Ibn Saud

Ibn Saud (1880–1953), creator of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Inheriting the leadership of the orthodox Wahabi movement, in 1900 he and a small band of followers captured the city of Riyadh, from which his family had been exiled, and by 1912 had conquered the Nejd from Turkey. During World War I the British favored his rival, King Husein ibn-Ali of Hejaz, in their campaign against the Turks, but in 1924–25 ibn-Saud defeated Husein, combining Hejaz and the Nejd to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He imposed order and religious orthodoxy. In the 1930s he awarded oil concessions to U.S. companies from which his family began to derive enormous wealth. Neutral in World War II, ibn-Saud took little part in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

See also: Saudi Arabia.