Abdulaziz ibn Saud
Took Riyadh in 1902 with a few dozen men, conquered the Hijaz in 1925 and founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Oil was found in 1938, and every king since has been one of his sons.
At a glance
- Lived
- c. 1875 to 1953
- Role
- Modern era
- Dynasty
- Kings of Saudi Arabia
- Era
- The end of the caliphate; Nation states and modern wars
- Chapter
- 7. The Modern Muslim World
Abdulaziz ibn Saud's world
1923: The end of the caliphate
The Ottomans entered the First World War on Germany's side and lost. Britain and France divided the Arab lands under the Sykes-Picot agreement and the mandates that followed, and British troops entered Jerusalem in December 1917. In Anatolia, Mustafa Kemal won the war of independence and declared a republic in October 1923.
2026: Nation states and modern wars
Most Muslim lands won independence between the 1920s and the 1960s. Since then the region has seen more war than almost anywhere else: Israel's wars with its neighbours, two Afghan wars, the Iran Iraq war, American wars in Iraq, civil wars in Syria and Yemen, and in 2026 a war on Iran.
People of the same era
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