'Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928' [‎19r] (44/188)

Chapter (9).—Arabia (1918-28).
After the conflict at Taraba (in May 1920) had established Ibn Sand s authority
within the borderlands of Hejaz he was content to delay further active aggression
in this quarter. He was still receiving a welcome British subsidy ; he had the
strongest political reasons for desiring a continuance of friendly relations with His
Majesty's Government; he would have forfeited both if at this stage he had pressed
his quarrel with King Hussein. He continued the process of Akhwan proselysation
among the King's tribes, and turned to military conquest elsewhere for the purpose
of rounding off his territory.
In 1920, therefore, he took and annexed Abha, the inland portion of Asir which
lay outside the authority of the Idrisi. In 1921 he w 7 as ready, at last, to settle
accounts with Ibn Rashid of Hail. Ibn Sand's campaign in Jebel Shammar during
the summer left only Hail to be taken; that town surrendered in November, and the
territory of the Rashids was annexed to JNejd.
Ibn Saud could now push northward. The southern and eastern boundaries of
Transjordania were undefined; in order to reach the limit which sooner or later
the British would impose on his expansion northward, Ibn Saud. in 1922, captured
and annexed Jauf. Thereafter he was in contact with tribes more or less under
British authority.
He now took the title of Sultan of Nejd.
At the end of March 1924 His Majesty's Government ceased to subsidise
Ibn Saud. In the same month King Hussein assumed the Caliphate at Amman, the
capital of Transjordania, where his son Abdullah was now established as ruler by
the British. The cessation of the British subsidy left Ibn Saud free to act against
Hejaz; the setting up of a Hashimite Caliphate provided him with a motive for
taking that action quickly.
In June 1924 a proclamation to the Islamic world by Ibn Saud's son and heir
rejected King Hussein's Caliphate and leadership of the Arab movement.
On the 20th August, 1924, Wahabi armies entered Hejaz; on the 3rd October
King Hussein abdicated; on the 13th the Wahabis captured Mecca. In January
1926 Ibn Saud was proclaimed King of the Hejaz. He now was ruler of Arabia
from the Gulf to the Red Sea, and from Yemen, Asir and the Great Desert, in the
south, to Koweit, Iraq and Transjordania, in the north.
Meanw T hile the uncertainty of boundaries between the territories of Ibn Saud
and territories under British mandate or protection had led to conflicts on the
borders—conflicts in which Wahabi aggression and the movement and custom of
nomad tribes each played a part that was not always distinguishable. The necessity
for laying down definite boundaries and providing for the exigencies of desert
movement and custom became more and more pressing.
On the 5th May, 1922, the Treaty of Mohammerah was signed, under British
auspices, between Nejd and Iraq. It provided for delimitation of the frontier, the
use of grazing grounds and w T ells, and the restraint and punishment of tribal
aggression.
On the same date another and somewhat similar agreement was signed between
Nejd and Koweit.
In December 1923 a conference, at which His Majesty's Government, Ibn Sand,
King Feisal of Iraq, and the Emir Abdullah of Transjordania were represented (and
King Hussein had declined to attend), assembled at Koweit; but it broke down in
the middle of April 1924.
In September 1925 His Majesty's Government sent Sir G. Clayton to Jeddah to
negotiate with Ibn Saud regarding the frontiers between Nejd and Iraq and between
Nejd and Transjordania. These negotiations resulted respectively in the C£ Bahrah "
Agreement of the 1st November, 1925, and the " Haddah " Agreement of the
following day. By these agreements the continuity of territory under mandate to
Great Britain, from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, was secured, and a definite
northern limit set to the expansion of Ibn Saud's domains.
Arming himself during the World War and using the power inherent in
Wahabism, Ibn Saud, during the last twelve years, passed by the steps shown
in this paper to the domination of three-fourths of Arabia. Throughout his whole
career he has shown a solicitous regard for the maintenance of good relations with
His Majesty's Government. Equally he has shown a clear perception of the
limitations of his power if in opposition to His Majesty's Government. But, at the