html At the beginning of the 120th century, Western civilization entered its peak period. In order to prove the theory of Western superiority, European scholars classified the countries on the earth and classified them into capital countries, resource countries, and market countries, respectively, which occupy three positions in the world order.
The capital countries are undoubtedly those European empires, represented by emerging empires such as Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Germany, and the United States can also be counted as the first European empires.
market countries are large population countries in Asia and South America. They are in an independent position, but are at a disadvantage in global trade and act as consumer markets.
As for resource countries, the representative is Asia, Africa and Latin . The output of agricultural products or industrial raw materials is the most important thing here, especially industrial energy - coal and oil.
Some people even believe that World War II has the purpose of competing for oil production.
In the early 20th century, oil was also discovered in the Middle East, which was once poor, making this one of the most backward areas in the world a hot spot. The Middle East has huge oil reserves, and its discovery has even accelerated the process of human civilization to a certain extent.
For industrial civilization, oil is blood; for oil producing countries, oil fields are money printing machines.
Take the current earth tycoon Saudi as an example. Before discovering oil, the locals made a living by grazing. This desert-bound country frowned even when the colonists saw it. The locals often couldn't eat, and they had to rely on overseas grain transportation to provide relief.
Until 1936, Saudi Arabia launched oil, and then it became out of control. European and American powers rushed to cooperate with Saudi Arabia. The formerly arrogant colonist is now begging Saudi King Ibn Saudi Arabia to rent the oil field to itself.
Saudi king has a unique vision and took over the olive branch handed over by the United States, which finally brought the country a century of prosperity. In the late 20th century, Saudi Arabia's per capita income caught up with developed countries and became a miracle of , the third world .
In the second half of the 20th century, the Middle East was the most chaotic region in the world, but Saudi Arabia "stands firmly sits on the gold medal", and has never participated in the war directly, but has just guarded his own acre of three-point land as a local tyrant.
However, under the appearance of Saudi Arabia's glamorous local tyrants, they actually have difficulties that others cannot imagine.
So why can Saudi Arabia, as a local rich man, always be stable in the chaos in the Middle East? What ups and downs have this country experienced? Is Saudi Arabia seeking change now?
1. The Third Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a "lost wealth" in the Middle East,
Modern Saudi Arabia, also known as the "third Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", is located in Arab Peninsula . 95% of the areas on the island are deserts and have been a wilderness since ancient times.
Here Arab lives on nomadism and grazes on local scattered oasis, with a long-term population of less than one million.
In ancient times, Saudi Arabia gave birth to a religion that influenced the world - Islam , the prophet of Islam, Muhammad , who was called the last prophet of mankind by Muslims, was born on this land.
After the 7th century AD, Muhammad and his descendants established the Arab Empire across three continents, which also flourished for hundreds of years, and finally died in the civil war and the Mongolian expedition in the West in the 13th century.
html After the 115th century, the Turks rose, and the Saudi Peninsula was conquered by Ottoman Empire, and continued until the decline of the Ottoman Empire after the 18th century.
html In the mid-118th century, taking advantage of the decline of the Ottomans, the Saudi family on the Arabian Peninsula rose and established a regime in the western part of the peninsula, known in history as the "first kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
This tribal-like little kingdom did not attract the attention of Sultan . After all, there was so poor that it could not even collect taxes. If you send troops to conquer, you still have to pay military expenses.
However, the Saudi family is quite ambitious. In the early 19th century, the holy places Mecca and Medina were captured. At this time, the Ottoman Empire became anxious. Egypt Governor Ali quickly sent people to destroy the Saudi family and regained control of the holy places.
Decades later, the Saudi family established the "Second Kingdom" as the core in Riyadh in the eastern part of the country. This kingdom has been in existence for 70 years. It was destroyed by the "saintly family" Rashid family in the north with the help of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century.
The Saudi family was then scattered throughout Arabia until the beginning of the 20th century when a prince named Ibn Saudi Arabia decided to restore the country. He set out from Kuwait and brought people back to the Arabian Peninsula, capturing Riyadh .
Ibn. Saudi Arabia is so strong because he and the "Wahabie" sect, using this idea to unite the team and train the dead soldiers. These soldiers are ready to die, believing that they can go to heaven after death and their combat effectiveness will be greatly improved.
Ibn Saudi Arabia is the founding monarch of modern Saudi Arabia. He then set out from Riyadh to conquer the Arabian Peninsula and finally unified the Arabian Peninsula. The country he established was called the "third kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
In the 1920s, Ibn Saudi Arabia took advantage of the chaos in the Middle East and Europe to make transactions with the British, helping the British fight against the Ottoman Empire, and finally gaining independence from the UK.
The British abandoned Saudi Arabia very thoroughly because they found oil elsewhere, but Saudi Arabia had nothing at that time.
As for Ibn Saudi Arabia, although he gained independence with his country, he felt uncomfortable watching the neighbor next door mine oil to make money.
Unwillingly Ibn Saudi Arabia ordered cooperation with Western companies to find oil across the country. Finally, in 1928, Saudi Arabia dug up oil on its own land for the first time, and since then there have been more and more oil fields.
The local oil quality is very good, and it has shallow burial and large reserves. It is very convenient to mine and refine, making the entire capitalist world boil.
As a local old colonist, the British came to visit immediately, but the Saudis did not like the snobbish British.
Britain has been colonizing the Middle East for a hundred years, and it can be said that it is a bad thing to do. The locals have no good impression of the British and have no trust. How can they do business together?
It was not until the early 1930s that the American California Oil Company came to Saudi Arabia and offered superior conditions to the Saudi royal family. Finally, Saudi Arabia agreed to sign an agreement to allow the United States to contract Saudi oil.
1938, Daman Oilfield began to produce oil and became a world-class commercial oil field. Saudi Arabia began to start the " printing machine ".
10 years later, the largest land oil field on the earth, the "Gavo Oilfield", was discovered, and the offshore oil field "Safania", also had amazing reserves.
US capital began to roar, Saudi Arabia's oil fields brought huge profits to the United States and also made the Saudi royal family the richest royal family.
2. In the chaos in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia wants to keep a distance from the United States
For Saudi Arabia, the sudden increase in oil has more changed the face of this country. In the early 20th century, the local area was a poor country dominated by loose agriculture and animal husbandry. After oil, Saudi Arabia directly crossed the third world and moved closer to developed countries.
At the same time, the Saudi royal family also holds a large amount of US dollars, and in the international market, it is a developed capital country.
However, the country has become rich, and the Saudi people are still very poor. Until the mid-20th century, most Saudis lived around the poverty line, and they also had quite a complaint about the royal family.
In order to control the people, the Saudi royal family United Nations religious classes use teachings to control the people.
royal family took money to support priests. The priests formulated strict religious laws to rule the people. All aspects of Saudi lives were restricted, and the royal family thus completed the strengthening of the regime.
This "hard reinforcement" has stabilized Saudi politics, but it also makes Saudi Arabia's rich and poor a huge gap.
The nobles, officials, compradors and merchants in the upper class of Saudi Arabia are as rich as the country, but the people in the lower class are still farming and grazing. A small number of people get rich through industry and commerce, but the proportion is very small.
Over this, the gap between the rich and the poor may also lead to social unrest.
In order to make up for the gap, the Saudi government has distributed benefits to the poor all year round. Therefore, the benefits of Saudis are very rich, including free education, medical care, and housing. The people are under less pressure and naturally support the regime.
It can be said that in the mid-20th century, Saudi Arabia was an extremely stable structure, at least internally, without the power to confront the royal power.
However, in the late 20th century, Saudi Arabia also encountered external crises due to the outbreak of Middle East War .
Saudi Arabia was one of the earliest independent countries in the Arab region, thanks to the political means of the founding monarch Ibn Saudi Arabia and also benefited from the international situation at that time.
After World War II , the Arab world countries were independent one after another. The Arab nations gained freedom for the first time in more than 700 years, without having to kneel down to the Khan, worship the Sultan, or be loyal to the kings of Europe.
But the Arab countries encountered another terrifying opponent - Israel.
After World War II, Jewish convinced the American Wall Street tycoons to support the US government in allowing the Jews to establish the country, and the location was actually selected in the Palestinian region.
In May 1948, Israel was established in the Palestinian region. On the day of its founding, the first Middle East War broke out.
Although the Arab coalition was supported by Britain and France, the army's combat effectiveness was too poor and was finally defeated by the Israelites. After the war, the Arab "Palestine" was completely occupied by Israel, and the Palestinians lost their hometown. In the 30 years after
, the Arabs and Israel fought three more wars. Each time the Arabs besieged Israel, but every time Israel was defeated, and the territory was getting bigger and bigger.
967 The Third Middle East War , Israel even controlled Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights , becoming a major power in the Middle East .
In these wars, you will find that Egypt and Syria and Jordan . These three countries directly border Israel, and the hatred between the two sides is the deepest.
and Iraq , Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya are all waving flags and shouting behind. For example, Iraq and Kuwait also shipped some planes and tanks and to help, As for Saudi Arabia, they support diplomatically and give money, but they will never send troops.
Reasonably, Saudi Arabia is the most orthodox Arab, and it also holds a holy land of Islam. It should be the leader of the nation.
But the fact is that the Arab leaders at that time were Egypt, and the most powerful one was also Egypt. Egypt led Syria, Jordan and Israel to fight to the death four times, and the generals were cut short. Saudi Arabia was waiting and watching and never took action.
Saudi's attitude is not difficult to understand.
First of all, Saudi Arabia is a die-hard ally of the United States, and Israel is the "own son" of the United States. The United States will never allow Saudi Arabia to deal with Israel.
Before the 1970s, Saudi Arabia had very little say in the oil industry, and it was basically the United States that had the final say. The royal family had no confidence to show their toughness, so they could only pay to support the Arab brothers.
Secondly, even if you take a step back, with the strength of Saudi Arabia at that time, they did not have a decent army to support their brothers.
Saudi army has long been dominated by light infantry , lacking heavy weapons, and its training status is very poor. If Saudi Arabia goes to play with a swollen face and fat man, it may cause losses to lose troops.
This damages the image of the royal family. Secondly, let the army go abroad to fight, and the generals must gain power, which may endanger the royal power.
After the two Middle East wars, Saudi Arabia asked the United States to help it build its own army, and the United States also agreed.
However, the weapons sent by the United States are old retired equipment, and they lack the weapons that change the situation of the war, such as missiles, , advanced fighter jets, etc., and the United States is also afraid that Saudi Arabia will use these things to fight Israel.
Therefore, since the late 1960s, the Saudi royal family began to consider the future of the country. Being a puppet of the Americans like this will not only damage the image of the country, but may also endanger the security of the royal family.
Moreover, Israel has too much hatred in the hearts of Arabs, and the people can't bear it if Saudi Arabia does nothing.
3. Oil cannot bring iron barren land, and Saudi Arabia is also actively changing
1 In 960, Saudi Arabia decided to relocate the headquarters of "American Petroleum" back to its country and send royal representatives to work at the board of directors.
American companies expressed disagreement, but Saudi Arabia said:
"If you do not agree, then the Chinese government may not be able to control the people's demonstrations in the oil field. Maybe terrorists will get in. Who will bear the consequences?"
After hearing this, the Americans could only nod and agree.
In the same year, Asian, African and Latin American oil-producing countries formed the "Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries", referred to as Opike , which is used to negotiate with Western multinational companies and negotiate prices together.
But the OPEC organization is not the Arabs yet.
967, Western countries favored Israel in the Third Middle East War, and the Arabs jointly established the "Arab Oil Exporting Countries Alliance", which belongs to OPEC, but has autonomy, and has formal confrontation with Western countries.
It was this organization that set off a global oil crisis in the 1970s, making Western countries feel the anger of the Arabs.
1973, the Fourth Middle East War of began. Because the United States and Britain helped Israel again, Arab countries announced that they would stop oil production, resulting in the bloodletting of the European and American economies, and the global economy was hit hard. It is known in history that the first oil crisis in was .
The first oil crisis allowed the world to see the power of the Arabs, increase the confidence of the Arabs, and accelerate the pace of independence by the Saudi royal family.
1988, Saudi Arabian Petroleum Company was established, referred to as "Saudi Aramco Petroleum". This is the world's largest oil company, completely controlled by the royal family, and most of Saudi Arabia's oil fields are owned by the company.
The company is one of the most profitable companies in the world, with annual profits exceeding US$100 billion a year. The money is directly deposited into the national treasury, and most of it enters the royal treasury.
In this way, as time goes by, at the end of the 20th century, Saudi Arabia has basically completed the independence of the oil industry and military autonomy, and can basically be independent of the Middle East.
At that time, Israel already had nuclear weapon , and the Arab countries were anxious. Saudi Arabia once purchased missiles from the United States for self-defense, but was rejected by the United States, so Saudi Arabia had to come to China.
Finally, Saudi Arabia spent 3.5 billion US dollars to buy 35 Dongfeng missiles as a heavy weapon for Zhenguo.
It is these missiles that made traditional enemy Israel and the rising Iraq dare not go beyond the line, allowing Saudi Arabia to stabilize the situation in the chaos in the Middle East at the end of the 20th century.
After entering the 21st century, Saudi Arabia felt bad as he watched the United States destroy Iraq next door. Since then, the Saudi royal family has mainly done two things: spending money to build an army, and domestic economic reforms.
Build the army is the main business of Saudi Arabia and the United States for many years of cooperation. The Saudi army has a full set of American equipment. The country does not lack money, so it is easy to buy whatever it is. The most obvious one is the Saudi Air Force, which is basically known as the two Middle East players along with the Israeli Air Force, and is the latest and best in terms of equipment.
As for internal reform, it is the policy of the Saudi royal family to improve the gap between the rich and the poor in the country and stabilize the royal rule.
Nowadays, Saudi Arabia is like a contractor. They hire foreign companies to open oil fields. The oil field workers are also foreign, and their own people are waiting to collect rent.
However, the Saudis do not have any independent technology and sell oil alone all year round to make a living. Once international oil prices drop, the country will have heavy bleeding and its ability to resist risks is very poor.
For example, since 1982, international oil prices have been sluggish for 20 consecutive years, and Saudi Arabia has to tighten its belt to live.
As for the 3.5 billion US dollars I bought in China's missiles that year, it realized less than one-third of the money. The rest were all used to pay off debts such as grain and oil, and it also required years of payment, which showed the embarrassment of Saudi Arabia at that time.
Saudi Arabia has no money, so it cannot give out benefits, and poor people cannot afford to eat or see a doctor, so the rule of the royal family will be in danger.
This is not an alarmist statement. Many staff members who went to Saudi Arabia revealed that there are many beggars on the streets in the local area, the cities are not developed, and the rural areas are even worse. allows the whole world to have a glimpse of the real reality of the local tyrant Saudi Arabia.
In recent years, the Saudi royal family has fought corruption under the leadership of the Crown Prince Salman, driving away corrupt officials who are entrenched in the oil industry, and then invested internationally with the money they have chased, bought advanced foreign technology to open factories in the country, and promoted industrial upgrading.
In addition, Saudi Arabia also wants to vigorously develop the tourism industry, and set up some cities to open to the world, build world-class wonder buildings, encourage the development of the entertainment industry, and want to build it into a world-famous city like Dubai .
Finally, the most important point is that Saudi Arabia is gradually beginning to move towards "secularization". The government has announced that it is necessary to revise modern laws and encourage men and women to be equal and have freedom of belief, and is likely to enter the ranks of secular countries.
You should know that Saudi Arabia has governed the country by "teaching and law" since its founding. The religious aristocracy in China occupies a dominant position like the royal family, because this reform will touch the interests of many privileged people, so there is a great resistance, but the Saudi royal family is very determined.
Although Saudi Arabia is a rich country in the world, it has always been low on international evaluation. The monarchy system, a single economy, and a large gap between the rich and the poor have made the country lack competitiveness, making it difficult to attract investment, nor has the right to speak in the international political arena.
The current situation in the Middle East is more stable than in the 20th century. At least there is no war with Israel. However, the Shiite crisis brought about by Iran 's rise is also very serious. Syria, Yemen , and Iraq's Shiiteization puts great pressure on Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has just gone through a hundred years. Whether this kingdom can complete its transformation safely has a great impact on the situation in the Middle East. The whole world is waiting and seeing whether the Crown Prince Salman can become a generation of wise rulers.
text/Business Wild
Reference materials:
, "The founder of modern Saudi Arabia: Discussion on political activities of Ibn Saudi Arabia" Wang Tiezheng
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