Ottoman-Saudi War
| date | 1811 to 1818 |
|---|---|
| place | present-day Saudi Arabia |
| Casus Belli | The Saudis captured several areas of the Arabian Peninsula and the Hejaz . |
| output | Victory of the Ottoman army, devastating defeat for the Saudi troops |
| consequences | Destruction and dissolution of the first Saudi state, destruction of Diriyya and other Saudi cities, execution of Abdallah I ibn Saud and deportation of several members of the Saud dynasty. |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
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| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 50,000 | approx. 20,000 |
| losses | |
|
2,000 dead and 1,000 injured soldiers |
11,000 dead soldiers, 1,000 injured soldiers |
The Ottoman-Saudi War (also known as the Early Arab Revolt ) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire under Mahmud II and an alliance of Bedouin tribes in what is now Saudi Arabia, led by Saud I ibn Abd al-Aziz , from 1814 by his son Abdallah I ibn Saud .
trigger
Muhammad ibn Saud of the Saud dynasty made an alliance in 1744 with Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb , the founder of the Wahhabis . Ibn Saud promised to enforce the Wahhabi interpretation of the Koran and Sunna as the only valid one in his future empire , while ibn Abd al-Wahhab assured him to religiously legitimize the Saudi ruler's claim to power. Due to this connection, which still exists today, between the spread of Islam from a Wahhabi perspective and the power interests of the Saud family, tribes from the highlands of Najd began to subjugate the Bedouin tribes and soon after moved towards the outskirts of the Arabian Peninsula. After a campaign against Karbala , where they killed thousands of residents in 1802 and looted the Imam Husain shrine , in 1803 they conquered the cities of Mecca and Medina, which were under the protection of the Ottoman Empire .
The Ottoman Empire, which was in the midst of a period of upheaval and was busy with wars against Europe and Russia, reacted only late. The Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II wanted to restrict the new power in central Arabia and five years later gave his Egyptian governor Muhammad Ali Pasha the order to carry out a campaign against the Saudis. The commander of the Egyptian army from 1816 was Ibrahim Pasha , the son of Muhammad Ali Pasha.
Course of war
The Ottomans had recaptured Medina and Mecca in 1812 and 1813 and were preparing for a campaign in the Najd, for which Serratkuli were mobilized.
However, the Ottoman troops from Egypt (20,000 men) had major supply problems that could only be resolved after Muhammad Ali Pasha took command in Arabia. In January 1815, Muhammad Ali succeeded in inflicting a heavy defeat on the Saudis under Faisal between Turaba and Kulakh in Naschd. Before that, the Ottoman army had already won six battles. The conquest of Diriyya , the then capital of the Saudi Empire, was initially prevented because Muhammad Ali was distracted by unrest among the Mamlukes in Egypt and concluded a peace treaty with Abdallah I.
In 1817, Muhammad Ali let the war continue through his stepson Ibrahim Pascha, who already succeeded in May over Abdallah I. In March 1818, the Ottoman troops under Ibrahim reached Diriyya and, after very fierce fighting and six months of siege with heavy artillery , forced the city to surrender in September. Abdallah I ibn Saud was captured by the Egyptians and extradited to the Ottomans. On December 17, 1818, he was executed in Istanbul by beheading with a sword. Before that, he was sentenced to death by a court of “corruption on earth”, “division of Muslims” and “rebellion against the caliph ”. Much of the Saudi clan was deported by Ibrahim to Cairo and Istanbul. In the following year Diriyya was completely destroyed by the Ottoman army. The ruinous districts of al-Turaif and Ghasiba are now a destination for local tourists in Saudi Arabia.
literature
- Cem Yayinları: (Türkiye Tarihi 3) Osmanlı Devleti 1600–1908 . Istanbul 2000, ISBN 975-406-565-9 .