Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are taking
on a truly colossal figure, a man who really
shaped the modern Middle East as we know it.
We are. We're talking about Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman
Al Saud. But everyone just knows him as Ibn Saud.
And his story is just incredible. This isn't
a man who inherited a kingdom. He didn't inherit
an oil fortune. No, not at all. He literally
built a kingdom from scratch, then discovered
the oil. He goes from being this exiled tribal
chief, basically living in poverty, to... monarch
on the global stage so for you the listener our
mission in this deep dive is to really get into
the mechanics of that how does that happen exactly
how does one man starting with almost nothing
I mean just his family name and a handful of
loyal followers managed to take over almost all
of Central and northern Arabia in what 30 years
it seems impossible it does and we need to look
at the unique blend he used it's this combination
of you know traditional Bedouin warfare this
incredible religious zealotry he harnesses and
then This unbelievably pragmatic, almost cynical
diplomacy he uses with the great powers. That
pragmatic streak is so important because the
whole thing is built on sheer audacity. When
you dig into the sources, you find these stories
that sound almost like myths, but they're real.
They are. We're going to cover the famous 40
-man raid that took back his ancestral home,
Riyadh. A legendary moment. And we have to talk
about the Ikhwan, this group of religious purists
he creates. he empowers. And then has to crush
when they get in his way. Viciously. Yeah. And
finally, there's two huge meetings in 1945, one
with Roosevelt on a warship, the other with Churchill.
Those meetings basically set the course for global
energy politics for the next, well, 80 years.
It's just a phenomenal story. One man's sheer
will meeting these massive historical forces,
like the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the West's
thirst for oil. And the result is a dynasty where
right up to today in 2025, every single king
has been one of his sons. Incredible. So let's
start at the beginning. Not in a palace, but
in exile. Okay, so let's set the stage for this
improbable start. Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, he's born
on January 15th, 1876 in Riyadh. Right. And he's
the fourth child, the third son. of Abdul Rahman
bin Faisal. And his father is a key figure here.
He was the last ruler of what historians call
the second Saudi state, the Emirate of Nejd.
And that family history isn't just, you know,
a bit of background color. It's everything. It's
his entire motivation. The Al Saud family had
already been a major power in Central Arabia
for 130 years. All tied up with the religious
reform movement, Wahhabism. Absolutely. That
ideology had already fueled their first attempt
to control the peninsula, the first Saudi state,
which was, you know, eventually destroyed by
the Ottomans back in 1818. So when Ibn Saud is
born, his family is really just hanging on. Living
on borrowed time. Completely. They're holding
on to the scraps of a once great religiously
driven empire. And their main rivals, the ones
right on their doorstep, were the al -Rashid
family. Always the al -Rashid. Constantly fighting
for control of that central plateau, the Nejd.
And the defining moment of Ibn Saud's childhood
is when the Al -Rashid finally win. This is in
1891. He's just 15 years old. 15. And his family
loses Riyadh. They're forced into exile. And
this isn't just a political defeat. It's catastrophic.
They lose their home, their history, their religious
heartland. That period of exile must have been
just... Formative doesn't even begin to cover
it. It shaped everything about him. And it wasn't
like they were just waiting things out in a comfortable
palace somewhere. Their journey shows you how
completely their power had collapsed. Where did
they go first? First, they had to seek refuge
with the Almura, a Bedouin tribe out in the southern
desert. They were completely dependent on their
hospitality. Just think about that. The son of
a ruling house suddenly having to rely on the
kindness of nomadic tribesmen. The psychological
impact. It must have been immense. And it was
a desperate scramble. They were with the Almorra
for a bit. Then they moved through Qatar for
a couple of months. A brief stop in Bahrain.
Before finally ending up in Kuwait. Yes. And
this is a crucial detail. They were allowed to
settle in Kuwait by the Ottoman authorities.
They spent nearly a decade there. So they're
essentially political refugees. On an Ottoman
leash. The Ottomans were perfectly happy to let
the al -Rashid control Nejd. But Kuwait is where
Ibn Saud really starts his political education.
He's not just waiting. He's watching. He's learning.
He's building a network. And the key figure for
him there is the ruler of Kuwait, Mubarak al
-Sabah. Exactly. And what's so fascinating is
the tension this creates inside his own family.
Ibn Saud starts spending time in Mubarak's Majlis,
his court, learning the ropes of geopolitics.
But his father didn't approve. Not at all. His
father, Abdul Rahman, was deeply conservative.
He saw Mubarak's lifestyle as too worldly, too
modern, not in line with the strict Wahhabi ideals
the al -Saad were meant to represent. But Ibn
Saud saw the bigger picture. He had that foresight.
He saw past the religious dogma and recognized
that Mubarak al -Saad was a real political player
with regional power. Building a relationship
with him was far more valuable than sticking
to his father's strict social code. That ability
to put politics before piety, even in small ways.
It would define his entire career. And that education
in Kuwait is what leads directly to the moment
that launches him. The legendary raid on Riyadh.
1902. This wasn't some grand invasion. It was
a gamble. A desperate, long -shot gamble. Utter
desperation, but executed with pure genius. It
starts small in November 1901. Ibn Saud and a
small group of relatives, his half -brother Mohammed
and his cousin, the incredibly important Abdullah
bin Jaloui, they set out on a raiding trip into
Nejd. So the initial goal isn't even to take
Riyadh. No, it's just to survive, to harass the
tribes allied with the Rashidis. But the further
they go, the more pressure he's under to stop.
The Rashidi leader is panicking, asking the Ottomans
in Baghdad for help, asking Qatar for help. To
stop these little raids. Exactly. And the pressure
works. A lot of his men desert. Even his own
father sends a message telling him to call it
off that trying to take Riyadh is suicide. But
he refuses. He refuses. He knows that his entire
claim to legitimacy rests on one thing, taking
back the Capitol, not on pity raids. He had to
recapture the spiritual and political home of
his family. Which brings us to the night of January
15th, 1902. The tactic he uses is just. It's
like something out of a movie. It really is.
He leads just 40 men. 40. against a walled, fortified
city. And how do they get in? No siege engines.
They use tilted palm trees as ladders to scale
the walls. It's incredible. A quiet infiltration,
followed by a moment of spectacular, very public
violence. The Rashidi governor, a man named Ajlan,
is killed. Killed by Ibn Saud's cousin, Abdullah
bin Jaloui, right out in the open in front of
his own fortress. The message couldn't have been
clearer. The Al Saud are back. Okay, but we have
to ask. The 40 man story. How much of that is
hard fact and how much is, you know, political
myth making? Oh, it's absolutely both. The core
event is true. A small outnumbered force took
a fortified city by surprise. But the number
40, it has this huge symbolic weight in Islamic
history. Right. It's a number associated with
quests, with spiritual trials. Precisely. And
the way the official chronicles focus so heavily
on that single moment, the death of the governor,
it shows you they immediately understood its
power as propaganda. It wasn't just a military
win. It was framed as a divine validation of
the Al Saud's right to rule. And the political
investment he made back in Kuwait pays off immediately.
Instantly. Mubarak al -Sabah, the ruler his father
disapproved of, sends 70 more warriors under
the command of Ibn Saud's younger brother, Sa'd.
That reinforcement must have been critical. It
was everything. It let him actually hold the
city. And he immediately moved back into his
grandfather's residence. He was sending a message
at every turn. This isn't a new state. This is
a restoration. It's the definitive start of what
becomes the third Saudi state. All from that
one perfectly executed raid. An amazing start.
So 1902, he's got Riyadh back. But he's still
just a small -time player in a very dangerous
neighborhood. The next 30 years are this master
class in consolidation. It is. He needs a plan.
And it's a three -pronged strategy. Military
force, religious ideology, and very, very clever
diplomacy. Let's start with the military side.
How does he build his army? Well, the Riyadh
raid itself was his best recruiting poster. His
charisma. plus the victory, brought all these
old supporters of his family out of the woodwork.
People who'd been laying low under the Rashidis.
Exactly. And he was smart. He made sure his fighters
were paid, that they were well -armed, and it
worked. Within just two years, he'd taken back
nearly half of the nedge from the Rashidis. But
that kind of expansion gets you noticed. It does,
and in 1904, he gets a serious reality check.
The Ottomans and the Rashidis join forces and
hand him a major defeat. It was a clear warning
shot. A message that the great powers would step
in if he got too ambitious. Right. And that defeat
was a crucial learning moment for him. Instead
of giving up, he just changed tactics. He couldn't
win a straight fight, so he switched to guerrilla
warfare. Hitting supply lines, harassing their
movements. Systematically disrupting them. And
it was so effective that the Ottomans eventually
had to retreat. They just couldn't sustain their
presence. And then the Ottomans, unable to beat
him, try to, what, co -opt him. A classic imperial
move. In 1905, they officially named him the
Kwamekwam, or governor, of southern Nejd. They're
trying to absorb him into their system. Giving
him a title, recognizing his power, but keeping
him under their nominal control. And he accepts
it. He holds that title for years. all while
continuing to fight the Rashidis. It's just pure
pragmatism. That all ends in 1906 when the Rashidi
leader is killed in battle, which basically ends
the Ottoman presence for good. But the real game
changer, the most innovative tool he creates,
is the Ikhwan. We can't talk about the founding
of Saudi Arabia without understanding the Ikhwan.
It is absolutely essential. The Ikhwan, the brotherhood,
started around 1912. And you're right, it's not
just an army. It was a revolutionary social engineering
project. So what was it exactly? It had two interconnected
goals, approved by the local Salafi religious
scholars. First, and most obviously, it was an
incredibly motivated fighting force. These guys
were fueled by a belief that they were waging
a holy war, a jihad, to purify Arabia. And the
second goal was just as important. Even more
so, arguably. It was an agrarian policy. The
idea was to settle the nomadic Bedouin tribes.
These tribes were the traditional source of all
the instability and chaos in the region. So he
gets them to stop wandering and settle down in
these fixed agricultural colonies. Called Hidra.
And this is the genius of it. The system completely
broke down the old tribal loyalties. Your allegiance
wasn't to your local sheikh anymore. It was to
the Ikhwan Brotherhood, and by extension, directly
to Ibn Saud as their supreme leader, their imam.
He weaponized religious fervor to solve his manpower
problem and his internal security problem at
the same time. Perfectly put. He turned the chaotic
energy of the desert into a disciplined, fanatical,
and loyal army. And then right as this machine
is getting up to speed, World War I breaks out.
A whole new game. Suddenly he's caught between
the dying Ottoman Empire and the rising British
Empire. And his early moves are so careful. He
actually makes a secret deal with the Ottomans
in 1914 to become a Wally, high -ranking governor.
But the war makes that deal worthless. And the
British get very interested very quickly. They
can't have him aligned with the Ottomans. So
they move fast. And that leads to the Treaty
of Deren in December 1915. This... is a landmark
moment because it's the first time a major global
power officially recognizes his state it is the
treaty makes his lands a british protectorate
and the british give him money a lot of money
five thousand pounds a month plus supplies and
in return in return he has to promise to fight
the rashidis who are allied with the ottomans
And crucially, he has to let the British start
defining his borders. But you mentioned something
interesting earlier. He got British weapons,
but he didn't always use them right away. No,
he stockpiled them. It was a huge strategic risk.
He was taking British money and protection, but
he was hoarding the weapons for his own future
plans. He knew the British were allies of convenience.
He was playing the long game. Always. He wasn't
going to be a British pawn. He was positioning
himself to be the main player. after the war
was over. At the same time, though, the British
are also backing another major player in Arabia.
Yes, they were hedging their bets. They were
famously supporting Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif
of Mecca in the Hejaz region. T .E. Lawrence,
Lawrence of Arabia. That whole story. And this
set up an inevitable collision course. The Hashemite
family, led by Sharif Hussein, control the ultimate
prize, the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Which,
to the Ikhwan, was unacceptable. Completely.
They saw the Hashemites as religiously corrupt.
So conflict between them starts brewing as early
as 1917, even while both sides are technically
allied with the British against the Ottomans.
So after World War I ends, Ibn Saud has this
stockpile of British weapons and a fanatical
army. And he unleashes them. He launches a final
campaign against the Rashidis in 1920. And by
1922, they're completely and utterly destroyed.
That victory doubles his territory. At least.
It gives him this huge amount of leverage for
the next crucial step. The 1922 UQARE conference.
This sounds like a dry diplomatic meeting, but
it's where the modern map of Arabia really gets
drawn. It is. He sits down with Sir Percy Cox,
the British high commissioner for Iraq, and they
are literally drawing lines on a map. Defining
the borders for Iraq, Kuwait, and what would
become Saudi Arabia. And it's classic diplomatic
horse trade. Cox gets Ibn Saud to recognize the
new British protectorates and their borders.
This was vital for Britain. Why so vital? They
needed stability along the Persian Gulf Coast.
These were crucial coaling stations for their
ships going to India through the Suez Canal.
They couldn't have Ikhwan raids disrupting that.
So Ibn Saud has to give up some land claims on
the borders. He does. He agrees to the famous
neutral zones between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and
Kuwait. But in exchange, he gets the ultimate
prize, British recognition of his sovereignty
over the vast central heartland he now controlled.
As soon as those northern and eastern borders
are set, he turns his attention west. To the
Hejaz. To holy cities. And the conquest is swift.
By 1925, his Ikhwan forces capture Mecca from
Sharif Hussein. Ending 700 years of Hashemite
rule. A monumental shift in power. He is then
proclaimed king of Hejaz in 1926. A year later,
he makes Nij the kingdom as well. He now rules
this dual kingdom. And the British make it official
with the Treaty of Jeddah in 1927. He's now a
fully independent monarch. He is. But now he
faces the ultimate political irony. The very
force he used to build his kingdom, the Ikhwan,
is about to turn on him. They see him as a sellout.
Because for them, the holy war never ends. They
wanted to keep raiding into Transjordan and Iraq,
which were now British protectorates. They didn't
believe in borders drawn by infidels. And provoking
the British is the one thing Ibn Saud cannot
afford to do. His whole state is built on that
pragmatic relationship. He forbids the raids,
and the Ikhwan see it as a profound religious
betrayal. The tension just explodes. He tries
to reconcile with them, doesn't he? He does.
He calls a big meeting in Riyadh in 1928, but
the main Ikhwan leaders refuse to show up. And
that refusal is basically a declaration of rebellion.
Which leads to a civil war. A short but brutal
one. He crushes the Ikhwan rebellion at the Battle
of Sibylla in 1929. And this victory is more
than just military. It's a political statement.
A definitive one. It establishes that while the
state is founded on Wahhabi ideology, the ultimate
political authority, the person who decides on
war and peace, is the king, not the religious
fanatics. And with that internal challenge crushed,
he can finally complete his project. On September
23, 1932, he formally unites his two kingdoms,
Nejd and Hejaz, into the single kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. And it's his kingdom. He sidelined his
own brothers to centralize power completely in
himself, from a 40 -man raid to a unified nation
in 30 years. It's staggering. So the kingdom
is created, but now he has to run it. And the
story of his rule is really the story of one
thing, oil. Everything changes with oil. The
economic transformation starts almost right after
unification. In 1933, he grants the oil concession.
Not to the British, interestingly. No, and that
was a very deliberate choice. He granted it to
an American company, Chevron's subsidiary. But
it's important to remember, for the first five
years, they found almost nothing. So the kingdom
was still broke. Absolutely. Still relying on
money from the Hodge pilgrimage and that British
tribute. The big world -changing discovery. Doesn't
actually happen until 1938. And once the oil
starts flowing, especially after World War II,
that brings in massive American influence. By
design. This was a core strategic decision by
Ibn Saud, guided by his advisors like St. John
Philby. He actively preferred the Americans to
the old European colonial powers. Why the U .S.?
Simple. No colonial baggage. The British and
French had been carving up the Middle East for
decades. The U .S. was a powerful partner who
could provide security, but they were distant.
They weren't looking to run his country. And
you see that preference in his financial dealings,
too. Clearly. When the kingdom needed huge loans
for development, he went straight to the U .S.
Export -Import Bank. He deliberately avoided
the World Bank or European banks. It was a political
signal. Our future is with America. Precisely.
Okay, so amidst all this very rational strategic
economic policy, there's this one wonderful eccentric
project, the Royal Railway. Ah, yes. What his
advisors called the old man's folly. He was just
insistent on it, wasn't he? Despite everyone
telling him it was a terrible idea. Completely
insistent. He wandered a railway from the Persian
Gulf all the way to Riyadh and eventually on
to Jeddah. And he got it. Aramco built it for
him. They did. It was finished in 1951. It cost
$70 million, all paid for from his personal oil
royalties. So why did he want it so badly if
it made no economic sense? It was about prestige
and centralization. A railway was a symbol of
a modern state, and it physically connected his
remote capital, Riyadh, to the world. And to
be fair, it did help Riyadh grow. But his advisors
were ultimately right. They were. As soon as
a paved road was built next to it in 1962, the
railway lost all its traffic. It shows that collision
between a traditional ruler's vision and the
sheer pace of modernization. Shifting to foreign
policy, the new kingdom quickly flexes its military
muscles. It does. The Saudi -Yemeni War in 1934
is a really pivotal moment. The first modern
war between Arab states. Exactly. And the Saudis
win. Decisively. Yeah. They used modern British
armored cars and French tanks. It sent a message
to the whole region that the old days of tribal
raiding were over. Saudi Arabia was a modern
military power. Then World War II breaks out.
He declares neutrality. Formal neutrality, yes,
but he was generally pro -ally. But there's a
great story that shows his independent streak.
The German ambassador, Fritz Graba. Right. In
1938, after an attack linked to Graba happened
on a British pipeline in Iraq, Ibn Saud gave
him refuge in Saudi Arabia. It was a calculated
move, a little jab at the British, showing them
he wouldn't be pushed around. Who's keeping his
options open? Always. But the most important
diplomatic events of his entire reign happened
right at the end of the war, in 1945. The two
big meetings, first with FDR. On the USS Quincy
and the Suez Canal. They spent three days together.
And this meeting is the bedrock of the entire
modern U .S.-Saudi relationship. It's the oil
for security deal. That's the tacit agreement.
The U .S. gets access to the oil. And in return,
America essentially guarantees the security of
the al -Saud regime. It's a partnership based
on pure strategic interest. And then shortly
after, he meets Churchill. In Egypt. And the
contrast is just stark. According to the Saudi
reports, it was unproductive. Why? What was the
difference? Roosevelt talked about the future,
about commerce, about security. Churchill hammered
him on the issue of Palestine and Jewish settlement.
Ibn Saud was completely opposed to Zionism and
just wouldn't budge. He resisted Churchill's
pressure in a way he hadn't with Roosevelt. And
finally, on the conflict front, Saudi Arabia
does participate in the 1948 Arab -Israeli war.
They do, but it's really a token contribution.
They send maybe a thousand troops attached to
the Egyptian army. Their real focus was on internal
security and protecting the oil fields, not on
a major foreign war. So let's go back inside
the kingdom. With the oil money flowing, how
does he actually govern this huge new country
and enforce that strict Wahhabi ideology? The
oil wealth was the ultimate tool for centralization.
He could use money stipends, jobs, projects to
force the nomadic tribes to settle down. Which
was a massive social change. It was everything.
It finally ended the centuries -old cycle of
petty wars and tribal feuds. He shifted allegiance
away from the tribe and towards the central state,
which was now the source of all prosperity. And
that came with a requirement for religious conformity.
A strict one. Yeah. And this is where the ideology
becomes very visible. Very controversial. Wahhabism
is obsessed with the idea of Tawhid, the absolute
oneness of God. Any veneration of saints, tombs,
or holy sites is seen as a form of polytheism
or shirk. Which led to the destruction of historical
sites. Famously, yes. The demolition of shrines
like the al -Baqi Cemetery in Medina, where many
of the prophet's family were buried. It was a
huge political statement disguised as religious
purification. And it caused diplomatic problems,
didn't it? Big ones. In 1926, his ikhwan beat
up a group of Egyptian pilgrims for playing bugles,
which they considered an un -Islamic innovation.
Ibn Saud had to issue a formal apology to the
Egyptian government. It happened several times.
One last difficult topic from his reign, slavery.
It's a critical point. He didn't abolish it.
In 1936, he regulated it. restricting imports,
setting rules for treatment. But the practice
itself continued throughout his life. It was
his son, Faisal, who finally abolished it. Yes,
not until 1967. It's a stark reminder of how
slowly some social changes came, despite the
massive economic transformation. On a more personal
level, though, how did he see his role as king,
especially with all this new wealth? He was known
for his charity. He had a very simple philosophy.
Two things are essential, religion and the rights
inherited from our fathers. He saw the oil wealth
as a gift from God that belonged to all his people.
And he put that into practice. He did. He would
literally have money handed out to the poor.
He set up guest houses to distribute food. It
was a core part of the social contract. You are
loyal to the king, and the king provides for
you. And one surprising detail from the sources
is his view on women's education. It is surprising.
For such a conservative society, he was apparently
quite encouraging. He's quoted as saying, very
simply, it is permissible for women to read.
It's a small thing, but it shows a pragmatic
mind, willing to push the boundaries a little
for the good of his people. The ultimate legacy
of Ibn Saud isn't just a country, it's a dynasty.
His family is the state. They're one and the
same. The numbers are just staggering. He had
almost 100 children, including 45 sons, and the
entire political structure of modern Saudi Arabia
is based on that fact. The succession moves from
brother to brother among his sons. Exactly. And
that's why even today, every king has been a
direct son of the founder. And he built this
dynasty through strategic marriage. He had 22
wives. Right. But most of those weren't love
matches. They were political alliances. He married
the daughters of tribal leaders to cement loyalty,
to end feuds. It was a very sophisticated way
of knitting the country together at the family
level. But the women who were actually his closest
political advisors were his own blood relatives.
Two women in particular, his aunt, Jawara bin
Tfaisal, was incredibly influential, especially
in the early days. She's the one who really drilled
into him this sense of family destiny, who pushed
him to retake Riyadh. She was a trusted advisor
until she died. And his sister, Nora. He was
so close to his sister, Nora, that he often introduced
himself with the phrase, I am the brother of
Nora. In that culture, that is a profound statement
of respect and affection. She was his moral anchor.
Let's turn to his more complex political views.
His relationship with the British, for example.
It was a very pragmatic but wary relationship.
He took their money and their protection, but
he always had a clear line. He famously said,
the English are my friends, but I will walk with
them only so far as my religion and honor will
allow. He was making it clear he was not their
puppet. Never. He was always asserting his own
sovereignty. And his views on Zionism and the
Jewish people are, well, they're very fraught.
It's essential to separate the two things. He
was a diehard opponent of the political project
of Zionism. And his rhetoric about Jews could
be extremely harsh, drawing on negative religious
texts. He called them a race accursed by God.
But at the same time, he made a distinction.
A very important one. He considered non -Zionist
Jews to be good friends of the Arabs. And more
than that, he condemned indiscriminate violence.
He was furious about the 1929 Hebron massacre
of Jews, calling it a violation of Islamic principles.
So his hostility was political and territorial,
not necessarily racial in the modern sense. It
was focused very specifically on the Zionist
project in Palestine. It's a complex and contradictory
position, but the distinction is there in the
sources. Which brings us to the end of his life
and the decision that would shape the kingdom's
future succession. His final years were tough.
He had heart disease, severe arthritis. He was
half blind. He survived multiple assassination
attempts. Ruling this new kingdom was a dangerous
business. His succession plan was already complicated
because his eldest son, Turkey, had died. Right.
So the line fell to his second son, Prince Saud.
who was named crown prince back in 1933. But
everyone knew, including the king himself, that
Saad was not the most capable choice. He favored
his other son, Faisal. Overwhelmingly. Faisal
was the brilliant one, the diplomat, the experienced
statesman. The king famously said, I only wish
I had three Faisals. So why didn't he just name
Faisal as his heir? Because he was terrified
of starting a civil war. He thought that bypassing
the established heir, Saud, would rip the family
apart and destroy the new kingdom before it even
got on its feet. So he chose stability over competence.
Immediate stability, yes. Yeah. He knew Saud
and Faisal were already bitter rivals. He basically
kicked the can down the road, hoping the institution
was strong enough to survive the conflict he
knew was coming. A tragic final choice, in a
way. He dies in his sleep on November 9, 1953.
With Faisal at his side. As last words to his
sons were a plea, your brothers unite. He was
buried simply in an unmarked grave next to his
sister Nora. So, to sum up this incredible life,
a man starts as a refugee, leads a tiny raid,
unifies dozens of tribes, defeats all his rivals,
and then presides over one of the most sudden
and massive economic transformations in human
history. He built a nation on two pillars that
seemed completely opposite, the most austere
religious revivalism and the most incredible
gushing resource wealth. He managed the great
powers perfectly. He took what he needed from
Britain, then pivoted to the United States without
ever letting them take over. A true master of
statecraft, he accomplished his life's goal.
As he said, in my youth, I made a nation. Now
in my declining years, I make men for it. But
there's that final paradox, the one that still
defines Saudi Arabia today. The man whose rallying
cry was, unite, left behind a system succession
passing between his 45 sons that almost guaranteed
future conflict. He saw it coming. He said near
the end of his life that he feared his two greatest
enemies would be his children and my possessions,
meaning his sons and his oil wealth. And he was
right. By choosing Saud over Faisal, he prioritized
short -term unity, but baked in a perpetual power
struggle for the next generation. So what's the
final thought for you, the listener, trying to
understand the kingdom he built? The final provocative
thought is this. Ibn Saud's last great decision.
To favor tradition over competence, combined
with that sudden tsunami of oil money, created
the fundamental tension that still exists in
Saudi Arabia. It's the constant grinding conflict
between a system of rule based on family, a brotherhood
of aging princes, and the modern technocratic
demands of managing unimaginable wealth. That
tension, that internal struggle, is the DNA he
encoded into his kingdom at the very moment of
its creation.