Narodna Odbrana
09-10-2005, 01:06
Lawrence of Moravia
OOC: This is the RP thread for the Saudi-Ottoman War, which is in turn part of the Age of Imperialism Campaign (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433959&page=1&pp=15); you have to be part of that campaign to play in this one. The OOC thread is here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=448673).
This post will review the RL history leading up to the Saudi-Ottoman War, as well as the small amount of RP that has set the stage for the conflict. Feel free to do your own research, as I make no claim to the completeness or accuracy of what is found here (hey, if it's on the Internet, it must be true, right?). This info is only to provide you some basis for what the conflict is all about.
History
In 1744, an Arab theologian named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Tamimi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Abd_al_Wahhab) began preaching an austere form of Islam that would later be known to the world as Wahhabism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi) (although its adherents never call it that, preferring to call themselves al-Muwahhidun, or “monotheists”, a reference to their opposition to a variety of practices among mainstream Muslims that they consider to be polytheistic or “pagan” ). Chased out of ‘Uyayna, the town where he first began spreading his beliefs, by the authorities, who found his beliefs objectionable, he eventually ended up in Dir’iyyah, where he made an alliance with the local Emir, Muhammed ibn Sa’ud.“Muhammed ibn Sa’ud greeted Muhammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and said, ‘This oasis is yours, do not fear your enemies. By the name of God, if all Najd was summoned to throw you out, we will never agree to expel you.’ Muhammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab replied, ‘You are the settlement’s chief and wise man. I want you to grant me an oath that you will perform jihad (holy war) against the unbelievers. In return you will be imam, leader of the Muslim community, and I will be leader in religious matters.’”From this point onward, the fates of the Wahhabi sect and the House of Sa’ud were inextricably linked.
The alliance was a fruitful one; by the end of the 18th Century, the House of Sa’ud dominated the Arabian peninsula. In 1803 the took Mecca for a short time, during which the destroyed the mausoleums of the Muslim saints and martyrs buried there; chased out by the Porte, they retook the city in 1805 and barred Osmanli caravans from entering the city on pilgrimage. This was enough to provoke a response from the Pasha of Egypt, Muhammed ‘Ali, who dispatched his son Tusun to deal with the Wahhabis. It took thirteen years, but in 1818 Tusun took Dir’iyyah, razed the city, and carried off the head of the House of Sa’ud to Istanbul, where he was beheaded. That ended the First Saudi Kingdom.
The Saudis regained some measure of their lost power over the next few decades, although at the height of this second attempt to extend their power throughout Arabia, they were never able to spread their influence beyond the Najd. In 1865, they fell into a war with the House of Rashid, rulers of the town of Ha’il at the northern end of the Najd, and in 1891 found themselves in exile once more as Riyadh fell to their enemies. The family fled to Kuwait, with whose rulers they had a close friendship; from there they plotted their eventual return.
In 1902, Abd al-Aziz ibn Sa’ud retook Riyadh with just 40 companions in a daring raid in which his band scaled the town walls, lay in wait for the Rashidi governor of Riyadh, and then assassinated him as he emerged from the mosque following morning prayers. Over the next seven years, the Houses of Sa’ud and Rashid fought for control of the Najd. In 1906, the Saudis defeated the Rashidis, securing the lion’s share of the region for themselves; nonetheless, the House of Rashid remained in control of Ha’il, licking their wounds and awaiting a rematch. In the meantime, Ibn Sa’ud now turned to other adventures.
Here we leave RL and enter RP.
In 1911, after securing funding and arms from the British government, the House of Sa’ud, taking advantage of the Porte’s preoccupation with emerging crises in North Africa (with Italy, over possession of Tripoli) and in the Balkans (with Bulgaria. Greece, Serbia, and Roumania, over possession of Rumelia) – as well as political infighting among the Young Turks who had overthrown the previous Sultan’s government in 1908 – staged another daring raid, this time on Mecca itself. 500 ikhwan surprised and routed the Osmanli garrison while in their barracks on the northwest side of the city; in the aftermath, the Sharif of Mecca and his sons barely escaped with their lives.
Unfortunately for the Saudis, they lacked the strength to continue west or north and follow up on their success by taking either Jiddah – the administrative capitol of the Hijaz, and its principal seaport – or Medina, the other of Islam’s holy cities and the southern terminus of the Hijaz railway. But no Osmanli riposte came; the Porte had to deal with the crisis and war in the Balkans before it could turn its attention back southward.
Now, with the war in the Balkans at an end, the Porte is eager to retake the territories that it has lost and punish the House of Sa’ud for its temerity. In this endeavour, it has the support of the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, which has taken over responsibility for the training and organisation of the Arab forces in Syria, Palestine, and the Hijaz. For its part, the Saudis have the support of the British government, although the extent of that support remains an open question.
OOC: The title is a pun (and not mine, I might add), a reference to the fact that T.E. Lawrence, famous for his role in the Arab Revolt, had a rival who sought to win the Arabs over to the side of the Central Powers in the Great War. This was Dr. Alois Musil, a Czech explorer famoys for his archaelogical discoveries in Arabia Petrea in the years before the war. Dr. Musil was as accomplished an Arabist as Lawrence, and had every bit as much of an ability to get along with the local populace, having actually been made an honorary Shiekh (“Sheikh Musa” ) in two Bedouin tribes. The pun is thus the work of Musil's biographers, who in using it acknowledge that Musil worked in Lawrence's shadow.
In this RP, of course, Musil has a big head start, having already negotiated a pact with the Sharif of Mecca (who was the actual leader of Lawrence’s revolt.
OOC: This is the RP thread for the Saudi-Ottoman War, which is in turn part of the Age of Imperialism Campaign (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433959&page=1&pp=15); you have to be part of that campaign to play in this one. The OOC thread is here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=448673).
This post will review the RL history leading up to the Saudi-Ottoman War, as well as the small amount of RP that has set the stage for the conflict. Feel free to do your own research, as I make no claim to the completeness or accuracy of what is found here (hey, if it's on the Internet, it must be true, right?). This info is only to provide you some basis for what the conflict is all about.
History
In 1744, an Arab theologian named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Tamimi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Abd_al_Wahhab) began preaching an austere form of Islam that would later be known to the world as Wahhabism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi) (although its adherents never call it that, preferring to call themselves al-Muwahhidun, or “monotheists”, a reference to their opposition to a variety of practices among mainstream Muslims that they consider to be polytheistic or “pagan” ). Chased out of ‘Uyayna, the town where he first began spreading his beliefs, by the authorities, who found his beliefs objectionable, he eventually ended up in Dir’iyyah, where he made an alliance with the local Emir, Muhammed ibn Sa’ud.“Muhammed ibn Sa’ud greeted Muhammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and said, ‘This oasis is yours, do not fear your enemies. By the name of God, if all Najd was summoned to throw you out, we will never agree to expel you.’ Muhammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab replied, ‘You are the settlement’s chief and wise man. I want you to grant me an oath that you will perform jihad (holy war) against the unbelievers. In return you will be imam, leader of the Muslim community, and I will be leader in religious matters.’”From this point onward, the fates of the Wahhabi sect and the House of Sa’ud were inextricably linked.
The alliance was a fruitful one; by the end of the 18th Century, the House of Sa’ud dominated the Arabian peninsula. In 1803 the took Mecca for a short time, during which the destroyed the mausoleums of the Muslim saints and martyrs buried there; chased out by the Porte, they retook the city in 1805 and barred Osmanli caravans from entering the city on pilgrimage. This was enough to provoke a response from the Pasha of Egypt, Muhammed ‘Ali, who dispatched his son Tusun to deal with the Wahhabis. It took thirteen years, but in 1818 Tusun took Dir’iyyah, razed the city, and carried off the head of the House of Sa’ud to Istanbul, where he was beheaded. That ended the First Saudi Kingdom.
The Saudis regained some measure of their lost power over the next few decades, although at the height of this second attempt to extend their power throughout Arabia, they were never able to spread their influence beyond the Najd. In 1865, they fell into a war with the House of Rashid, rulers of the town of Ha’il at the northern end of the Najd, and in 1891 found themselves in exile once more as Riyadh fell to their enemies. The family fled to Kuwait, with whose rulers they had a close friendship; from there they plotted their eventual return.
In 1902, Abd al-Aziz ibn Sa’ud retook Riyadh with just 40 companions in a daring raid in which his band scaled the town walls, lay in wait for the Rashidi governor of Riyadh, and then assassinated him as he emerged from the mosque following morning prayers. Over the next seven years, the Houses of Sa’ud and Rashid fought for control of the Najd. In 1906, the Saudis defeated the Rashidis, securing the lion’s share of the region for themselves; nonetheless, the House of Rashid remained in control of Ha’il, licking their wounds and awaiting a rematch. In the meantime, Ibn Sa’ud now turned to other adventures.
Here we leave RL and enter RP.
In 1911, after securing funding and arms from the British government, the House of Sa’ud, taking advantage of the Porte’s preoccupation with emerging crises in North Africa (with Italy, over possession of Tripoli) and in the Balkans (with Bulgaria. Greece, Serbia, and Roumania, over possession of Rumelia) – as well as political infighting among the Young Turks who had overthrown the previous Sultan’s government in 1908 – staged another daring raid, this time on Mecca itself. 500 ikhwan surprised and routed the Osmanli garrison while in their barracks on the northwest side of the city; in the aftermath, the Sharif of Mecca and his sons barely escaped with their lives.
Unfortunately for the Saudis, they lacked the strength to continue west or north and follow up on their success by taking either Jiddah – the administrative capitol of the Hijaz, and its principal seaport – or Medina, the other of Islam’s holy cities and the southern terminus of the Hijaz railway. But no Osmanli riposte came; the Porte had to deal with the crisis and war in the Balkans before it could turn its attention back southward.
Now, with the war in the Balkans at an end, the Porte is eager to retake the territories that it has lost and punish the House of Sa’ud for its temerity. In this endeavour, it has the support of the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, which has taken over responsibility for the training and organisation of the Arab forces in Syria, Palestine, and the Hijaz. For its part, the Saudis have the support of the British government, although the extent of that support remains an open question.
OOC: The title is a pun (and not mine, I might add), a reference to the fact that T.E. Lawrence, famous for his role in the Arab Revolt, had a rival who sought to win the Arabs over to the side of the Central Powers in the Great War. This was Dr. Alois Musil, a Czech explorer famoys for his archaelogical discoveries in Arabia Petrea in the years before the war. Dr. Musil was as accomplished an Arabist as Lawrence, and had every bit as much of an ability to get along with the local populace, having actually been made an honorary Shiekh (“Sheikh Musa” ) in two Bedouin tribes. The pun is thus the work of Musil's biographers, who in using it acknowledge that Musil worked in Lawrence's shadow.
In this RP, of course, Musil has a big head start, having already negotiated a pact with the Sharif of Mecca (who was the actual leader of Lawrence’s revolt.