ngdom of Saudi Arabia is the second Saudi realm to be established across the Arabian peninsula. The first was founded in the mid-18th century by a tribal chieftain named al-Saud, who formed a political and family alliance with Muhammad al-Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement (McMillan).
The first Saudi kingdom was defeated and broken up by the Ottoman Turks in the early 19th century. The current kingdom was established by a descendent of al-Saud, al-Aziz ibn-Saud, starting around the year 1900. By the 1920s al-Aziz had forcibly united most of the Arabian Peninsula under Saudi rule, including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. (These had formerly been ruled by the Hashemites, now the Jordanian royal family.) Family ties between the Saudi family and the descendents of al-Wahhab remained close, and with Saudi rule came imposition of Wahhabi puritanical strictures (McMillan).
Thus, an essential feature of Saudi domestic policy has been maintaining the Wahhabi hold. This included isolating Saudis from awarene
...