westernviews.com
Modern Saudi diplomatic history is delineated by three major milestones: the collapse of the second Saudi state in 1891 and the subsequent Saudi exile in Kuwait; the Saudi return to Riyadh in 1902, initiating Ibn Saud’s efforts to devise a strategy for obtaining independence from the Ottomans; and the final disappearance of the Ottomans from Arabia in 1918, allowing the emergence of the Hashemite family of the Hejaz as the major adversary of the house of Saud. In a broader sense, these events marked the evolution of the Saudi state from a small entity living under the shadow of the sultan to an independent state completely and finally relieved of the historical threat posed by the Ottoman Empire. The framework for this narrative, as well as the basis for the analysis, is provided by the trilateral system of relations between Ibn Saud, the Ottomans, and the British. In this sense the study sheds light on the international relations of the early twentieth century and on the process that precipitated the disintegration of the ottoman Empire in its Arab territories.
Ibn Saud’s political sophistication was evidenced by his maintenance of a delicate balance of power with the British and the Ottomans, his masterly use of the carrot-and-stick approach, and his ability to separate temporal, diplomatic questions from the traditionally pervasive religious Wahhabi framework. No attempt is made here, however, to account for or analyze the internal developments of the Saudi community in the early twentieth century, such as the position of Wahhabism and the Ikhwan organization in Saudi society or the significance of the division of authority between Ibn Saud and his father, ‘Abd al-Rahman, whereby the son assumed political leadership while the father remained the Imam of the community. In fact, because of the inaccessibility of the Saudi archives and the paucity of available material, such a study can probably not be conducted. Nevertheless, internal factors are treated if they elucidated or had an impact on Ibn Saud’s foreign policy.
To appreciate the full scope and magnitude of the twentieth century shift in saudi policies requires an understanding of the origins and evolution of the Wahhabi-Saudi alliance. That alliance, which was concluded in 1745 between the Saudi family and the founder of the Wahhabi ideology, led to the creation of the first Saudi state and thus shaped the modern history of Arabia. The eighteenth and nineteenth-century Saudi states constitute the basis from which ibn Saud’s policies in the twentieth century diverged.
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isidore-of-seville.com
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pbs.org
----http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm |
