Egyptian-Wahhabi War

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Egyptian-Wahhabi War in 1811-1818 was fought between Egypt under the reign of Muhammad Ali (nominally under Ottoman rule) and Wahabbis in Arabia.

Wahhabi attacks on pilgrim caravans crossing Arabia concerned the Ottoman Turkish government at the end of the 18th century. When the Ottomans attempted to invade eastern Arabia, the Wahhabis responded by seizing the holy city of Karbala in Turkish Iraq 1801, then capturing Mecca itself in 1802. Preoccupied in other directions, the Sultan did not send another force into Arabia until 1811, when he consigned to Mehmet Ali, the virtually independent viceroy of Egypt, the task of crushing the heretics. For the next four years, the balance of power shifted back and forth between Egyptians and Wahhabi Saudis.

In 1815 the Saudi successor, Abd Allah I, sued for peace, and the Egyptians withdrew from Najd. The following year, however, Ibrahim Pasha, one of the Viceroy's sons, took command of the Egyptian forces. Gaining the support of the volatile Arabian tribes by skillful diplomacy and lavish gifts, he advanced into central Arabia to occupy the towns of Unayzah, Buraydah, and Shaqra. Joined now by most of the principal tribes, he appeared before the Wahhabi capital ad-Dir'iyah (Riyadh) in April 1818. After six months of intermittent and desperate fighting, Abd Allah surrendered September 9, 1818, and was sent to Constantinople, where he was beheaded. Ad-Dir'iyah was razed to the ground, and Egyptian garrisons were posted to the principal towns. Several members of the Saudi family managed to escape before the surrender; the rest were sent to prison in Egypt.