The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign, through which the various tribes, sheikhs, city-states, and kingdoms of most of the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of the Saud, or Al Saud, between 1902 and 1932, when under the leadership of Ibn Saud the current Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed, creating what is sometimes called the Third Saudi State, to differentiate it from the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State and the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State, are also states of the House of Saud. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAl-Saud had been in exile in the British protected emirate of Kuwait since 1893 following the third episode of removal from power and the dissolution of their political system, this time by the Al Rashid emirate of Ha'il. In 1902, Ibn Saud recaptured Riyadh, the former capital of the Al Saud dynasty. He went on to subjugate the rest of Nejd, Al-Hasa, Jebel Shammar, Asir and Hejaz (location of the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina) between 1913 and 1926. The resulting polity was called the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz from 1927 until until it was further consolidated with Al-Hasa and Qatif into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In 1901, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal's son, the future Ibn Saud, asked the Emir of Kuwait for men and supplies for an attack on Riyadh. Already involved in several wars with the Rashids, the emir agreed to the request, giving Ibn Saud weapons and horses. Although the exact number of men waxed and waned during the ensuing voyage, it is believed that he left with approximately 40 men. In January 1902, Ibn Saud and his men reached Riyadh. With only a small force, he felt that the only way to take the city was to capture the Masmak fort and kill Ibn Ajlan, leader of Riyadh, and after achieving these objectives they successfully took the city during the night. With the conquest of his family's ancestral home, Ibn Saud demonstrated that he possessed the qualities necessary to be a sheikh or emir: leadership, courage and luck, and this marked the beginning of the Emirate of Nejd and Hasa, which lasted until 1921. –Rashidi War The Saudi-Rashidi War, also called the "First Saudi-Rashidi War" or "Battles for Qasim", was fought between Saudi forces loyal to the newly formed Sultanate of Nejd against the Emirate of Ha'il (Jabal Shammar ), under the Rashids. The period of sporadic warfare ended with Saudi Arabia's capture of the Al-Qassim region, following the decisive victory at Qasim on 13 April 1906, although further fighting followed in 1907. Al-Hasa and Qatif In 1913, Ibn Saud, with the support of the Ikhwan, conquered al-Hasa from an Ottoman garrison, which had controlled the area since 1871. He then integrated al-Hasa and Qatif into the Emirate. The people in these areas were Saudi Shia and Wahhabi puritans, which resulted in harsh sanctions for Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia, contrary to what the tolerant policy of the Sunni Ottomans had traditionally implemented. Kuwait-Najd War Main articles: Kuwait-Najd War and Uqair Protocol of 1922 The Kuwait-Najd War broke out because Ibn Saud wanted to annex Kuwait. Ibn Saud insisted that the territory of Kuwait belonged to him. The acute conflict between Kuwait and Najd led to the deaths of hundreds of Kuwaitis. The war resulted in sporadic border clashes in 1919-1920. After the Kuwait-Najd War, Ibn Saud imposed a strict trade blockade against Kuwait for 14 years from 1923 to 1937. The goal of Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait's territory as possible. At the Uqair conference in 1922 the borders of Kuwait and Najd were established. Kuwait had no representativeat the Uqair conference. Ibn Saud convinced Sir Percy Cox to grant him two-thirds of Kuwait's territory. More than half of Kuwait was lost to Uqair. After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to the Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi incursions. During World War I, in December, the British government (beginning in early 1915) attempted to cultivate Ibn Saud's favor through its secret agent, Captain William Shakespear, and this led to the Treaty of Darin. After Shakespeare's death at the Battle of Jarrab, the English began to support Ibn Saud's rival, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, leader of the Hejaz. Lord Kitchener also appealed to Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca for assistance in the conflict and Hussein wanted political recognition in return. An exchange of letters with Henry McMahon assured him that his help would be rewarded between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden and the Syrian coast. Contrary to negotiations with Ali, the British entered into the Treaty of Darin, which made the lands of the House of Saud a British protectorate. Ibn Saud pledged to wage war again against Ibn Rashid, who was an ally of the Ottomans. Ibn Saud also received a monthly stipend in exchange for waging war against Ibn Rashid. Main article: Al-Khurma dispute The First Saudi-Hashemite War or Al-Khurma dispute took place in 1918–1919 between Abdulaziz Ibn Saud of the Emirate of Nejd and the Hashemites of the Kingdom of Hejaz. The war was part of the historic conflict between the Hashemites of the Hejaz and the Saudis of Riyadh (Nejd) for supremacy in Arabia. The result was the defeat of the Hashemite forces and the capture of al-Khurma by the Saudis and their ally Ikhwan, but the British intervention prevented the immediate collapse of the Hashemite kingdom, establishing a delicate ceasefire, which would last until 1924. Ha'il Main article: Conquest of Ha'il See also: Jabal Shammar The conquest of Ha'il, also called the Second Saudi-Rashidi War, was undertaken by forces Saudi Arabia with its allies Ikhwan tribesmen in the Emirate of Ha'il (Jabal Shammar), under the last Rashidi rulers. On November 2, 1921, Jebel Shammar was completely conquered by Saudi forces and subsequently incorporated into the Sultanate of Nejd. Ikhwan raids Raids in Transjordan Main article: Ikhwan raids in Transjordan The Ikhwan raids in Transjordan were a series of raids by the Ikhwan, irregular Arab members of the Najd tribe, in Transjordan between 1922 and 1924. Although the raids were not orchestrated by Ibn Saud, the ruler of Nejd, he did nothing to stop the raiding parties of his ally Ikhwanis. The situation however changed after the conquest of the Hejaz, when Ibn Saud's increasingly critical and negative stance towards the Ikhwan raids turned into an open feud and essentially a bloody conflict by 1927. In the early 1920s , Ikhwan dal Najd's repeated Wahhabi incursions into the southern parts of his territory posed the most serious threat to Emir Abdullah's position in Transjordan. The emir was unable to repel those incursions alone, so the British maintained a military base, with a small air force, at Marka, near Amman. 1921 Iraq Raid In 1921, an Ikhwan group raided southern Iraq, sacking Shiite villages, resulting in the deaths of 700 Iraqi Shiites. Second Nejd-Hejaz War Main article: Saudi conquest of the Hejaz The Saudi conquest of the Hejaz was a campaign, undertaken by the Saudis Sultan Abdulaziz Ibn Saud would assume control of the Hashemite kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–1925. The campaign ended successfully in 1933