The Unification of Saudi Arabia was a period of Arabian history which saw the House of Saud, the ruling family of Nejd, unify the Arabian Peninsula as the "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" from 1902 to 1934. The process began in 1902, when Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud, the son of the deposed ruler of the Second Saudi State, borrowed troops from the Emir of Kuwait to capture Riyadh from their realms' shared rivals, the Rashidis of Jabal Shammar. In January 1902, the Saudis captured Masmak fort and killed Aljan bin Mohammed al-Ajlan, the Rashidi chief of Riyadh; this enabled Abdulaziz to found the Saudi Emirate of Riyadh. The Riyadhi forces warred with the Rashidsi from 1903 to 1907, leading to the Saudi takeover of the al-Qassim region in 1906. In 1913, with the support of the fanatical Ikhwan movement, Abdulaziz captured al-Hasa from its Ottoman Turkish garrison, restoring the area to Arab rule after over 40 years (1871). Abdulaziz was thus able to incorporate Qatif into his realm, and he created the Emirate of Nejd and Hasa and persecuted the large Shia population of the region. Abdulaziz proceeded to plan the conquest of Kuwait, and, from 1919 to 1920, the Saudis and Kuwaitis sporadically clashed, leaving hundreds of Kuwaitis dead. From 1923 to 1937, Abdulaziz blockaded Kuwait, and the boundaries of Kuwait were fixed in 1922. During World War I, the British cultivated an alliance with the Saudis, with Abdulaziz being given a monthly stipend for warring against the Ottoman vassals of Jabal Shammar. From 1918 to 1919, Abdulaziz went to war with Hejaz over supremacy in Arabia, capturing al-Khurma before the British - who were also allies of Hejaz - negotiated a ceasfire which lasted until 1924. In 1921, the Saudis took advantage of the ceasefire to conquer Jabal Shammar, ending Rashidi rule in Arabia. The Ikhwan, who had participated in the war, soon grew out of control and raided Jordan from 1922 to 1924; the British Army responded by establishing an airbase at Marka, near Amman, to support the Transjordanian monarchy against the Wahhabist raiders. In 1921, one Ikhwan raiding party massacred 700 Shi'ites during a raid on Iraq. From 1924 to 1925, the Saudis resumed their war with Hejaz, conquering Jeddah in December 1925; in 1926, Abdulaziz was proclaimed King of Hejaz, founding the kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The slowing of Saudi expansion, Abdulaziz's disapproval of the Ikhwan's unauthorized raids, and Britain's alliance with the modernizing Saudi state eventually led to the Ikhwan Revolt, with the traditionalist Ikhwan rising against their former Saudi allies. After the Battle of Sabillah, during which the Ikhwan were massacred by modern military technology, the Ikhwan rebellion petered out, ending in 1930. On 23 September 1932, Abdulaziz merged his separate domains of Hejaz and Nejd into the united Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and, in 1934, he incorporated the Idrisid Emirate of Asir in southern Arabia into his realm. The Saudi-Yemeni War of 1934, during which the British-backed Saudis attempted to conquer the Italian-backed Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, saw Saudi expansionism be permanently halted, and the nations signed a "Treaty of Muslim Friendship and Arab Brotherhood" in Ta'if to end their conflict.
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