What is happening in Arabia in 1960CE
With the outbreak of World War 1, Kuwait became a British protectorate, to safeguard it from an Ottoman invasion. The Hejaz drove the Ottomans out, with British support (notably under “Lawrence of Arabia”); and the Saudis fought the pro-Ottoman al-Rasheed’s. In the years after the war, the Saudis occupied all of what would become Saudi Arabia. The combination of tact and toughness which Ibn Saud, the Saudi king, displayed towards both the Bedouin clans and the sophisticated urban elites of the Hejaz cities, established his enormous kingdom on firm foundations.
The region has experienced decades of peace and stability. In the 1930s the discovery of vast deposits of oil, exploited by American and British companies, brought new levels of prosperity; in some cases, sleepy little emirates became wealthy modern states in the space of one generation.
An insurrection in Oman, by the tribes of the interior (1954-60), was put down with British help.
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