Saudi Arabia is a monarchy Kingdom with at its head the Royal family and the Wahhabi guardians as the religion has an important place. The throne has been given since 1932 in the Saud family and has
been pass from brother to brother since 1953
The creation of Saudi Arabia
100 years ago Saudi Arabia was populated of non united nomads, sheiks and emirs . Among them, there was the family of Sheik Saoud. King Abdelaziz ben Abderrahmane Al Saoud (Known as ibn Saud) with only 60 men at his side started his quest for his kingdom. To conquer the territory, he count on the help of fighters named the El Ikhwan " Muslim brotherhood" A group of very strict Muslims who succeeded in 1926 to grab Mecca. El Ikhwan wanted to expend the territory but the king didn’t accept which leaded to a rebellion. Ibn Saud knew he couldn’t just fight back because they were Muslim so he needed the approval of Ulama (guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam) who affirmed that "EL Ikwnan" were wrong allowing the king to crush them. In 1932 Sheik Abdelaziz declared himself king and gave his name to the country and to unify it,he married a daughter of each tribe and had got 45 sons.
The discovery of oil
In 1931 while looking for water in the desert, oil was founded although that people tough it is not possible to find oil in Saudi Arabia ( In fact they have the biggest resource of oil). Both British and Americans wanted a concession but America proposed more money. As King Abdelaziz feared an invasion from neighboring countries(Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan) , he agreed to provide America with a regular and cheap supply of oil in exchange of protection. This was the beginning of the American influence on the kingdom.
King Saoud reign
Prince Saoud ben Abdelaziz Al Saoud succeeded to his father in 1953. He loved luxury and admired the American lifestyle and used to visit frequently the American compound (installed for the Americans working in the oil industry). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lost a lot their fortune on luxuries and had to borrow some. King Saud also had a hidden problem with alcohol.
At this time Nasser (the president of Egypt) become more popular and his ideology scared the kingdom (and America as Egypt was supported by the Soviet Union). In fact Nasser believed in Pan Arabism namely the extension of an Arab nation with the idea of Secularism and Socialism whereas Saudi Arabia was based on the idea of Wahhabism which is Muslim movement founded by Abdul Wahhab known for its strict observance of the Koran and flourishing mainly in Arabia. Nasser also declared the Saudi oil should be all Arab's oil. Saoud was the first king to go to the United States to discuss about political issue which was the extension of an army air base in exchange of an amount of money that Saoud spent half of it on himself. His family became worried that a civil war would explose due to his extravagance. All his brothers went in 1964 to the religious Uluma chief that made a fatwa and decided to abdicate King Saoud to his brother King Fayçal ben Abdelaziz Al Saoud. Saoud was then exiled to Greece till his death.
King Fayçal and the oil crisis
He was a wise King loved by his people. He knew that the country was in need to develop itself but for Saudi people, modernization means westernization and were against it. In 1960 he created schools for girls which made a polemic about what was allowed by the religion and culture. When televisions and broadcast were introduced in the kingdom, people attacked the American camp. In 1973 took place the Kippur war where Arabs attacked Israel with Soviet weapon however Israel fought back with the American supplies given to Israel in the contest of the cold war. It was for the Arabs the second treason made by the United States as the first one was during The beginning of The Israeli-Palestinian conflict between Saudi Arabia and the United States when Roosevelt promised the king that no action would be taken which might prove hostile to the Arab people whereas America signed the Partition plan in 1947. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to stop extracting oil and ordered the closing of the petroleum pump. This lead to the first oil crisis with an impressive impact on the price of oil which grew up 4 times than normal price .Oil had become no only a simple value of exchange but a weapon. Americans considered a military intervention to take control of the oil however this never took place. After a long period of negotiations the boycott was over in 1974. A year after the king was assassinated by one of his nephew who wanted to get revenge for his brother's death. This one attacked a radio station and was killed by one of the body guards. It was a huge shock as the murder was one of the high bound family members.
Khaled ben Abdelaziz Al Saoud reign
Under King Khaled reign, the country developed itself quickly. With only 6 million inhabitants, they needed the help of foreigners to build the country. The Saudi population didn’t work itself but employed expats to do the work. The country also invited radical Muslim to teach their youth, coming from other countries as Egypt for example. During this period of time (from 1975) there was a lot of corruption and the Ben Laden family was becoming more powerful. Khaled feared of becoming overthrown as happened during the revolution in Iran in 1979 (which was another country backed by the United States with a lot of corruption in the royal family). The seizure of the grand Mosque of Mecca by extremist insurgents calling for the overthrow of the house of Saud in 1978 was a warning for the Royal family to stop the westernization. It was like a wake-up call for them. The Saudi people wanted to go back in time to a pure world with an Islam that wasn’t threaten by the west i.e without televisions, cars, schools, university… They started the Jihad by sending Saudi youth to battlefield in Afghanistan (with the soviet invasion) and Bosnia to support Muslim during their battles. They offered their charity to support Muslims fighters around the word. They offered military skills and guerilla. In 1982, King Khaled died due to a heart attack.
Fahd ben Abdelaziz Al Saoud and the start of terrorism
King Fahd was the fifth king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 1990, Saddam Hussein (Iraq) invaded Kuwait. During the first days of the invasion, Oussama Ben Laden offered his services to the royal family but they declined his offer as they preferred to protect the Holy Land than being implicated in the Iraq-Kuwait war. Saudi Arabia faced a problem which was how to allow hundreds of thousands of American military in their lands which was contrary to their conservative culture. Therefore the king had to ask for a fatwa allowing the presence of the American military. Also when came the question of money as Americans pocket more money that needed. The American presence also had other influence as in 1985, women protested to have the right to drive but were arrested and prohibited of driving. The 13 November 1986 a bomb exploded in Riyadh and killed 5 Americans. The guilty who were arrested declared they were inspired by Oussama Ben Laden. Ben Laden wanted to overthrow the kingdom and the Americans as they supported this regime. In 1986 another bombing attack took place and killed 19 Americans. Media had a huge impact on Saudi at this period as they learn through it what other countries thought of them. Moreover they get aware of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict with the different image shown by CNN and Al Jazeera and It lead to the beginning of the hate against the Americans.
