wealth and influence, and would allow them to turn
Saudi Arabia into a modern nation. After his death in 1953, Ibn Saud’s sons would
continue to run the country as absolute monarchs. Now in the 2020s, Saudi Arabia
looks to finally pass on the throne to the next generation, as king Salman is expected
to soon be succeeded by his son, and Ibn Saud’s grandson, Mohammed bin Salman.
King Salman (right) and Mohammed bin Salman (left) in 2019