History of Saudi Arabia

FDR meets Ibn Saud onboard the USS Quincy in February 1945.

The rise of the Saudi clan began in central Arabia in about 1750. A local ruler, Muhammad bin Saud, joined forces with an Islamic reformer, Muhammad Abd Al-Wahhab, to create a new political entity. Over the next 150 years, the fortunes of the Saud family rose and fell several times as Saudi rulers contended with Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and other Arabian families for control on the peninsula.

Wahhabism

Wahhabi fundamentalism originated with Syrian jurist Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–92), but the Ottoman Empire's more moderate leaders sought to curb it. In the early 19th century, alarmed by the increasing influence of Wahhabism in Saudi-controlled Arabia, the Ottoman Empire urged its Egyptian vassal Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849) to mount an armed attack on the movement, which was considered anti-Turkish. Muhammad Ali began operations in 1811, and bitter fighting ensued on and off, with several cease-fires and impermanent peace agreements being tried until Egypt finally seemed to have succeeded (with the help of some Bedouin tribes that also objected to the stern religious views of Wahhabism) in subduing Arabia by 1818. However, Egypt had to concentrate on insurrections at home, and the Saudi Wahhabists eventually recovered their strength in the 1830s. They were confined to Arabia but Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (1876-1953), the founder of modern Saudi Arabia in 1924, was faithful to the Wahhabi sect, as are his hundreds of sons and grandsons who still rule the country. Once they gained oil money they used it to spread the sect. Wahhabism's explosive growth outside Arabia began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques from Pakistan to California.

Modern state

The modern Saudi state was founded by the late King Abdul Aziz Al Saud (known internationally as Ibn Saud). In 1902, Abdul Aziz recaptured Riyadh, the Al Saud dynasty's ancestral capital, from the rival Al-Rashid family. Continuing his conquests, Abdul Aziz subdued Al-Hasa, the rest of Nejd, and the Hijaz between 1913 and 1926. In 1932, these regions were unified as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah Sport City Stadium.

During WW2, Saudi Arabia's King Farouk, officials were Nazi collaborators.

After the war, "King Farouk (and later the man who deposed him Gamal Abdal Nasser) in Egypt was a leading proponent in enticing Nazi war criminals to bring their grisly 'expertise' to help them against their" opponents.

Boundaries with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait were established by a series of treaties negotiated in the 1920s, with two "neutral zones"—one with Iraq and the other with Kuwait—created. The Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone was administratively partitioned in 1971, with each state continuing to share the petroleum resources of the former zone equally. Tentative agreement on the partition of the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone was reached in 1981, and partition was finalized by 1983. The country's southern boundary with Yemen was partially defined by the 1934 Treaty of Taif, which ended a brief border war between the two states. A June 2000 treaty further delineated portions of the boundary with Yemen. The location and status of Saudi Arabia's boundary with the United Arab Emirates is not final; a de facto boundary reflects a 1974 agreement. The border between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was resolved in March 2001. The border with Oman also is not demarcated.

Saudi Arabia signed the UN Charter in 1945. The country plays a prominent and constructive role in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and Arab and Islamic financial and development assistance institutions. One of the largest aid donors in the world, it still gives some aid to a number of Arab, African, and Asian countries. Jeddah is the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its subsidiary organization, the Islamic Development Bank, founded in 1969.

King Abdul Aziz died in 1953 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Saud, who reigned for 11 years. In 1964, Saud abdicated in favor of his half-brother, Faisal, who had served as Foreign Minister. Because of fiscal difficulties, King Saud had been persuaded in 1958 to delegate direct conduct of Saudi government affairs to Faisal as Prime Minister; Saud briefly regained control of the government in 1960-62. In October 1962, Faisal outlined a broad reform program, stressing economic development. Proclaimed King in 1964 by senior royal family members and religious leaders, Faisal also continued to serve as Prime Minister. This practice has been followed by subsequent kings.

The mid-1960s saw external pressures generated by Saudi-Egyptian differences over Yemen. When civil war broke out in 1962 between Yemeni royalists and republicans, Egyptian forces entered Yemen to support the new republican government, while Saudi Arabia backed the royalists. Tensions subsided only after 1967, when Egypt withdrew its troops from Yemen.

Saudi Arabia road map.

Saudi forces did not participate in the Six-Day (Arab-Israeli) War of June 1967, but the government later provided annual subsidies to Egypt, Jordan, and Syria to support their economies. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Saudi Arabia participated in the post-war Arab oil boycott of the United States and Netherlands. A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Saudi Arabia had joined other member countries in moderate oil price increases beginning in 1971. After the 1973 war, the price of oil rose substantially, dramatically increasing Saudi Arabia's wealth and political influence.

In 1975, King Faisal was assassinated by a nephew, who was executed after an extensive investigation concluded that he acted alone. Faisal was succeeded by his half-brother Khalid as King and Prime Minister; their half-brother Prince Fahd was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. King Khalid empowered Crown Prince Fahd to oversee many aspects of the government's international and domestic affairs. Economic development continued rapidly under King Khalid, and the kingdom assumed a more influential role in regional politics and international economic and financial matters.

In June 1982, King Khalid died, and Fahd became King and Prime Minister in a smooth transition. Another half-brother, Prince Abdullah, Commander of the Saudi National Guard, was named Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister. King Fahd's brother, Prince Sultan, the Minister of Defense and Aviation, became Second Deputy Prime Minister. Under King Fahd, the Saudi economy adjusted to sharply lower oil revenues resulting from declining global oil prices. Saudi Arabia supported neutral shipping in the Gulf during periods of the Iran-Iraq war and aided Iraq's war-strained economy. King Fahd played a major part in bringing about the August 1988 cease-fire between Iraq and Iran and in organizing and strengthening the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of six Arabian Gulf states dedicated to fostering regional economic cooperation and peaceful development.

The late King Abdullah with Dick Cheney, George H.W. Bush, and Colin Powell, 2005.

In 1990-91, King Fahd played a key role before and during the Gulf war. King Fahd's action also consolidated the coalition of forces against Iraq and helped define the tone of the operation as a multilateral effort to reestablish the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kuwait. Acting as a rallying point and personal spokesman for the coalition, King Fahd helped bring together his nation's GCC allies, Western allies, and Arab allies, as well as nonaligned nations from Africa and the emerging democracies of eastern Europe. He used his influence as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to persuade other Arab and Islamic nations to join the coalition.

King Fahd suffered a stroke in November 1995. From 1997, Crown Prince Abdullah took on much of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the government. Upon King Fahd's death on August 1, 2005, Abdullah assumed the throne as King. Prince Sultan, Minister of Defense and Aviation, became Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister.

In January 2015, King Abdullah died at the age of 90. His half-brother Prince Salman was appointed as successor.

Attack on the Grand Mosque, 1979

The Grand Mosque in Mecca (home of the Kaaba) was briefly taken over for a period of weeks by an obscure group led by a poorly educated Bedouin named Juhayman whose theology was an early manifestation of modern violent Salafism. These believers did not embrace many aspects of modern society. They opposed identity cards and passports because these denote loyalty to an entity other than Allah. They were against images of living beings, not only on television and in photography but also on coins. The only previous violent encounter was when a group of young activists were caught smashing shop display windows showing female mannequins in the center of Medina in 1965. They had peculiar views on ritual practices setting them apart from other religious communities and the religious establishment.

The incident revealed the Saudi state was thoroughly unprepared to deal with a challenge to its legitimacy from conservative religious believers. After three days of fruitless negotiations, the Saudis turned to external, non-Islamic "crusader" forces to dislodge the jihadis. Non-Muslims are not allowed within the city of Mecca, and bloodshed on the grounds of the temple is considered virtually an unpardonable sin; yet the Saudi state and its reigning religious establishment deputized, through a fatwa, the French Special Operations Forces to retake the mosque.

Official reports say that 255 fanatics, troops and pilgrims were killed, while 560 were injured. The rebels who survived were imprisoned or beheaded, with reports claiming 63 beheadings.

The respected imam Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, who abhorred violence, condemned Juhayman's attack; however, one of his students, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, fell under the influence of Juhayman's thought. In coming years Maqdisi further developed the idea that the ruling Saudi clan were apostate Muslim infidels along with a rejection of the very idea of a nation state.

The year 1979 is also cited as the point in time when a member of the wealthy bin Laden clan (who made their fortune building stuff) began to develop his political ideology and one central piece of said ideology is the "humiliation" of French forces having to bail out the "Muslim" Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden later went to Afghanistan to throw out another bunch of "infidels" from "Muslim land" and the Taliban regime his ilk helped establish gave him shelter and a safe haven, even though he was a wanted terrorist.

1987 Mecca massacre

In 1987, more than four hundred persons, mostly Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims and about 85 Saudis and security personnel, were killed during a demonstration against the "Enemies of Islam" (basically, the United States and Israel) in front of the Grand Mosque. Iranian hajj pilgrims traditionally make up the largest single contingent from any single country. Details about the incident and causes remain murky, with the official Saudi version contradicted by Iran's own investigation.

Shock over violence just outside the Grand Mosque again sparked a debate across the Muslim world about the Saudis' dual role as American ally and Custodian of the Islamic Holy Places. Ayatollah Khomeini condemned the "vile and ungodly Wahhabis" as "lackeys of the United States” and called for the overthrow of the House of Saud. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) formed a group known as Hezbollah al-Hejaz, more commonly known as Saudi Hezbollah, for this purpose.

It was in this atmosphere of anti-Saudi and anti-U.S. sentiment throughout the Muslim world that Saddam Hussein made his calculated gamble to challenge Saudi Arabia and the United States over Kuwait in 1990.

1991 Gulf war

See also: 1991 Persian Gulf war

In 1990-91, Saudi Arabia played an important role in the Gulf War, developing new allies and improving existing relationships between Saudi Arabia and some other countries. Saudi Arabia provided water, food, shelter, and fuel for coalition forces in the region. Saudi Arabia's combined costs in payments, foregone revenues, and donated supplies were $55 billion. More than $15 billion went toward reimbursing the United States alone. However, there were also diplomatic and financial costs. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya deteriorated. Each country had remained silent following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait but called for an end to the violence once the deployment of coalition troops began. Relations between these countries and Saudi Arabia have returned to their pre-war status. Saudi Arabia's relations with those countries which expressed support for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait—Yemen, Jordan, and Sudan—were severely strained during and immediately after the war. For example, several hundred thousand Yemenis were expelled from Saudi Arabia after the Government of Yemen announced its position, thus exacerbating an existing border dispute. Saudi-Yemeni relations, especially in the wake of the 1994 Yemeni civil war, remained fragile and of significant concern to the Saudi Government. Relations have slowly warmed over time, and the Yemeni-Saudi border was finally demarcated in 2000. The Palestine Liberation Organization's support for Iraq cost it financial aid as well as good relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Recently, though, Saudi Arabia's relations with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have improved, with the Saudi Government providing assistance for the Palestinian Authority.

As it had during the 1990-91 Gulf War, Saudi Arabia provided important support to Coalition efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2006, Saudi Arabia hosted a conference to promote sectarian reconciliation within Iraq, and pledged substantial debt relief to aid the elected government. Saudi Arabia is an important player in promoting stability and security in the Gulf region, and has provided critical reconstruction support to Lebanon following the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Saudi Arabia has also taken a more prominent leadership role within the Organization of the Islamic Conference. In addition to promoting its Arab Peace initiative in 2007, in February it brokered an agreement between Palestinian factions known as the "Mecca Agreement," and in May 2007 King Abdullah brokered a reconciliation agreement between Chad and Sudan.