Battle of Mecca (1806)

The Battle of Mecca (1806) happened during the late 18th century by the First Saudi State. The Wahhabis began raiding Iraq and then besieged Mecca, which they definitively conquered in 1806. 

 Background 
The Wahhabi movement, which introduced a new factor into the pattern of Arabian politics, was founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a reformer influenced by the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah. It was Abd al-Wahhab's intention to purify Islam of polytheism and to return it's original primitive state. He would later on be expelled from his hometown in Najd. He moved to Al-Dirʿiyyah, a village that had never been ruled by the Ottomans, and obtained the protection from the House of Saud.
 Capture of Mecca 
In 1802 the Saudi's captured and sacked the holy city of Karbala in Ottoman Iraq, plundering and damaging Shrines and other buildings. In the following year, Saud led his father’s army to the capture of Mecca itself in the Hejaz, which was also under Ottoman control. The fighting started between the Wahhabis and the Governor of Mecca, Sharif Ghalib, who had been appointed by the Ottoman Sultan as his ruling representative over the areas of Hejaz.
 Aftermath 
In the end, the Wahhabi army succeeded in taking the Holy city and spreading of Wahhabi Islam until the Ottomans retook the city in 1813.

 Also see 
History of Saudi Arabia

References

Category:19th-century battles
Category:19th century in Asia
Category:Mecca
Category:Saudi Arabia