UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 8:
The Story of Saudi Arabia
Al-Saud makes a comeback
The Ottoman attacks of the early 1800s dealt tremendous blows to the House of Saud. First the Saudis lost Mecca and Medina. Then their home base of Dariya was burned, and the leader of the dynasty was captured and beheaded. This seemed to be the end of the Saudi chapter in history. But the Saudis would make a dramatic comeback.
In 1824, Abdullah’s son Turki led a Wahhabi army against Dariya, which was now an Ottoman city. Turki ruthlessly pillaged and burned Dariya---just as the Ottomans themselves had done a decade earlier. Dariya was so thoroughly devastated that Turki decided it was not worth rebuilding. So he established his new capital in the sparsely populated village of Riyadh.
Internal violence and the final Ottoman counterattack
Violence erupted within the House of Saud when a relative killed Turki in an attempt to usurp the throne. But Turki’s son, Faisal, killed the relative who had killed his father.
In 1838 an army of the Ottoman Empire swept over the area again. The Ottomans captured Faisal, but he was luckier than his grandfather had been. The sultan spared his life. Then Faisal got another lucky break: the Ottoman Empire was now in decline, and Istanbul’s shrinking resources forced the sultan’s forces to withdraw from the area. Faisal returned to power in 1843.
Faisal ruled for more than 20 years. When he died in 1865, he left behind a prosperous and militarily strong Saudi empire that covered a significant portion of the Arabian Peninsula.
More infighting and exile in Kuwait
Family feuds proved to be a persistent problem for the House of Saud in its early days. After Faisal died, his three sons---Saud, Abdullah, and Abdel Rahman---could not agree on the terms of the succession. So they set their private armies against each other, resulting in chaos and widespread bloodshed.
The fighting also weakened the central government, giving local tribal leaders a chance to assert themselves. One of Faisal’s regional governors, Mohammed ibn Rashid, emerged as the dominant political and military force in the vacuum left by the faltering House of Saud.
Faisal’s son Abdel Rahman finally bested his brothers in the battle for succession, but it made little difference. Rashid was now in control. Rashid offered Abdel Rahman a consolation prize of sorts: the governorship of Riyadh. Abdel Rahman accepted the offer and appeared to go along with the arrangement; but he was biding his time. In 1891 he staged a failed insurrection against Rashid, and was forced to flee with his family to Kuwait.
Abdel Rahman’s son, Abdul Aziz, was only fifteen years old when the family fled to Kuwait; but he shared his father’s anger and shame over the humiliating exile. In about ten years, the young man Abdul Aziz would avenge the House of Saud, and lay the foundations for the modern nation of Saudi Arabia.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
