The Ottoman-Egyptian war and the fall of Diriyah
Muhammad Ali's Egyptian armies, sent by the Ottoman sultan, retake the holy cities and destroy the Saudi capital in 1818; the family returns to rule a smaller second state from Riyadh until 1891.
- A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd edition) — Madawi Al-Rasheed, Cambridge University Press (2010)
- The History of Saudi Arabia — Alexei Vassiliev, Saqi Books (1998)
- All the Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, His Army and the Making of Modern Egypt — Khaled Fahmy, Cambridge University Press (1997)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
The Ottoman sultan, whose prestige depended on protecting Mecca and Medina, could not tolerate their loss to the Saudi state. He ordered Muhammad Ali, his ambitious governor in Egypt, to recover them. Egyptian forces landed in the Hejaz in 1811, retook Medina and Mecca by 1813, and then pushed into Najd under Muhammad Ali’s son Ibrahim Pasha. After a six-month siege, Diriyah surrendered in September 1818. Its emir, Abdullah ibn Saud, was sent to Istanbul and beheaded, and the town was razed.
- A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd edition) — Madawi Al-Rasheed, Cambridge University Press (2010)
- The History of Saudi Arabia — Alexei Vassiliev, Saqi Books (1998)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
The family recovered quickly. In 1824 Turki ibn Abdullah, a grandson of Muhammad ibn Saud, retook Riyadh, which became the capital of a second, smaller Saudi state. It was weakened by succession feuds among his descendants, and in 1891 the rival Al Rashid dynasty of Ha’il defeated it, sending the young Abdulaziz ibn Saud and his family into exile in Kuwait.
- A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd edition) — Madawi Al-Rasheed, Cambridge University Press (2010)
- The History of Saudi Arabia — Alexei Vassiliev, Saqi Books (1998)
Why it matters today
The destruction of Diriyah and the execution of its last emir in Istanbul are remembered as a national tragedy and proof of the dynasty's resilience: twice destroyed, twice reborn. The memory still colours Saudi feelings about Ottoman, and by extension Turkish, rule.
The Arabian campaign was one of Muhammad Ali's first great wars and showed the power of his new army. For Egyptians it is a half-forgotten chapter; for Saudis it is the moment Egyptian troops razed their first capital, an old wound in a relationship that is otherwise close.