The Birth of Saudi Arabia: Britain and the Rise of the House of Sa''ud

310 Pages·1976·5.73 MB·English

by  Troeller

T The Birth of Saudi Arabia
H
E
B Britain and the Rise of the House of
I
R
Sa’ud
T
H
O
F
S
A
U
D
I
A
R
A
B
I
A
G Gary Troeller
a
r
y
T
r
o
e
l
l
e
r
ISBN 978-1–31503466-9
,!7IB3B5-adeggj!
www.routledge.com
an informa business
The Birth of Saudi Arabia
Page Intentionally Left Blank
THE BIRTH OF
SAUDI ARABIA
Britain and the Rise of the
House of Sa'ud
GARY TROELLER
Senior Anaryst, Batelle Institute, Frankfurt
~~ ~~o~;~~n~~:up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1976 in Great Britain and in the United States of America by
FRANK CASS & CO. LT O
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
ISBN 978-0-714-63062-5
ISBN 978-1-315-03466-9 (eiSBN)
Copyright © 1976 G. Troeller
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro
duced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
For
My Parents and Charles Crawley
and Professors Hinsley and Malone
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Contents
Preface ix
Notes on Documentation and Transliteration xiii
Abbreviations xiv
Introduction xv
Chapter I: Perspective 1
Anglo-W ahhabi relations in the nineteenth century
and the rise of ibn Sa'ud
Chapter II: The Pre-War Era: 1910 to 1914 34
The first encounter-The seizure of }Jasa: ibn
Sa'ud reaches the coast
Chapter III: Anglo-Sa'udi Reladons during the
First World War 73
Ibn Sa'ud and Husain: a comparison in impor
tance-The Anglo-Sa'udi Treaty-Summary-
The Sa'udi wartime role: 1916 to 1918-The
Great Durbar at Kuwait-The mission to ibn Sa' ud
Chapter IV: The K.hurma and Turaba Dispute 127
The lkhwan-Khurma-Turaba
Chapter V: Bridsh Policy 1920 to 1922: Subsidies
and Fronders 159
A question ofs ubsidies-The end of Rashidi rule-
The Najdi-Kuwaiti border dispute-The Najdi-
Iraqi dispute
Chapter VI: Ccmflict ia the Wadi Sirhan and the
Kuwait Conference: 1922 to 1924 189
Jauf, Qaf and the Wadi Sirhan-Channel of
communication-The Kuwait Conference
viii THE BIB.TH OF SA'UDI ARABIA
Chapter VII: The Wahhabi Capture of the Hedjaz
and the Cou.clusioa of the lladcla aad Bahra
Agreements 216
The Invasion of the Hedjaz-Clayton's mission-
The Wahhabi victory
Posuarlpt 236
Conclusion 243
Appendices
I Abbreviated Genealogy of the AI Sa'ud 247
II The Turko-Sa'udi Treaty of 1914 248
III (Part 1) A Comparison of the Drafts of the Anglo-
Sa'udi Treaty of 1915 250
(Part 2) Ang1o-Sa'udi Treaty of 1915 254
Bibliography 257
Index 271
Maps
1 Map of Arabia circa 1925 268
2 Tribal Map of Arabia 269
Preface
Today the name Sa'udi Arabia evokes images of desert wastes,
limitless reservoirs of oil and economic might. When one thinks
of the predominant foreign power concerned with the desert
kingdom, one thinks of the United States. Forty yean; ago, oil
had yet to be discovered, ibn Sa' ud had just unified the greater
part of the Arabian Peninsula and Great Britain exercised para
mount influence at the Sa' udi Court. This book deals with the
drama of the immediate pre-oil era and sets the stage for the
Sa'udi Arabia of today.
The following pages examine in detail the unification of
Arabia and British policy towards ibn Sa'ud during the early
twentieth century when he laid the foundations of present-day
Sa 'udi Arabia. It would be impossible to tell the story of the rise
of ibn Sa'ud and exclude British dealings with him. During the
period under consideration, and indeed throughout the nine
teenth century owing to her predominant position in the Persian
Gulf, Britain was the only Great Power to have regular dealings
with the House of Sa' ud. The British have left behind an exten
sive record of Sa'udi history. The Sa'udis have not. There can
be little doubt that British archival material is, and most prob
ably will remain, the most important source for this period.
Although dealing with ibn Sa 'ud from the British vantage point,
the writer hopes that his five years' residence in the Middle
East, which almost equals the period of time spent in England
preparing this book has enabled him to write with some degree
of imaginative understanding about ibn Sa'ud. It should be
J.
noted in passing that H. St B. Philby, who has written
exhaustively on the history of the Sa' udis using indigenous
historical material, has pointed out the dearth of such sources,
or even other reputable Arabic sources dealing with the AI Sa' ud
in the twentieth century. Dr Derek Hopwood of St Antony's
College, Oxford has expressed the same opinion in the introduc
tion to his recent book, The Arabian Peninsula. As to general