Second Saudi State in the context of Battle of Riyadh (1902)

Sara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi (Arabic: سارة بنت أحمد السديري Sārah bint Aḥmad as-Sudayrī; c. 1860 – 1 January 1910) was a Saudi royal. She was a member of the Al Sudairi family and the wife of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, who was the last ruler of the Second Saudi State. Sara was the mother of King Abdulaziz, also known as Ibn Saud, who was the founder of Saudi Arabia.

The Battle of Riyadh was a minor battle in Riyadh, then part of the Emirate of Ha'il, fought between the Rashidi dynasty and the House of Saud in January 1902 that resulted in the latter's takeover of walled town by Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud. The battle is considered a prelude to the 30-year old unification war, culminating in the establishment of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

In late 1901, following the end of the Second Saudi State, the Al Saud clan was forced to move to Kuwait after Riyadh had fallen to the Al Rashid family. Ibn Saud, the head of the clan, requested supplies and men from the Kuwaiti Emir to retake his hometown. The Kuwaiti prince, who was also involved in several wars with the Rashidis, acceded to Ibn Saud's request and gave him horses and arms.

The unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign in which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, city-states, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the central Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, Unification started in 1902 and continued until 1932, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed under the leadership of Abdulaziz, known in the West as Ibn Saud, creating what is sometimes referred to as the Third Saudi state, to differentiate it from the First Saudi state, and the Second Saudi State.

The House of Saud had been in exile in the British-protected Emirate of Kuwait since 1893, following their second removal from power and the dissolution of their polity by the Rashidi dynasty rulers of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar, allies of the Ottoman Empire.