History of Saudi Arabia


Learn about this topic in these articles:


major treatment

This discussion focuses on Saudi Arabia since the 18th century.


Protests flared again in March, with clashes between protesters and riot police causing disruptions in Manama. On March 14 a Gulf Cooperation Council security force of about 1,500 soldiers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered the country via the King Fahd Causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The Bahraini government announced that it had invited the force to preserve...



Islamic revival and reform

In countries that did not practice electoral politics, movements of opposition devised other means of protest and participation. In Saudi Arabia in 1992 a “Memorandum of Advice” was signed by more than 100 ulama and Islamists and was sent to Sheikh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz, the head of the Board of Senior Ulama and grand mufti of the state, to be passed on to the...

Israel and Palestine

...for a variety of reasons. First, the Arabs themselves were seriously divided. Egypt, the most populous Arab state, had no desire to disturb its peace with Israel dating from the Camp David Accords. Saudi Arabia and the other wealthy oil states were preoccupied with the Persian Gulf crisis and nervous about the presence in their countries of thousands of Palestinian guest workers. Syria’s...




...the European Community (now the European Union). The vehement anti-Iraqi feelings harboured by virtually all Kuwaitis, in conjunction with diplomatic efforts by the Kuwaiti government-in-exile in Saudi Arabia, did not stop Iraq from harshly imposing its rule on Kuwait.



Persian Gulf War


Syrian Civil War

With no decisive outcome in sight, the international allies of the Syrian government and the rebels stepped up their support, raising the prospect of a regional proxy war. Efforts by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to fund and arm rebels became increasingly public in late 2012 and early 2013, while the Syrian government continued to receive weapons from Iran and the Lebanese militant group...

Taliban recognition


Wahhābī movement

...destroyed at the end of the 19th century by the Rashīdīyah of northern Arabia. The activities of Ibn Saʿūd in the 20th century eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and assured the Wahhābī religious and political dominance on the Arabian Peninsula.
Ibn Saʿūd’s zealous Wahhābī followers, arriving in the more cosmopolitan atmosphere of Hejaz society, were now exposed to the world of Islam at large. Ibn Saʿūd managed the resulting problems with firmness and tact. He had furthermore to enforce his rule over the tribes impatient with centralized government. His tough action with them won, and he set out to...


history of Saudi Arabia
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