Battle of Mecca (1813)

The spread of Wahhabi ideas in the mid 18th centurya resulted in the creation of the first centralized feudal-theocratic Saudi state centered in Ad-Diriyah, which by 1780 had taken control of the entire territory of Jeddah. The Persian Gulf coast (Al-Hasa), Kuwait and Bahrain (1803) and the interior of Oman were successively seized. In 1802y the Wahhabis attacked Kerbela, in 1803y they captured Mecca, in 1804y Medina. By 1806y they had taken control of the entire Hijaz. The expansion of Wahhabism dealt a serious blow to the prestige of the Ottoman sultan as "protector of the holy cities. In addition, the Wahhabis began to obstruct the Hajj pilgrims, attacked caravans and began to pose a definite threat to the economy of the Osman Empire. Under these circumstances, the Ottoman sultan Mustafa IV, preoccupied mainly with affairs in the European part of the empire, instructed in December 1807a to deal with the threat of Wahhabism by force to his vassal Muhammad Ali Pasha. September 3 1810a, the Egyptian troops were announced to march into the Hijaz: the sixteen-year-old son of Tusun Bey of Ali Pasha stood at the head of the Egyptian land forces. At the end of 1812a the Egyptian troops went on the offensive, which resulted in the capture of Medina in November 1812, and in January 1813a victory at Jidda. After that, Muhammad Ali's troops approached Mecca.[1]

The Saudi army of 1,000 militiamen surrendered almost without a fight to the army of many thousands of Muhammad Ali of Egypt.

• Facey, William & Grant, Gllian: Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers . ISBN 0-905743-74-1
• Captain G. S. Froster : 'A trip Across the Peninsula - Rehla Abr Al-Jazeera, (Arabic). Mombai - India, 1866

• Kiselev K. A. Egypt and the Wahhabi State: 'War in the Desert' (1811-1818)