Arabia at the Dawn of a New Age: Documents From The Historical Archives of St. Petersburg

Dr. Nikolay N. Dyakov

The last century, from its very start, was marked by a growth in national revival movements throughout the vast territories of Asia and Africa. And among the first and the most significant results of this long and extremely complicated process was the birth of strong centres of spiritual and political influence in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. The foundation of the Saudi state marked a new epoch in the history of the Muslim world; but it also turned a new page in the history of the struggle of the Arabs for their national liberation and dignity.

It is quite clear that to achieve an objective view of the spiritual and social evolution of Arabian society at its historic turning-point is impossible without the collation of material from a variety of sources – above all, of the evidence and documents of that period, which may sometimes throw a quite new shaft of light on the different aspects of the social, political, diplomatic and military situation within and around Arabia during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries of the Hegira (the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries).

It is well known that the late twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth centuries of the Hegira (the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries) were filled with a series of outbursts of dramatic and spectacular activity on the part of the European powers in their search for new colonial routes to the East, and that these, in their turn, were accompanied by a series of expeditions to the interior regions of Arabia.

This huge peninsula, very often defined by geographers as a sub-continent, owing to its impressive dimensions, had traditionally attracted considerable interest from the European public. And without a doubt this interest was nourished and fostered by the colourful descriptions of Arabian life in the books of famous European travellers and explorers, such as C. Niebuhr and C.-F. Volney – works whose popularity in Europe could only be compared with that of the works of the poets and composers of that romantic epoch.¹

However, a growing rivalry among the Western powers in their struggle for control over the main routes to India – a kind of Oriental Eldorado in the eyes of the majority of Westerners – caused, at the same time, new waves of colonial expansionism and new attempts to achieve a penetration into the mysterious and extremely attractive, but still unstudied, interior of Arabia.

As a result of the travelogues written by U. J. Seetzen and J. L. Burckhardt, G. F. Sadlier and J. R. Wellsted, M. O. Tamisier, Th. J. Arnaud and many other scholars, a rich and professionally collected and annotated corpus of information on the geography and archaeology, on the languages and culture, and on the traditional social and economic structures of Arabian society was published and became available to thousands of readers all over the world during the first half of the thirteenth century of the Hegira (the early nineteenth century).²

And it is obvious that a special measure of attention was paid by the politicians and diplomats of that time to even the smallest nuances in the evolution of a strong spiritual movement, based on the idea of a purified monotheism, a devotion to the Divine Unity – al-Tawhid – and represented by the exploits of the devotees of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and of the descendants of Muhammad Ibn Saud, the founder of the first Saudi state in the heart of Nejd.

The extent of the political, military and ideological impact of that movement on the Ottoman presence in the Arab East was carefully studied and analysed in Western capitals, but also in Russia, whose direct confrontations with the Turks in the Black Sea area and in the Caucasus in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries of the Hegira (the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries AD) were well known. And between the detailed reports of Western officers and diplomats, and the descriptions and researches of some native, but mostly of many foreign scholars, Russian readers struggled to achieve an objective picture of life in Arabia at that period of its history. Several publications, mostly translated from French and English, also appeared in some popular Russian magazines, such as, for instance, ‘The Journal on Various Subjects of Literature’ (Zhurnal Razlichnykh Predmetov Slovestnosti, 1220H / 1805), and ‘The Herald of Europe’ (Vestnik Evropy, 1235H / 1819).

A unique and extremely valuable source of serious and systematic data about the situation in Arabia – the reports of Russian diplomatic missions – has until recently been almost entirely closed and inaccessible, not only to a wider audience, but even for experts on and researchers into the history of Russian foreign policy in the Middle East.

It was as a result of the professional skills and acumen of two Russian ambassadors in Istanbul – first, in 1207–8H / 1792–3, M. I. Koutuzov, an outstanding diplomat and later a famous commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the war against Napoleon, and subsequently, in 1218H / 1803, A. Y. Italinskiy– that the Russian Government in St Petersburg first came to know of the strong Salafiya movement in Nejd and its impressive influence on both the current situation and the future prospects of Ottoman rule in Arabia.³

A considerable interest in Arab culture and the Muslim world in general grew and developed constantly in Russian scholarship and public opinion during the twelfth and the first half of the thirteenth centuries of the Hegira (the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries), first prompted by the reforming steps taken by Peter the Great in constructing a modern Academy and University equipped with special departments for Arabic and Islamic studies.

It is also widely known that one of the founders of modern scientific education in Russia, the famous scientist and poet Mikhail V. Lomonosov, paid special attention to the study of the Arabic language and Islamic civilization. It was M. V. Lomonosov who in 1168H/ 1754 was among the first to propose to the Russian government the introduction of the study and teaching of Arabic in all Russian universities. A systematic programme of publishing the Holy Qur’an began, and Russian editions of the complete text in 1202, 1204, 1205, 1208, 1211, and 1213H (1787, 1789, 1790, 1793, 1796, and 1798) were soon being highly appreciated, not only by the Muslims in Russia, but also by many famous European scholars – Silvestre de Sacy, for instance. Yet in spite of the deep involvement of Imperial Russia in the so-called ‘Oriental Question’ and also in acquiring a.variety of information about the social, economic, political and religious situations in the various provinces of the Ottoman state, the Russians took no direct part in the exploration or in the colonial conquest of the Arabian peninsula.

Vasili V. Bartold, a prominent researcher into the history of Muslim civilization and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, wrote in 1344H/1925 that until the very end of the thirteenth century of the Hegira (the nineteenth century) there were no Russian expeditions to the interior of the Arabian peninsula (‘unless we take account of some regions of Arabia Petraea, visited by Dr A. V. Eliseev’ in 1299 and 1302H /1881, 1884).⁴ However, another Russian Orientalist, the Muscovite G. M. Bauer, noted that ‘the Russian government has always had adequate information about Arabia, since this was necessary for its foreign policy in the region’.⁵

Sometimes Russian governmental and academic bodies even made attempts to make use of the knowledge and experience of well-known European scholars who happened to become Russian subjects. For example, the above-mentioned Ulrich J. Seetzen, a native of the German principality of Frisland, after becoming a Russian subject in 1208H / 1793, was to find his explorations sponsored at the highest possible level, by Tsar Alexander I himself, a sponsorship that was of no little assistance to him in organizing his travels in Hejaz and the Yemen in 1222–6H / 1807–11. His voyages to the countries of the Near East were of considerable interest to the Russian government, noted J. Pirenne in her widely read study on the history of the discovery of Arabia.⁶ And another outstanding European scholar, the Finnish Arabist George August Wallin (1226–69H / 1811–52) was also a Russian subject, who had devoted several years of his life to Arabic studies at St Petersburg University.

Certain documents on the scientific biography of G. A. Wallin are still preserved in the archives of St Petersburg. One of these files, which concerns the last expedition projected by this scholar, could well throw a fresh light on the efforts of European researchers to discover and study the culture and languages of the inhabitants of Arabia.

Together with the Swiss scholar (and British subject) J. L. Burckhardt, G. A. Wallin is considered to be one of the most brilliant of Orientalists, whose contribution to the systematic investigation of the interior of the Arabian peninsula in the first half of the nineteenth century (the middle of the thirteenth century of the Hegira) can hardly be overestimated. G. A. Wallin can stand as the object of a legitimate pride not only for Finnish Oriental Studies, but also for Russian science, because he was a representative of that branch of orientalism in Helsinki that never lost its contacts with the Russian academic tradition, wrote the academician Ignatiy J. Krachkovski.⁷

Wallin was sent from Helsinki to the University of St Petersburg in 1256H / 1840, and began his studies under the tuition of a famous Egyptian scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Ayadh al-Tantawi (1225–78H / 1810–61), who himself had also arrived in St Petersburg in that same year of 1256H / 1840.

After the first year of their classes Sheikh al-Tantawi wrote in his university diary that G. A. Wallin had acquired ‘an extraordinary fluency in reading, writing and speaking Arabic’. And all the subsequent work of G. A. Wallin confirmed this high estimate that al-Tantawi had formed of his student, wrote I. J. Krachkovski.⁸

With a scholarship from Helsinki University G. A. Wallin later left for the Near East, and continued his studies of Arabic in Cairo. At the beginning of 1261H / 1845 he embarked on his first expedition to Nejd. Some of his biographers observe that this voyage became possible only with support from the Egyptian authorities; however, this point of view has traditionally been rejected by Finnish and Swedish researchers.

However that may be, and despite his final defeat, Muhammad Ali of Egypt constantly paid close attention to the political and religious situation in the interior of Arabia, and above all to that in the territories under the control of the leaders of the Salafiya movement. This fact may also throw some light on a certain interest displayed by the Egyptian government in Wallin’s plans to visit Jebel Shammar and Nejd in 1261H / 1845. It might also be the case, wrote J. Pirenne, that Muhammad Ali simply made him the proposition that he should act as his agent in buying horses in Ha’il for his personal stables or, at least, suggested that he should visit this land, ‘whose political situation was by no means without interest for the Egyptians’.⁹

Wallin’s first journey to Nejd led him from Ma’an via Wadi Sirhan and al-Jawf to Ha’il, and resulted in a detailed description of the social life and culture of the population of Northern Arabia.

His second expedition started from the Red Sea coast and then went on via Northern Hejaz (Tabuk and Tayma) to Nejd. In his account of the life of the local tribes Wallin often mentions a strong impact of the al-Tawhid ideology on their beliefs and traditions. But there were also some quite different examples. For instance, the Maaza tribe of the north-western part of the peninsula, like some other tribal segments that had not accepted the Wahhabi teaching, were absolutely ignorant in their religion. As a rule members of such tribal groups didn’t even have the slightest idea of the basic dogmas and rites of their faith. But Wallin’s impression of those among the Arabs who at that time followed the doctrine of al-Tawhid was quite the reverse of this.¹⁰

The results of Wallin’s first travels to the interior of Arabia were published in London in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society not long before his death in 1269H / 1852, and soon attained a considerable popularity not only in academic circles, but also with a wider audience.

Meanwhile, the last months of G. A. Wallin’s life were filled with plans for another important trans-Arabian expedition to all the main geographical and historical areas of the peninsula, including the Hejaz, Nejd, Oman, the Hadramaut, and the Yemen. Some documents on this last travel project of Wallin’s, now in the possession of the State Historical Archives of Russia in St Petersburg, could hold a certain interest for a researcher exploring the history of Arabia and its discovery by European scholars in the middle of the thirteenth century of the Hegira (the nineteenth century). The documents in question deal with the plans of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society, in co-operation with the Royal Geographical Society in London, to send G. A. Wallin, a professor of Helsinki University, to explore the interior of Arabia.

This project, though of an exclusively academic character, attracted however the attention of the Russian government, which at that very point in time was on its way to resolving a problem it considered ‘of national importance’ – to discover ways of buying the best Arab horses for the state stables. Russia’s best scientists and diplomats were involved in resolving this problem, which would have, according to the head of the Department of State Horse-Breeding, Count Pavel D. Kisselev, a considerable impact on the general development of the Russian state’s prosperity. The Council of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society had informed Count P. D. Kisselev of its intention to send Professor G. A. Wallin with a research mission to Arabia, including Nejd – ‘the homeland of the best Arabian horses’, and it was therefore arranged that Wallin was to come to St Petersburg for detailed instructions from the Russian Ministry of State Properties.¹¹

But the most valuable part of this file of documents is, without doubt, a precise travel plan for Professor G. A. Wallin, presented by him to the Council of the Russian Geographical Society in 1268H / 1851. This document comprises not only a general description of the results of the most significant earlier expeditions of European explorers to the Arabian peninsula, but also some new research tasks that the scholar had set himself for his forthcoming expedition.

Besides giving his general impressions of his own travels in Arabia of 1261H / 1845 and 1265H /1848, Wallin outlined and gave the reasons for the main routes of his intended future journeys to the various lands of the peninsula. He focused special attention on his beloved Nejd, and especially on its eastern provinces, which were then under control of the ‘Wahhabi princes of the family of Saud’, as he put it.¹² Wallin’s description of the indigenous population of the interior of Arabia and of its culture and traditional institutions was both one of the earliest and also among the most complete in the European literature of that period.

From many points of view Nejd constitutes one of the most considerable provinces of Arabia. The tribes of the Qahtani group, originating and migrating from Yemen and other southern lands of the peninsula, joined up there with the Adnani tribes. Education, evidently acquired by the first of these groups from India and Abyssinia, mingled there with the experience of other tribes that came from Syria and Mesopotamia ... It was they who spread the idea of monotheism over most of the territories of Asia – an idea that finally triumphed over the pagan beliefs and culture of ancient Yemen.

And it was in the same province of Nejd that the puritanical doctrine of the Wahhabis was born in the last century [he wrote]. Even at the present time both individuals and family groups of Bedouin are constantly migrating to the neighbouring cultivated lands that surround the desert, and there is hardly any Arab tribe whose origins are not from Nejd, or at least that hasn’t spent the most flourishing epochs of its history there.

Besides, even for its geographical position this land deserves special attention. Covering the central platform of the peninsula, it separates two great sand deserts, one of which occupies the centre of Northern Arabia, while the second is situated along its southern frontier ...

Through this province I’ll try to carve my way to Mahra – another remarkable province of south-eastern Arabia, not visited until now by any European traveller.

And what look quite audacious, even for such an experienced explorer as Wallin, are his plans to cross a desert then absolutely unknown to Europeans – the Rub al-Khali:

During my trips I also hope to have time to visit a location marked on our maps as an uninhabited part of Arabia and situated behind Jebel Alarid. After finishing my researches there I shall leave for Baghdad to arrange my travel notes and to send them to St Petersburg.

Depending on the results of these researches and on the state of the relationships between various tribes, I’ll then try to make my way to Oman or to Mahra via Jabrin; or else, maybe, I’ll leave the port of Basra for Muscat by ship.¹³

Unfortunately, Wallin’s death in 1269H / 1852 put an end to this unique travel plan, which could have marked a significant new stage in the study of the culture and languages of the various provinces of the Arabian peninsula. The above-mentioned documents, do however, demonstrate the level of acquaintance of the best European scholars with the life and culture of Arabia in the thirteenth century of the Hegira / nineteenth century.

However, the rapidly growing colonial expansion of the Western powers, including Russia itself, into the Muslim world in the late thirteenth century of the Hegira / the second half of the nineteenth century resulted in a new wave of confrontation between civilizations that in its turn gave birth to important new spiritual movements of national renaissance in the Arab world, and among them further steps in the construction and consolidation of the Saudi state.

Information about all these developments in the interior regions of the Arabian peninsula, in spite of their historic importance, chiefly became accessible to Russian public opinion through articles and research published in the mainstream European media and also in academic publications, especially those published in Britain, which at the turn of the fourteenth century of the Hegira (the end of the nineteenth century) had succeeded in maintaining its control over the main coastal areas of Arabia and the strategic routes for which those areas supplied important staging posts.

But the early fourteenth century of the Hegira (the beginning of the twentieth century) was marked by significant new moves by the Western governments in their attempts to change the geopolitical situation surrounding the Arabian peninsula and the Middle East in general. These years saw a renewed enthusiasm for colonization, and at the same time an exacerbated rivalry that would soon result in the unleashing of the First World War – the first global military confrontation of the fourteenth century of the Hegira/ the twentieth century. The significant preponderance of Britain on the borders of Arabia and over the routes that touched on them made its partners and rivals look for opportunities to precipitate a redistribution of forces in the region. And that is why a certain measure of reconciliation between Russia and France in this field no longer appeared too startling or incongruous in the court of international opinion.

A representative of a Marseilles company, ‘Rabaud et Cie’, M. Francetti, in a letter of August 1897 (1316H) to a military agent of Russia in Paris proposed that his government should buy nothing less than an impressive plot of land at Sheikh-Said on the south-western coast of the Arabian peninsula, opposite the island of Perim. This letter from the St Petersburg State Archives of the Russian Navy (SARN) is representative of the general atmosphere of booming colonialism and the struggle for new strongholds on the main strategic routes from the West to the East. Taking into consideration the rapid growth of tension between Russia and Britain on the frontiers of India, Francetti drew the attention of his Russian correspondent to possible future collisions between the two empires:

Sheikh-Said is one of those strategic points that will allow Russia to control all the Red Sea and the Suez Canal ...

Russian industry and trade have been developed so rapidly over these last years that in some 30 years they will demand important new international markets.

The populations of Hejaz and the Yemen could become reliable clients for Russian commerce ... And of course, this purchase will contribute to the progress of good relations with the Negus of Abyssinia, an old friend of Russia ...

The Turkish positions in Arabia are now very weak [continued M. Francetti]. Egypt is gradually moving away from Turkey, whose fleet is in a deplorable condition. So it is easy to imagine that as soon as it becomes possible, the Arabian tribes will revolt and drive their hated rulers out. In this case the Russian presence in Sheikh-Said would be of great utility in supplanting the Turkish domination in Arabia or, at least, in preventing the British from occupying Arabia ... I am convinced that within 30 years – the period for which this territory was given to France – England will capture Sheikh-Said come what may [predicted Francetti].¹⁴

This burgeoning colonialism on the borders of Arabia caused a redistribution of interests and forces in traditional Arabian society itself. Some tribal groups and their leaders supported the last desperate efforts of the Turkish authorities to shore up their positions in the so-called Arabian provinces of the Ottoman Empire, while others preferred reconciliation with the Western powers, reasoning that the competition among these powers, though aimed at the reinforcement of their own positions in the region, could also coincidentally be of great assistance in resolving the problems of national consolidation and the building of new independent states.

This was the general background to the series of impressive appearances of Russian ships in the Gulf and to the researches of a new generation of explorers that brought to light new data on the political and social evolution of Arabian society at the turn of the fourteenth century of the Hegira (the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries). The dramatic situation in the heart of Arabia at the turn of the new century attracted considerable attention in the main political centres and capitals of Europe, but most of all, of course, in their diplomatic missions, and especially in those situated in zones of strategic interest to the colonial powers.

The Russian Consul General in Bombay, M. Klemm, wrote in his secret report in 1319H (September 1901) about the reaction of the British colonial media in India to the latest events in the Gulf and on the coast of the Arabian peninsula, which were connected with a dangerous growth in tension between the main participants in Middle Eastern politics:

Public opinion in India is following the situation in the Gulf and on the Arabian coast with taut attention. But an earlier fear of the possible capture of some ports in this region by Russia or France has recently given way to an unpleasant presentiment about Germany’s plans to capture one of the best harbours in the Gulf – Kuwait.¹⁵

The colonial newspapers of India, according to M. Klemm, considered these plans to be a serious menace to Russian expansion in the Middle East rather than to British positions on the Arabian coast of the Gulf. The plans for the construction of the Berlin–Baghdad railway caused growing unrest in British India. A possible seizure by the Germans of the port of Kuwait and its subsequent transformation into the terminus of that railway could constitute a serious threat to British economic and political dominance in the region.

This extremely complicated situation looked still more dangerous because of the rise of political and military tension in the north-eastern part of Arabia, where the Kuwaiti Sheikh Mubarak al-Saba continued to struggle against Ibn Rashid – the Amir of Nejd. At the end of his special report Consul General Klemm described Britain’s efforts to put a halt to German expansion and to strengthen its own control over Kuwait and other areas of strategic importance in the Gulf.

The tense social and political situation within and around Arabia at this turning- point of its history continued to be covered by all the European media. The latest news about it reached the Russian capital, St Petersburg, by various routes, and caused various reactions in its governmental, social and economic institutions.

In his reports to the Russian Ambassador in Constantinople in the spring and summer of 1901 (1319H) the head of the Russian consulate in Jeddah informed him of Turkish support for German plans to penetrate into the Red Sea, including the coastal areas of Yemen and Aden. The Russian Consul also wrote about serious abuses by the Turkish authorities in organizing the journey of a number of Algerian pilgrims to Madinah. It was only due to the sudden appearance of the French cruiser Infernet that the Algerians were finally able to leave Jeddah for Madinah by sea.¹⁶

The problem of the free access of Muslim pilgrims – Russian, British or French subjects – to the holy places of Makkah and Madinah at the turn of the fourteenth century of the Hegira (the end of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries) was one of the most serious in Turkey’s relationships with the European powers. These Hujjaj, representing the enemy powers, traditionally appeared rather suspect in the eyes of Ottoman officials, and this in its turn posed certain difficulties to developing the Hajj from those countries that were controlled by the European powers. The position was all the more obnoxious, in that the growing Ottoman propaganda for Panislamism was arousing the religious feelings of Muslims, including those of Russia. And on their arriving at the ports of the Hejaz, they had to face the suspicious scrutiny of Turkish officers, whose main official task, ironically, was that of helping the pilgrims in fulfilling this central duty of their religious lives.

In the early fourteenth century of the Hegira (the eighth decade of the nineteenth century) Osman Nuri-Pasha, the Ottoman wali of Hejaz, complained of numerous ‘foreigners’ – Muslims from India and Russia – who overcrowded the Hejaz, living there at the cost of the Turkish authorities, not paying any taxes and appropriating more and more of the country’s houses and plots of settled land.

This position of the Ottoman government was well known to the Russian Muslims. About nine or ten thousand of them visited the holy places of the Hejaz annually at that period of time. And the Russian government did its best to facilitate the efforts of those pilgrims to get to Makkah and Madinah. It was with just this aim that a Muslim officer from the Russian Army’s Headquarters, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Davletshin, visited the Hejaz in the early fourteenth century of the Hegira (the ninth decade of the nineteenth century).¹⁷

But the growth in international tension and in Western expansion on the coasts of the Arabian peninsula became one of the main reasons for a considerable reduction in the number of Russian pilgrims in the first decade of the twentieth century, from about 6,500 in 1901 /1319H to 2,600 in 1909 /1327H. The Russian Consul in Jeddah in his reports confirmed this trend, and estimated the general number of pilgrims from Russia, Western Turkestan and Bukhara in 1903/1321H as 4,741.¹⁸

The geopolitical competition of the main Western powers in the early fourteenth century of the Hegira (at the start of the twentieth century) was accompanied by new demonstrations of their naval forces in the waters of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, in which Russia was seen to be an active participant. This very epoch was in fact marked by the first official visits of Russian military ships to the coastal states of the Arabian peninsula, and also by the first significant contacts between Russian navy officers and the Arab rulers of Hejaz, Nejd, Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, and so on. These first short visits contributed a great deal to acquainting Russian public opinion with the contemporary situation in Arabia, as well as with the traditions and culture of the peoples of the region. The importance of these contacts has already been analysed in several publications by Russian scholars,¹⁹ but some facts have still to be studied, and could be of some importance in illustrating the first steps of the reborn Saudi state at the dawn of its modern history.

In the whole mosaic of these materials covering the first expeditions to the coasts of Arabia now preserved in the State Archives of the Russian Navy in St Petersburg, one document is of special interest for a researcher working on the problem of the social and political conditions surrounding the foundation of the Saudi state.

At the start of the twentieth century (the early fourteenth century of the Hegira) visits of Russian gunboats to the seas surrounding the peninsula became more regular: Russia looked for reliable bases and coaling stations for her naval forces, while trying not to irritate her strategic partners in the new round of geopolitical games. The importance of such flag-showing visits by Russian gunboats and cruisers to the ports of Arabia was endorsed by diplomats, and by military and political officials in St Petersburg, and also aroused a considerable wave of patriotic fervour among the Russian public.

The second-class cruiser Boyarin entered the Red Sea with a unit of Russian gunboats under the general command of Vice-Admiral Baron Schtakelberg on its way from the port of Kronstadt to the Pacific. Boyarin’s Captain Sarychev had the special mission of visiting several ports in the Arabian peninsula, from Muscat to Kuwait.

This expedition took place a year after the dramatic and historic events that resulted in the retaking of Riyadh by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn Saud. In February 1903/ 1321H Boyarin left Muscat for Kuwait accompanied by the French cruiser Infernet (already mentioned above, and, as it seems, a habitual guest in the Arabian ports at that time). The two captains were then welcomed by the Sheikh of Kuwait, Mubarak al-Saba. And among other interesting meetings in Kuwait Captain Sarychev described a visit of honour paid by the captains, their high-ranking officers and the Russian consul in Bushehr to ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn Saud, who came there from Riyadh.

Sarychev’s description of this visit, which certainly had a clear political meaning, shows the range of his personal interest in and comprehension of the complicated situation in Arabia, and also reflects the official attitude of the Russian government towards current events in the region. The Russian officer makes specific mention of an episode in the war between the Saudis and the Rashidids in the summer of 1902/1320H, which finally resulted in the ensuing consolidation of the Saudi state.

Abderrahman Ibn Saud [wrote Sarychev], after reoccupying Riyadh – the capital of Nejd – was then blockaded there together with his sons and troops by Ibn Rashid. But his elder son Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud managed to defeat Ibn Rashid, who had to escape to Jebel-Shammar in the north, where he still had some loyal vassal tribes, while almost all the other tribes submitted to their legal rulers – the Saudi sheikhs.²⁰

Abdul Aziz’s victory was celebrated very solemnly and ceremoniously in Kuwait not long before our arrival [continued Sarychev]. Sheikh Mubarak of Kuwait was even said to have taken off his head kerchief and ‘agal and declared that he wished to become a slave of Abdul Aziz. Although Mubarak himself doesn’t have any direct interests in this controversy between Ibn Rashid and Ibn Saud, nonetheless since the latter, being his guest of honour, asked for his help and patronage in his struggle against Ibn Rashid, he was thus, according to the customary law of hospitality, obliged not only to defend the Saudi family, but to help them with all means at his disposal to restore their lost legal rights.

It was in terms of these considerations that Captain Sarychev, who was neither a politician nor a scholar, tried to explain ‘the active participation’ of Sheikh Mubarak in the political troubles of his Saudi brothers.

This support was realized in the form of considerable assistance in terms of men, arms, money and food afforded to the Saudi family. Sarychev also noted that Sheikh Mubarak had a quite clear grasp of the fact that the Turks, after defeating Ibn Saud at the hands of their ally Ibn Rashid, would then be free to strike at him. Then the question of constructing the railway from Baghdad to Kuwait would be resolved ipso facto, wrote Sarychev, and this in its turn would probably put an end to the rule of both the al-Saud and the al-Saba families. As for Kuwait, it would simply fall prey to the strongest of the predators.

Yet Nejd is passing, with varying fortunes but steadily, to the Saudi family [underlined Sarychev].

On the day of the departure of [our] cruiser Abdul Aziz had to leave for his new campaign, with considerable reinforcements in men and provisions from Sheikh Mubarak.

We were all welcomed by Abdul Aziz in a most cordial manner, with all his staff, including his brothers Muhammad Ibn Saud and Saad Ibn Saud, and also his highest officers lined up by rank in the court of his residence.

During this meeting the talks were focused on the latest victory of the Saudi Emir. Ibn Saud noted that, had it not been for the secret support of Turkey, which supplied Ibn Rashid with