Britain forms the Federation of South Arabia

North Yemen withdrew from the United Arab States after the union weakened. Regional rivalries and domestic political tensions continued, setting the stage for the 1962 revolution and internationalized...

A group of Yemeni army officers deposed Imam Muhammad al-Badr and proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic. The revolution grew from domestic opposition to hereditary rule and wider republican currents....

Imam al-Badr survived the attack on his palace and began organizing royalist resistance. The survival of the imam enabled a rival political coalition to mobilize, preventing the new republican...

Egypt sent troops to support the new republican government after appeals from Yemeni leaders. Egyptian intervention transformed a Yemeni revolution into a wider regional war and brought large-scale...

Saudi Arabia supported the royalist opposition, responding to the republican revolution and Egyptian military presence near its border. Yemeni factions received outside money, weapons and political...

Armed resistance in Radfan became a major front in the struggle against British rule. Local fighters challenged the federation’s authority and the British military presence; the revolt connected...

A grenade attack on the British High Commissioner in Aden killed one person and wounded about 50, after which the colonial administration declared a state of emergency. The insurgency grew amid...

Federation troops, supported by British air power, launched an operation in Radfan. The military campaign sought to reopen the road between Aden and Dhala and restore colonial-federation control....

British army forces and Federation troops began a renewed expedition into Radfan. The operation captured ridges and high ground, but the campaign’s central issue remained Yemeni opposition to...

British and Federation forces captured the main rebel stronghold in Wadi Dhubsan. The colonial account described the operation as suppression of a tribal revolt; the wider struggle involved local...