Abdullah Bin Saud - Fall of The First Saudi State

Fall of The First Saudi State

He succeeded his father – Saud. Saud had initiated a war with the Ottoman Empire with the capture of Makkah and Madinah. Because of his father's conquest, Abdullah immediately had to face an invasion of his domains by an Ottoman-Egyptian army under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Muhammad Ali. The Ottoman forces began their campaign by quickly recapturing Makkah and Madinah. Heavily outnumbered and under-equipped, the Saudi forces retreated to their stronghold of Najd.

Rather than engage the invaders in open battle, Abdullah decided to attempt to weather the invasion by fortifying his forces in the Najd towns. As a result, Ibrahim took the villages of Najd one by one, sacking any town that resisted. Ibrahim finally reached the Saudi capital at Diriyah. After a siege that lasted several months, Abdullah finally surrendered in the winter of 1818, marking the end of the Saudi state. Ibrahim systematically razed Diriyah to the ground and sent many members of the Al Saud clan into captivity in Egypt and Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire. Abdullah himself was promptly executed in Istanbul at the order of the Ottoman Sultan.