Editing History of Saudi Arabia (section)

===Return to Ottoman domination===
{{See also|Emirate of Nejd|Emirate of Jabal Shammar}}

The Al Saud returned to power in 1824, but their area of control was mainly restricted to the Saudi heartland of the [[Najd]] region, known as the [[Second Saudi State]]. However, their rule in Najd was soon contested by new rivals, the [[Rashidis]] of [[Ha'il]]. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud and the Al Rashid fought for control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia. By 1891, the Al Saud were conclusively defeated by the Al Rashid, who drove the Saudis into exile in [[Kuwait]].<ref name="Saudi Embassy US Website" /><ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabia" /><ref name="Global Security">[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/abdulaziz.htm Global Security] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225160939/https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/abdulaziz.htm |date=25 December 2018 }} Retrieved 19 January 2011</ref>

Meanwhile, in the Hejaz, following the defeat of the First Saudi State, the Egyptians continued to occupy the area until 1840. After they left, the Sharifs of Mecca reasserted their authority, albeit with the presence of an Ottoman governor and garrison.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabia" />

====Arab Revolt====
{{Main|Arab Revolt}}

By the early 20th century, the [[Ottoman Empire]] continued to control or have suzerainty (albeit nominal) over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers (including the Al Saud who had returned from exile in 1902—[[#Unification|see below]]) with the Sharif of Mecca having preeminence and ruling the Hejaz.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabia" /><ref name="Amazon.com" /><ref>David Murphy, The Arab Revolt 1916–18: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze, Osprey Publishing, 2008,</ref>

In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain and France<ref>Murphy, David ''The Arab Revolt 1916–1918'', London: Osprey, 2008 p. 18</ref> (which were fighting the Ottomans in the [[World War I|First World War]]), the sharif of Mecca, [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Hussein bin Ali]], led a pan-Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, with the aim of securing Arab independence and creating a single unified [[Arab]] state spanning the Arab territories from [[Aleppo]] in [[Syria]] to [[Aden]] in [[Yemen]]. 

[[File:030Arab.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Soldiers in the Arab Army during the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918, carrying the [[Flag of the Arab Revolt]] and pictured in the Arabian Desert.]]

The Arab army comprised [[bedouin]] and others from across the peninsula, but not the Al Saud and their allied tribes, who did not participate in the revolt partly because of a long-standing rivalry with the [[Sharifs of Mecca]] and partly because their priority was to defeat the Al Rashid for control of the interior. Nevertheless, the revolt played a part in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle-Eastern Front]] and tied down thousands of Ottoman troops, thereby contributing to the Ottomans' World War I defeat in 1918.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabia" /><ref name="ReferenceA">David Murphy, The Arab Revolt 1916–18: Lawrence Sets Arabia Ablaze, Osprey Publishing, 2008</ref>

However, with the subsequent [[partitioning of the Ottoman Empire]], the British and French [[Sykes–Picot Agreement|reneged on promises to Hussein]] to support a pan-Arab state. Although Hussein was acknowledged as King of the Hejaz, Britain later shifted support to the Al Saud, leaving him diplomatically and militarily isolated. The revolt, therefore, failed in its objective to create a pan-Arab state, but Arabia was freed from Ottoman suzerainty and control.<ref name="ReferenceA" />