British Policy towards the Saudi Emirate during World War I (WWI): 1914-1918
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v51i5.3154Keywords:
Britain, the House of Saud, World War I, DareenAbstract
Objectives: The paper investigates British policy towards the House of Saud during World War I (WWI), specifically towards the first Saudi emirate, shedding light on Britain’s position on the emerging emirate and the extent to which the establishment of this emirate is consistent with Britain’s interests in the peninsula and its rights to protect the emirates of the Arabian Gulf.
Methods: The analytical descriptive approach is adopted in reviewing the events of the study period and identifying the most significant interactions shaping the history of the region by analyzing the information included in the records of the Egypt and India offices and comparing them with what is mentioned in the foreign sources addressing the study subject.
Results: The study results indicate that the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of Germany led to Britain’s forsaking its policy of reservation and neutrality towards the Ottoman Empire and throwing all its weight into an alliance with Ibn Saud against the Ottoman Empire. It is also found that Ibn Saud has financially, politically, and militarily benefited from the alliance with Britain, as this great support helped in expanding his influence in the Arabian Peninsula during and after World War I, especially at the expense of the Rashids and the Hashemites. Besides, the results showed the ability of Britain during this alliance to maintain the security of the Gulf, the Emirates, and the Gulf sheikhdoms, and secure their main ally, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, along with getting Ibn Saud involved with its opponents such as the Rashids and the Ottoman Empire. The results also demonstrated Britain's success, with its alliance with Ibn Saud, in imposing balances guaranteeing its interests in the region to the extent that ensured striking its opponents during and after World War I.
Conclusions: The study recommends reconsidering the political and cultural history of the Arab region in light of the availability of new information attained by new sources tackling the history of the Arab region and emphasizing the significance of the study subject in revealing a significant part of the region’s history in light of the discovery of new sources exploring the said subject.
Downloads
References
Barker, A. J. (1967). The neglected war: Mesopotamia 1914-1918. London.
Black, C. E. & Helmreich, E. C. (1963). Twentieth century Europe. New York.
Busch, Briton Cooper. (1971). Britain, India, and the Arabs 1914-1921. U.S.A.
Clayton, G. (1969). An Arabian diary. Los Angeles.
Dickson, H. R. P. (1956). Kuwait and her neighbors. London.
Holden, D. (1987). The House of Saud. London.
Howarth, D. (1964). The desert king: Ibn Saud and Arabia. London.
Hurewitz, J. C. (1972). Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East: A documentary record 1535-1956. New York.
Marlowe, J. (1962). The Arabian Gulf in the twentieth century. London.
Silverfarb, D. (1980). The Anglo-Nad treaty of December 1915. Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 16(1), January.
Tuson, P. (1991). Records of Qatar: Primary documents 1820-1860. London.
van der Meulen, D. (1957). The wells of Ibn Sa’ud. London.
Weaver, D. (1957). Arabian destiny. London.
Wilson, A. T. (1930). Loyalties: Mesopotamia 1914-1917. Oxford.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2023-12-12
Published 2024-08-27
