The US, the UK and Saudi Arabia in World War II: The Middle East and the Origins of a Special Relationship

(Hardback)

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The story of Anglo-American relations in Saudi Arabia during the Second World War has generally been viewed as one of discord and hegemonic rivalry, a perspective reinforced by a tendency to consider Britain's decline and the ascent of US power as inevitable. In this engaging and timely study, Matthew Hinds calls into question such assumptions and reveals a relationship that, though hard-nosed, functioned through interdependence and strategic parity. Drawing upon an array of archives from both sides of the Atlantic, Hinds traces the flow of key events and policies as well as the leading figures who shaped events to show why, how and to what extent the allies and Saudi Arabia became 'mixed up together', in the words of Winston Churchill. Perhaps most fundamentally, Britain and the United States were enthralled by the promise of Saudi Arabia serving as an auxiliary to Allied strategy. Obtaining King Ibn Saud's tacit support or more specifically, his 'benevolent neutrality', meant having vital access, not only to the country's prospective oil reserves, but to its prized geographic location, its centrality within Islam and, as international politics increasingly followed an anti-colonial path, to its credentials as a sovereign and independent Arab state. Given what was at stake, London and Washington saw their engagement in Saudi Arabia as seminal; a genuine blueprint for how to forge a lasting 'Special Relationship' throughout the Middle East. Hinds' bold new interpretation is a vital work that enlarges our understanding of the Anglo-American wartime alliance.

Reviews

Hinds has produced a readable account that makes a convincing case for revising notions of wartime Anglo American rivalry in Saudi Arabia ... A stimulating reinterpretation of Anglo-American relations in Saudi Arabia that deserves to be a central point of reference in any analysis of the evolution of the special relationship in the Middle East. * Bustan: The Middle East Book Review *

Author Bio

Matthew Hinds is Lecturer in Political History at the LSE. He obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics, which examined Anglo-American relations in Saudi Arabia between the years of 1941 and 1945. He received his MA degree with distinction in the History of International Relations from the LSE's Department of International History and graduated Cum Laude at the Catholic University of America with a BA degree in Politics. He has also been a visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington DC and at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland.