A. M. VASILIEV Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences King Abdulaziz Keywords:. Muhammad ibn Abdel Wahhab. Sherif of Makkah Husayn ibn Ali (Sherif Husayn). Percy Cox, Harry St. John Philby Abdel Aziz only metered out his diplomacy to his subjects, ulema, and even the closest associates, realizing that their reaction may not always meet the requirements of political expediency. BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: continuation The lessons he learned in Kuwait, at the court of the virtuoso of Arabian diplomacy Mubarak, were not in vain. First of all, he realized that independence from the Porte could be achieved by alternating between military confrontation - preferably not with the Turks themselves, but with their vassals - and political means-declarative recognition of the sultan's suzerainty, acceptance of Ottoman titles, and the display of Ottoman flags. But to consolidate his gains, he needed to ensure mutual understanding with another great power - the British Empire. A British protectorate was preferable to the heavy hand of the Turks. The British initially avoided direct contact with him, not wanting to interfere in the affairs of Central Arabia, and after his conquest of Al-Hasa, they did not want to turn their contacts into concrete obligations. Europe was heading for the First World War. London was trying to dislodge the Ottoman Empire from a possible hostile coalition and was not going to quarrel with Istanbul over a distant, impoverished, third-rate Arabian principality. Therefore, the British were avoiding the conclusion of a formal treaty with Abdel Aziz, which he sought. Under the 1913 agreement between London and Istanbul (which was not ratified), most of the Emirate of Abdel Aziz remained under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, since it was located north of the straight "green line" laid between the Aden protectorates and Qatar, which delimited the British and Ottoman possessions. Knowing nothing of the conspiracy behind his back, Abdel Aziz came up with ... Read more