The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed the disintegration of previous local emirates in Arabia and the rise of ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥman Al Saʿud, known as Ibn Saʿud. This chapter describes the military campaigns of Ibn Saʿud that led to the revival of Saʿudi authority as a background to examining the role of two important actors, namely the muṭawwaʿa, religious specialists, and the ikhwan, tribal military force. The former were active agents in state building; they were also a pre-existing force ready to be mobilised in the service of the state. In contrast, the ikhwan were a crucial military force created as a result of the muṭawwaʿa's efforts for the purpose of Saʿudi expansion.

This expansion took place at a time when Arabia was gradually being drawn into the British sphere of influence after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. By 1900, most of the coastal rulers of the peninsula from Kuwait to Muscat had already signed protection treaties with Britain. However, Britain refused to extend its protection to rulers in the interior until the outbreak of the First World War. The war was a pretext that allowed Britain greater intervention in the interior, which strengthened Saʿudi efforts at state building.

THE CAPTURE OF RIYADH (1902)

As has already been mentioned, Riyadh in 1900 was under the authority of the Rashidi amirs whose domain at the time included most of central Arabia.