The Najd Expedition () was a series of military conflicts waged by

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

from 1817 to 1818. It was part of the Ottoman–Saudi War that lasted from 1811 to 1818. The campaign of 1817/8 was led by Ibrahim Pasha, with the goal of capturing

Diriyah Diriyah (; formerly romanization of Arabic, romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya) is a towns in Saudi Arabia, town and governorate in Saudi Arabia. Located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Diriyah was the original home of t ...

and ending the First Saudi State by the order of the Ottoman sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

, through no real strategy other than brute force.

Background

The rise of

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī (1703–1792) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, theologian, preacher, activist, religious leader, jurist, and reformer, who was from Najd in Arabian Peninsula and is considered as the eponymo ...

happened in the middle of the 18th century. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab gradually opposed many popular practices, such as the visiting and veneration of the shrines and tombs of Muslim saints, which he felt amounted to heretical religious innovation or even idolatry. His call for social reform in society was based on the key doctrine of

Tawhid ''Tawhid'' () is the concept of monotheism in Islam, it is the religion's central and single most important concept upon which a Muslim's entire religious adherence rests. It unequivocally holds that God is indivisibly one (''ahad'') and s ...

(oneness of God) and was greatly inspired by the treatises of classical scholars Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim. His calling for Tawhid found popular support in Najd, and in the following years, his movement became larger than before. The emir of Diriyah, Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin, was influenced by Ibn Abd al-Wahab and allowed him to stay in his capital. There, he preached his call to many of the tribes of Najd. He also began preaching to other countries other than Najd. It wasn't until 1765 that the majority of Najd followed the new movement. The new ruler, Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud, began an era of expansion of the movement until it reached the borders of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

, and Ibn Abd al-Wahab died in 1792. The Meccan shariff Ghalib ibn Musa'id attempted to stop his movement, but he was defeated, and Hejaz fell under Saudi rule. The Saudis also marched to Karbala and sacked it, these actions triggered the Ottoman–Saudi war.

Prelude

After the Battle of Byssel, Saudi power broke, and the Ottomans successfully recaptured the south of Hejaz, subduing the Zahran and 'Asir tribes. These defeats prompted Abdullah bin Saud Al Saud to ask for a peace treaty with the Ottomans, which the governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, accepted. Muhammad Ali then returned to Egypt to deal with internal issues such as the conspiracy of Latif Pasha. Muhammad Ali left his son, Tusun Pasha, in Hejaz with a large army to invade Najd, and the peace treaty he made with the Saudis was to be over. However, Tusun Pasha returned to Egypt as well to deal with the Albanian soldiers who had been wreaking havoc in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. Arriving there on November 8, 1815, he was well greeted. Muhammad Ali Pasha then prepared a large expedition that took 6 months and gave the command to his son, Ibrahim Pasha. Ibrahim Pasha then prepared 6,000 camels for the expedition. He arrived in Yanbu on September 29.Abd al-Rahman al-Rafai, p. 142 The Ottoman army had a force of 8,000 men from Turkey, Albania, and North Africa.

History

Expedition

Ibrahim Pasha march to Medina and Al Hinakiyah

After reaching Yanbu, Ibrahim Pasha marched to

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

and stayed there, He then marched to Sowaidrah, north of Medina, and took it as a base, but he had to suffer during his march since the majority of the tribes had allied with the Saudis and began attacking caravans between Sowaidrah and naval bases. Ibrahim then sent a force of 1,000 men to fight them and defeat them, which he succeeded in doing. After this defeat, the Arab tribes began siding with the Ottomans and promised to assist them by providing camels. Ibrahim then moved to Al Hinakiyah and fortified it; he took it as a base and began moving to

Ar Rass Rass (also spelled Ar Rass, or Al-Ras; ) is a List of cities and towns in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian City, located in Al-Qassim Province. It lies southwest of Buraidah, the capital of the province and north of Riyadh, the national capital. Rass ...

Battle of Mawiyya

Abdullah bin Saud Al Saud then began preparing his army to resist Ibrahim; he left Diriyah and took Ar Rass as his base to meet the Ottomans. He heard the Ottoman forces were marching to Mawiyyha near Al Hinakiyah. Arriving there, Abdullah attacked them in the morning near Mawiyyah. The Ottomans were surprised and were forced to retreat to their camp; however, the Saudis chased them, and once they got near the Ottoman camp, they began bombarding the Saudis, which put them on the route. The Saudis lost 200 men in this battle, and Abdullah was forced to retreat to Unaizah.

Siege of Ar Rass

After their victory in Mawiyyah, the Ottomans marched to

and besieged it. Ibrahim then prepared his cannons and invested the fort. Ar Rass was well fortified, but the fort was heavily besieged for 3 months and 27 days. Ibrahim would encourage his troops to scale the walls, and the Saudis would repair the damage. The Ottomans assaulted the fort three times but were repulsed with heavy casualties. The Saudis bravely defended the fort and the Ottomans fired 5,000 shots into the city. The Ottomans began suffering from the siege due to low ammunition and supplies. Seeing the bad situation in the army, Ibrahim then negotiated with the Saudis to stop the fighting. He negotiated with them to raise the siege in exchange for the fort putting down their weapons and remaining neutral in the war. They would be spared, to which they agreed. another condition imposed was that if Unaziah had fallen to Ibrahim, Ar Rass would fall for them. The Ottomans have lost 600Othman bin Bishr, P. 388 or 2400Abd al-Rahman al-Rafai, p. 144 men while the Saudis lost 70 or 160 killed.

Capture of Al Khabra' and Unaizah

After the Siege of Ar Rass, Ibrahim marched to Al Khabra' and bombarded it for several hours until it surrendered; the Ottomans rested there for 21 days. Ibrahim then moved to Unaizah, where Abdullah had fled from the city, and after a siege for six days, Unaizah surrendered after its commander Muhammad bin Hassan negotiated with Ibrahim to leave unharmed in exchange for leaving their weapons; Ibrahim agreed. The fall of Unaizah was a strategic victory for the Ottomans. Abdullah then retreated to Shaqra and then

March to Shaqraa

Ibrahim Pasha then resumed his march in October 1817. He reached

Buraidah Buraydah or Buraidah (Arabic: بريدة) is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Province in north-central Saudi Arabia. Renowned as the agricultural capital of Saudi Arabia and often referred to as the food basket of the Kingdom, the cit ...

and skirmished with the fort until it surrendered. The commander, Hajilan bin Hamad, along with other inhabitants, obeyed Ibrahim. The Ottomans stayed in Buraidah for two months, during which they received reinforcements from

. Ibrahim resumed his march in late December, during which Al Mithnab, Ushaiger, and Al Fara' surrendered to the ottomans.Abd al-Rahman al-Rafai, p. 146 Arriving at Shaqraa on January 13, 1818, he besieged it from the north and south; the garrison then attacked them, resulting in a fierce battle in which many ottomans were killed; however, the garrison was overwhelmed, and the leader, Hamad bin Yahya, was wounded and retreated back to the fort. Ibrahim then began bombarding from the north so heavily that it terrified the surrounding villages, but seeing the low damage it inflicted, he then moved the cannons near the wall, which destroyed a portion of it. The Ottomans assaulted the walls, but the garrison held firm and repulsed them.Othman bin Bishr, P. 392 The siege didn't last long and the garrison left the fort in exchange for their lives, to which he agreed.

Siege of Dhurma and massacre

In January 1818, Ibrahim marched to Dhurma fortress; the fort was well fortified with men and supplies.Abd al-Rahman al-Rafai, p. 147 Ibrahim began inspecting the fort, then went to the eastern side of the fort and began besieging it. The Ottomans bombarded and assaulted the walls, resulting in a fierce battle in which the Ottomans were repulsed. Ibrahim attempted to negotiate with the garrison but failed. The Ottomans kept bombarding the walls, and it is said they fired 5,300 shots into the fort. The Ottomans attacked again but were repulsed with a loss of 600 men. The garrison began rebuilding the destroyed portions of the walls. Ibrahim then besieged the fort from the south, where it was led by Mut'ab bin 'Aafisan. Ibrahim then bombarded the section of the fort and attacked the fort once again. The Ottomans succeeded in capturing the fort, and they began entering it from all sides. The Ottomans began killing the inhabitants in the shops and houses; the fighting still continued in the street, where many Ottomans were killed; however, the Ottomans would trick the surrendered men by taking their weapons and killing them, and the fort was sacked. The Ottomans looted money, weapons, cattle, clothes, and pieces of baggage. The fort was left uninhabited. Ibrahim then captured 3,000 women and children and sent them to Diriyah. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 800 men; the fort originally had 1,200 men.Othman bin Bishr, P. 396 Ibrahim Pasha spent two months in the fort and left Dhuruma on March 22.

Siege of Diriryah

Ibrahim Pasha arrived at the gates of

with 2,000 cavalrymen, 4,300 Turkish and Albanian soldiers, 1,300 Maghrebi cavalrymen, 150 gunners with around 15 guns, 20 weapons technicians and 11 sappers'.A History of Saudi Arabia
Madawi al-Rasheed. Cambridge University Press. 2010. After the total destruction of his capital and its fortifications Abdullah surrendered to the Ottomans on September 11. Ibrahim Pasha's troops plundered Diriyah and massacred several Wahhabi ulama.

References

{{Coord missing, Saudi Arabia History of Najd Battles of the Wahhabi war Conflicts in 1817 Conflicts in 1818 1817 in Asia 1818 in Asia 1817 in Egypt 1818 in Egypt