South Yemen
On 22 June 1969, the Marxist–Leninist faction of the NLF led by Abdel Fattah Ismail and Salim Rubai Ali, overthrew the Nasserist President Qahtan al-Shaabi in an internal bloodless coup that was later called the Corrective Move.The official name of the state was changed a year after the reforms to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), and was able to establish strong relations with Cuba, East Germany, North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union.[8][9] On the other hand, the leaders of the sheikhdoms feared that they would be overthrown later or that their influence would remain limited due to the dominance of the educated Aden elite, which was made up of a large number of non-Arabs and non-Muslims.The leaders of the NLF came from within the protected sheikhdoms and were not supported by the Egyptians at first, while the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen ran its operations from Aden and received support from Gamal Abdel Nasser, which made it appear as a follower of the Egyptians promoting Nasser’s agendas inside the country, the operations of these factions against the British were known to them as the Aden Emergency.The British tried to reach a compromise with these groups and found themselves waging a war on two fronts, trying to thwart the Republic in the north and the anti-English factions in the south.[17] Civilian workers and businessmen left, British support stopped, and the closure of the Suez Canal in 1967 reduced the number of ships crossing Aden by 75%.The right-wingers and their popular leader, Qahtan, did not want to make major changes in the prevailing social and economic structure and took a conservative stance toward "liberating all Arab lands from colonialism, supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people, and supporting socialist regimes around the world to resist imperialism and colonial forces in the Third World."[20] The leftist section of the Liberation Front was also promoting and opposed the establishment of popular forces and proposals to nationalize lands, and they were not preoccupied with the struggle of social classes.[21][22] The leftist section "wanted a social and economic transformation that would serve the broad segment of the working people instead of the wealthy minority," as they put it.[21][24] On another level, in the months of July, August and December of 1968, the popular Qahtan faced new rebellions from leftist parties because all Arab countries welcomed the front.The new powers issued a new constitution, nationalized foreign banks and insurance companies, and changed the name of the state to The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in line with the Marxist-Leninist approach they followed.[30] The new government embarked on a programme of nationalisation, introduced central planning, put limits on housing ownership and rent, and implemented land reforms.[40][41] However, these plans were put on hold in 1979, as the PDRY funded Red rebels in the YAR, and the war was only prevented by an Arab League intervention.This conflict, known as the South Yemen Civil War, lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties, Ali Nasir's ouster, and Ismail's disappearance and presumed death.Ali Salim al-Beidh, an ally of Ismail who had succeeded in escaping the attack on pro-Ismail members of the Politburo, then became General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party.Legal interpretation was often the province of secular officials, and the independence of sheikhs was limited by government control of religious trusts and mosque funds.Saudi Arabia only established diplomatic relations in 1976, initially hosting pro-British exiles and supporting armed clashes in the border regions of South Yemen.[69] The state changed this practice in the mid-1980s but gave the governorates geographical or historical names and ensured that their borders did not coincide with tribal allegiances.As a result, following the British withdrawal, there here was little to no industrial output or mineral wealth exploitation in the country until the mid-1980s, when significant petroleum reserves in the central regions near Shibam and Mukalla were discovered.[71] Over time, economic policies in the PDRY underwent a transformation, shifting from an initial focus on developing the state sector to promoting cooperative and joint private-public enterprises.By the late 1980s, there was a notable presence of industries in Aden and around Al Mukalla in Hadramawt, producing a range of essential goods such as plastics, batteries, cigarettes, matches, tomato paste, dairy products, and fish canning.Trade unions in the PDRY primarily functioned as state entities rather than as negotiating bodies, playing a significant role in upholding labor regulations and standards.[74] Decades of unsuccessful exploration efforts, hampered by the harsh desert environment and political instability, had left South Yemen heavily reliant on foreign aid, primarily from the Soviet Union, and remittances from its citizens working abroad, estimated to be around half of government revenue by the mid-1980s.[74] The discovery was viewed as a potential pathway to reduce dependence on external sources of income and improve the lives of South Yemen's roughly 2.4 million citizens.[74] The Soviet involvement in the discovery, estimated to have cost over half a billion dollars and add to South Yemen's already staggering debt, raised concerns about potential political and economic influence in the region.The violent leadership struggle within the ruling communist party, culminating in the January 1986 "blood bath" in Aden, further destabilized the nation.This volatile political landscape cast a shadow over the potential benefits of the newfound oil wealth and raised questions about how the resources would be managed and distributed fairly within the nation.
Coat of armsWaḥdah, Ḥurrīyah, IshtirākīyahNational Anthem of the People's Democratic Republic of YemenRepeat, O World, My SongArabiaArabicDemonym(s)Marxist–Leninistsocialist republicGeneral SecretaryAbdul Fattah IsmailAli Nasir MuhammadAli Salim al-BeidhPresidentQahtan al-ShaabiHaidar Abu Bakr al-AttasPrime MinisterFaysal al-ShaabiYasin Said NumanSupreme People's CouncilCold WarArab League membershipUN membershipCorrective MoveUnificationSouth Yemeni dinarDrives onISO 3166 codeInternet TLDFederation of South ArabiaProtectorate of South ArabiaISO 3166-1ISO 3166-3communist stateMiddle EastArab worldgovernoratesRepublic of YemenSocotraNorth YemenSaudi ArabiaColony of AdenAden ProtectorateAden SettlementBombay Presidencya state of emergencyNational Liberation FrontFront for the Liberation of Occupied South YemenAbdel Fattah IsmailSalim Rubai AliNasseristYemeni Socialist Partyone-partysocialist stateEast GermanyNorth KoreaSoviet Unionbrief civil war in 1986unifiedYemen Arab RepublicHistory of YemenSultanBritishBritish East India CompanyRoyal MarinespiratesBritish shippingprotectingYemeni imamsArab nationalismFederation of the Emirates of South ArabiaIndiansPersiansQu'aitiKathiriHadhramautKennedy Trevaskis14 October Revolution26 September RevolutionRadfanAd-DaliGamal Abdel NasserAli Salem al-BaidhKathiri SultanateQu'aiti SultanateMahra SultanateUnited NationsMuhammad Ali HaithamSouth Yemen–Soviet Union relationsAli NasserAbdullah BadibPopular Vanguard PartyKarl MarxFriedrich EngelsVladimir LeninMarxistSalim Rubaya AliDhofar RevolutionGerman Democratic RepublicPalestinian Liberation Organizationmilitary paradenationalisationcentral planningland reformspolygamychild marriageGeneral Union of Yemeni Womensecularised educationsharia lawstate legal codeSlavery in Yemen1962 revolutioncommunist powersSoviet naval forcesYemenite War of 1972Yemenite War of 1979West GermanySouth KoreaNorth VietnamSouth Vietnamtotal warsFighting broke out in 1972Arab LeagueKuwaitKhor MaksarSouth Yemen Civil War