Year |
Date |
Event
|
1904 |
Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, a descendant of Imam al-Qasim, becomes Imam and takes regnal name of al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah ("He who relies on God").[19]
|
1911 |
January |
At a time when the Ottoman Empire was trying to pacify Albania and was facing hostile moves by Italy against Libya, both Imam Yahya and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Idrisi, Emir of Asir rose up against the Turks, causing the Ottomans to send 30,000 troops from Libya to respond.[20] Forced to fight in the highlands, Yemen became "the graveyard of the Turks."[21]
|
October |
Treaty of Daan: When war with Italy broke out, the Ottomans were forced to accept Zaidi autonomy in the highlands, while remaining in possession of the Red Sea coast. Turkey also provided financial aid to Imam Yahya. The agreement, which conceded most of the demands Imam Yahya had been making since 1908, stopped the almost continuous war between the Turks and Zaidis, even though the Ottoman parliament did not ratify it until 1913.[20]
|
1914 |
March |
Anglo-Turkish Treaty on boundaries concludes work of Anglo-Turkish Boundary Commission which had begun in 1902. The powers agree on division between their respective realms in Yemen, a division that would more-or-less later serve as the boundary between North and South Yemen.[20]
|
1918 |
Early December |
Turkish governor of Yemen informs Imam Yahya that "Franks" (the European allies) had overrun Anatolia and that the Ottomans would be forced to withdraw from Yemen. Through a series of alliances, tribal wars and intrigues Yahya would consolidate Zaidi hold over to the south of Sa'da (including Sana'a) and would begin moving north against the Idrisi state of Asir.[22]
|
1926 |
September 2 |
Treaty of friendship between Italy and Imam Yahya. Italy becomes the first power to recognize Yahya as King of Yemen.
|
1934 |
February 11 |
Treaty of Sana'a between Yemen and Great Britain. The parties agree on a modus vivendi without resolving claims of sovereignty on either side.
|
1934 |
May 20 |
Treaty of Taif ends brief border war between Al-Saud and Yemen. Yemen cedes Asir to Saudi Arabia.[23]
|
1944 |
June |
Having fled the court of the Crown Prince in Ta'izz, Ahmad Muhammad Numan, Muhammad Mahmud al-Zabayri and Zayd al-Mawshki arrive in Aden where later that year they would form the Free Yemeni Party.[24]
|
1946 |
March 4 |
The United States recognizes the Kingdom of Yemen by letter from President Harry S. Truman to Imam Yahya, providing for the appointment of an American Special Diplomatic Mission to the Kingdom.[25]
|
1948 |
February 17 |
Yahya assassinated. He would be succeeded by his son Ahmad who rallied northern tribesmen to defeat nationalist opponents of feudal rule.
|
1947 |
December 2-4 |
Anti-Jewish pogrom in Aden. 82 Jews were killed and 76 were injured by Arabic nationalists.
|
1955 |
March 31-April 1 |
Army officers who objected to Imam Ahmad's conservative rule, especially his harsh and summary punishments, laid siege to the Elurdhi fortress in Taiz while the Imam was inside. The Imam's brothers supported the coup attempt with Emir Abdullah bin Yahyi (purportedly reformist minded) accepting the army's call to replace Ahmad and Emir Abbas telegraphed support from Sana'a. Crown prince al-Badr rallied tribal support and Liberals (local and emigres in Cairo) among others supported him. The siege was raised and Ahmad restored on April 5, and both Abdullah and Abbas were executed.[26] [27]
|
1956 |
April 21 |
Jiddah Pact: Imam Ahmad, Premier Nasser (of Egypt) and King Saud (of Saudi Arabia) sign pace in Jeddah pledging the armies of all three would be placed under a single command to repel invasion. Nasser expressed his goal to "spoil British imperialist plans in the Middle East," but Egypt had no then pending dispute with Britain unlike Yemen (which disputed the border with Aden and the ownership of the Red Sea island of Kamana) and Saudi Arabia (which Britain accused of fomenting anti-British sentiment among tribes on their border).[28]
|
1958 |
March 8 |
As a concession to pro-Nasserite opinion and to avoid Egyptian aid to republican opposition, Yemen enters loose federation with the United Arab Republic to form the United Arab States. The signing ceremony took place in Damascus between Egypt's President Nasser and crown prince Muhammad al-Badr.[29]
|
April |
Aden's colonial governor Sir William Luce warns British government against too hasty a withdrawal from Aden citing the possible hostile threat of Egypt and the Soviet Union aiding Yemen in securing domination over Aden.[30]
|
1959 |
February 11 |
Six West Aden protectorate states (but not the colony of Aden itself) join the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South and the Federation and Britain signed a "Treaty of Friendship and Protection," which detailed plans for British financial and military assistance.[31]
|
April |
Imam Ahmad, gravely ill, departs for Italy for treatment. Muhammad al-Badr left in charge brings in Egyptian development experts and rattles sabers against Britain in Aden.[32]
|
August 13 |
Sana'a Radio broadcasts a message from Imam Ahmad that he had returned and had discovered plots. He said that there would be some whose "heads would be cut off" and others' "heads and legs would be cut off."[33] Suspecting that Egypt was supporting republicans within Yemen, Ahmad sent many Egyptian civil, educational and military advisers back to Cairo and stopped the work of others.[34]
|
1962 |
September 18 |
Imam Ahmad dies. Crown prince al-Badr succeeds him, unopposed.[35]
|
September 26 |
A federation of South Arabia formed, uniting Aden and the federated hinterlands under British auspices.[36]
|
During the night, the building in which Imam al-Badr worked was surrounded and shelled by tanks. Egypt-backed Junior army officers seize power and proclaim the Yemen Arab Republic, sparking an eight-year civil war between royalists supported by Saudi Arabia and republicans backed by Egypt.[36] The British government, though divided, decides to support the royalists.[37]
|
November |
Egypt announces the formation of the National Liberation Army to free southern Yemen from British rule.[37]
|
1963 |
October 14 |
Two nationalist groups, the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen and the National Liberation Front begin an armed revolt (Aden Emergency) against British control in South Yemen. Fighting began in Radfan, but the British quickly subdued it.[38]
|
1965 |
June |
Britain invokes emergency powers to deal with increasing unrest in Aden.[39]
|
1966 |
February |
Britain announces (in a reversal) that Aden was not vital to its commercial security and would be abandoned (naval base and all) by 1968.[40]
|
1967 |
November 30 |
South Yemen granted independence by Great Britain and begins a socialist experiment.
|
1986 |
January 13 |
Gangland-style assassination attempt by the guard of South Yemen President Ali Nasser Mohammed al-Hassani on his rivals in the 15-member Politboro, killing Vice President Ali Antar and sparking gun fight among Politboro members. Twelve days of street fighting in Aden followed until the hard-line Marxists gained control and President Hassani was driven into exile.[41]
|
1989 |
February 16 |
Heads of states of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Yemen announce form Baghdad the formation of the Arab Cooperation Council.[42]
|
1990 |
May 22 |
Yemeni unification.
|
August 6 |
Yemen abstains from UN Security Council resolutions authorizing military action against Iraq (as a result of its invasion of Kuwait). As a result, 800,000 Yemeni workers are expelled from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
|
1994 |
May 5 |
Southern Yemen attempts to secede, sparking a civil war, which is brought to an end in July when northern forces capture Aden.
|
1999 |
September 23 |
Ali Abdullah Saleh receives 99.3% of the vote in the first presidential election by universal suffrage.[43]
|