On this day in 1975, Saudi Arabia King Faisal is shot dead by his nephew, Prince Faisal, in Riyadh.
King Faisal, son of King Ibn Saud, fought in the military campaigns in the 1920s and 1930s that helped forge modern Saudi Arabia. He later served as Saudi ambassador to the United Nations and in 1953 was made premier upon the ascension of his older brother, Saud. In 1964, King Saud was pressured to abdicate, and Faisal became the absolute ruler of Saudi Arabia. As king, he sought to modernize his nation, and lent financial and moral support to anti-Israeli efforts in the Middle East.
In 1975, Faisal was assassinated for reasons that remain obscure, and his half-brother, Crown Prince Khalid, ascended to the throne.
