People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

IMPORTANT:This page has used Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia in either a refactored, modified, abridged, expanded, built on or 'strait from' text content!

Divided Yemen — Map of North and South Yemen prior to unification in 1990.

Overview[]

The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (Arabic: جمهورية اليمن الديمقراطية الشعبية‎‎ Jumhūrīyat al-Yaman ad-Dīmuqrāṭīyah ash-Sha‘bīyah), also referred to as South Yemen, Democratic Yemen, Yemen (Aden) or the South Arabian Federation, was a socialist state in the southern and eastern provinces of the present-day Republic of Yemen, including the island of Socotra.

It was united with the Yemen Arab Republic (commonly known as "North Yemen") on 22 May 1990, to form the present-day Yemen. After four years, however, South Yemen declared its secession from the north, which resulted in the north occupying south Yemen and the 1994 civil war.

Decolonization[]

In 1963, Aden and much of the Protectorate were joined to form the Federation of South Arabia with the remaining states that declined to join, mainly in Hadhramaut, forming the separate Protectorate of South Arabia. Both of these polities were still tied to Britain with promises of total independence in 1968. Two nationalist groups, the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) and the National Liberation Front (NLF), began an armed struggle (Aden Emergency) on 14 October 1963 against British control and, with the temporary closure of the Suez Canal in 1967, the British began to withdraw. One faction, NLF, was invited to the Geneva Talks to sign the independence agreement with the British. Ironically, Britain, who during its occupation of Aden signed several treaties of protection with the local sheikhdoms and emirates of the Federation of South Arabia, excluded them in the talks and thus the agreement stated "...the handover of the territory of South Arabia to the (Yemeni) NLF...". Southern Yemen became independent as the People's Republic of Southern Yemen on 30 November 1967, and the National Liberation Front consolidated its control in the country.

In June 1969, a radical Marxist wing of the NLF gained power and on 1 December 1970, reorganized the country into the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY). Subsequently, all political parties were amalgamated into the National Liberation Front, renamed the Yemeni Socialist Party, which became the only legal party. The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen established close ties with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. East Germany's consititution of 1968 even served as a kind of blueprint for the PDRY's first constitution.

The major communist powers assisted in the building of the PDRY's armed forces. Strong support from Moscow resulted in Soviet naval forces gaining access to naval facilities in South Yemen.

Border wars[]

Unlike the early decades of East Germany and West Germany, North Korea and South Korea, or North Vietnam and South Vietnam, North Yemen (YAR) and South Yemen (PDRY) remained relatively friendly, though relations were often strained. Fighting broke out in 1972, and a short-lived, small proxy border conflict was resolved with negotiations, where it was declared unification would eventually occur.

However, these plans were put on hold in 1979, as the PDRY funded Red rebels in the YAR, and war was only prevented by an Arab League intervention. The goal of unity was reaffirmed by the northern and southern heads of state during a summit meeting in Kuwait in March 1979.

In 1980, PDRY president Abdul Fattah Ismail resigned and went into exile in Moscow, having lost the confidence of his sponsors in the USSR. His successor, Ali Nasir Muhammad, took a less interventionist stance toward both North Yemen and neighbouring Oman.

South Yemen Civil War[]

On January 13, 1986, a violent struggle began in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and supporters of the returned Ismail, who wanted power back. Fighting, 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 death. Some 60,000 people, including the deposed Ali Nasir, fled to the YAR. 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.

Reforms and attempts for unification[]

Main article: Yemeni unification against the background of the Perestroika in the USSR, the main backer of the PDRY, political reforms were started in the late 1980s. Political prisoners were released, political parties were formed and the system of justice was reckoned to be more equitable than in the North. In May 1988, the YAR and PDRY governments came to an understanding that considerably reduced tensions including agreement to renew discussions concerning unification, to establish a joint oil exploration area along their undefined border, to demilitarize the border, and to allow Yemenis unrestricted border passage on the basis of only a national identification card. In 1990, the parties reached a full agreement on joint governing of Yemen, and the countries were effectively merged as Yemen.

Also see[]

Oman, UAE and Yemen Cold War conflicts
Aden Emergency
Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen
Oman-S. Yemen Cold War conflicts
North Yemen-South Yemen Border Conflict of 1972
1962–1970 North Yemen Civil War
Warsaw Pact
COMECON
Iron Certain
Bamboo Curtain
Inner German Border
Collective farms
Life under communism
Soviet "Era of Stagnation"
USSR
GDR
Korean War
Cold War
Cold War radio jamming
Cold War radio propaganda
Cold War secret police organisations
KGB
GRU
Zenit 2
Soviet Nomenklatura
A political diorama
Mirna-class patrol boat
North Yemen-South Yemen Border Conflict of 1972
United Nations Security Council Resolution 179
Deceased nations
Eastern Bloc
United Nations Security Council Resolution 660
Nations in 1988
Red Army Faction

Communist world! (1922-1991)
The Warsaw Pact and the military	Warsaw Pact - People's Republic of Albania (left) - German Democratic Republic- Czech Socialist Republic- Warsaw Pact Rail - USSR -People's Republic of Poland - Hungarian People's Republic - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - People's Republic of Bulgaria - Polish People's Republic - Romanian Popular Republic - Romanian People's Republic - Soviet 5.45x39mm - Soviet Southern Group of Forces -Seven days to the River Rhine (1979) - Jüterbog Airfield -Topoľčany Army Barracks and bunker system - Brezhnev Doctrine - Soviet war in Afghanistan - Vladivostok Navel base - Murmansk Navel base - Archangelsk Navel base - Kaliningrad Navel base - Sevastopol Navel base - Kazan Higher Tank Command School and related tank factory - Burevestnik Airport - People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (de facto, but not de jure) - AK-47\Kalashnikov assault rifle - Red Army - Kartsev-Venediktov Design Bureau (OKB-520) - KhPZ Factory No. 183 in Kharkiv/Malyshev Factory - Mikhail Kalashnikov - Soviet Opytnoye Konstruktorskoye Buros (OKBs) - Eastern bloc - Tupolev Tu-160- 9M14 Malyutka - RPG-7 - R-7 ICBM - Tupolev Tu-95
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (ComEcom) nations	Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - SovRoms - Mongolian People's Republic - Cuba - Vietnam - North Vietnam - German Democratic Republic- Czech Socialist Republic- USSR -People's Republic of Poland - Hungarian People's Republic - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - People's Republic of Bulgaria - Polish People's Republic - People's Republic of Albania (left) - ‎Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (never fully joined) - Romanian Popular Republic -Romanian People's Republic - North Korea (de facto, but not de jure to avoid worrying the PRC) - Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (wanted to join, but never got round to doing so) - People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (de facto, but not de jure) - Eastern bloc
The ones with nukes	USSR - Cuba (gave them up) - Cuban Missile Crisis - Tupolev Tu-160 - R-7 ICBM - Tupolev Tu-95
The Sino-Soviet Split	Sino-Soviet Split - USSR - Zhou Enlai - Nikita Khrushchev‎‎ - Mao Zedong - People's Republic of China People's Republic of Albania
The end of it	Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 - Fall of the Berlin wall - Soviet "Era of Stagnation" - Dissolution of the Soviet Union - Singing Revolution - Baltic Republics of the Soviet Union- The political dissolution of the Soviet Union and why it broke up afterwards - Soviet war in Afghanistan - Chernobyl disaster -Glasnost - Perestroika
Economics	Sakhalin Island - Life under communism - Food cards- Collective farms- Yugoslavian Agricoles - Political Committee of the Communist Party of China - Soviet political organs - Soviet Social Apparatus - The purveyors of crappy Cold War era Easter Block cars - Mirny Diamond Mine - Magnitogorsk - Virgin Lands campaign - Soviet Opytnoye Konstruktorskoye Buros (OKBs) - The Agrokomerc Affair - Wuxi (diode) Factory 742 - Jiangnan Radio Factory - Agrokomerc - Kartsev-Venediktov Design Bureau (OKB-520) - KhPZ Factory No. 183 in Kharkiv/Malyshev Factory- Eastern bloc
Politics and Geo-politics	Sakhalin Island - Stalin Monument (Budapest)‎‎ - Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Khrushchev Thaw- Tito–Stalin Split‎-‎‎ Life under communism - Hungarian Revolution of 1956 - Cold War - Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia - Soviet "Era of Stagnation" - Soviet 'oligophrenics' and 'oligophrenia' - Soviet political organs - Soviet Social Apparatus - Russian and Soviet Leaders between 1917 and 2018 - Stalin's purges and ethnic cleansing- Closed Soviet locations - Gulags - Berlin Wall - Détente - Sino-Soviet Split - Brezhnev Doctrine - Stalin's cult of personality - De-Stalinisation -Glasnost - Perestroika - Kuril Islands - Rybachy Peninsula - Kaliningrad Oblast - Eastern bloc - The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Technology and outer space	Sputnik 1 - Soviet Space Program - Mirny Diamond Mine - Magnitogorsk - Virgin Lands campaign - Tatra trams#T3 and T3R.P trams - M62 locomotive - TEP80 locomotive -Soviet MSI nMOS chip‎‎ - Soviet Ice Breaker Lenin - Chernobyl disaster - AK-47\Kalashnikov assault rifle -Soviet Opytnoye Konstruktorskoye Buros (OKBs)- The Space Race - Mikhail Kalashnikov - Yuri Gagarin - Vostok rocket-Soyuz rocket - Baikonur Cosmodrome - Plesetsk Cosmodrome - Zenit 2 - Tupolev Tu-160 - R-7 ICBM
People	Stalin Monument (Budapest)‎‎ - Vladimir Lenin - Leonid Brezhnev‎ - Mikhail Kalashnikov - Yuri Gagarin - Nikita Khrushchev‎‎ - Joseph Stalin - Stalin's cult of personality - De-Stalinisation - Mikhail Gorbachev‎‎ - Ho Chi Minh - Fidel Castro - Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej - Mohammad Najibullah - Maurice Bishop - Zhou Enlai - Salvador Allende - Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
Important places	Sakhalin island - Moscow - Nakhodka Port - Vladivostok Navel base - Murmansk Navel base - Arkangelsk Navel base - Kalinningrad Navel base - Sevastopol Navel base - Kazan Higher Tank Command School and related tank factory -Burevestnik Airport- Jüterbog Airfield - Topoľčany Army Barracks and bunker system - Kuril Islands - Berlin Wall - Mirny Diamond Mine - Magnitogorsk - Rybachy Peninsula - St. Petersburg‎ - Closed Soviet locations - Kaliningrad Oblast - Wuxi (diode) Factory 742 - Jiangnan Radio Factory - Agrokomerc -KhPZ Factory No. 183 in Kharkiv/Malyshev Factory - Wuxi (diode) Factory 742 - Jiangnan Radio Factory - Agrokomerc - Baikonur Cosmodrome - Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Systems of state repression	What is a police state? - Státní bezpečnost/Štátna bezpečnosť (StB/ŠtB) - Committee for State Security (KGB) - Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye (GRU) - Stasi - Securitate -Gulag - Political disappearances - Berlin Wall - A Bulgarian umbrella assassination – Komitet za dǎržavna sigurnost (CSS) - Censorship East Germany - Communist Party of the Soviet Union - The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
The political heretics who were not really true communists	People's Republic of Albania - Mao Zedong - Enver Hoxha - Pol Pot - Nicolae Ceauşescu - Democratic Kampuchea - Khmer Rouge - The PRC - Communist Party of Kampuchea - The Shining Path - North Korea - Red Brigades (in Italy) - Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) - Daniel Ortega - Kim Il-Sung - People's Republic of China
The founding nations	Russian SFSR - Ukrainian SSR - Byelorussian SSR - Transcaucasian SFSR - Bukharan People's Soviet Republic - Khorezm People's Soviet Republic - Tashkent Soviet -Communist Party of the Soviet Union - The Bolshevik Party
Bolshevik\Soviet annexations	Estonia (annexed) - Latvia (annexed) - Lithuania (annexed) - Kaliningrad Oblast (annexed) - Finnish Civil War (the Reds lost) - Mongolian People's Republic (annexation failed) - The Far Eastern Republic (annexed) - Far Eastern Republic (annexed) - Tuvan People's Republic (annexed) - Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (annexed) - State of Buryat-Mongolia (annexed) - Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (annexed) - Kronstadt Republic (crushed) - Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus (SSRB) (crushed)- The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR) (crushed)
Other former European, Central Asian and Iranian puppet or client states	Litbell - Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) - Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic - Soviet Republic of Naissaar - Latvian SSR of 1919-1920 - The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) - Bolshavik Russia - Lemko-Rusyn People's Republic- West Ukrainian People's Republic - Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic - Hungarian Soviet Republic - People's State of Bavaria - Bavarian Soviet Republic - The Soviet Republic of Odessa - Kiev called the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) - Petrograd Soviet - East Turkestan Republic (ETR) - Persian Socialist Soviet Republic - Soviet Republic of Gilan - Azerbaijan People's Government - Republic of Mahabad (1946) - Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Other stuff	Life under communism - Sputnik 1- Khrushchyovka - When is not a Yugo to a Yugo? - Soviet Space Program - The purveyors of crappy Cold War era Easter Block cars- Vietnam War - 1950–1953 Korean War - Family in the Soviet Union - Radio Moscow - Tatra trams#T3 and T3R.P trams - M62 locomotive - TEP80 locomotive - Stalin's cult of personality - De-Stalinisation - Soviet medals‎ - Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros - The Agrokomerc Affair - Peruvian conflict - Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement - Cambodian genocide - The Jewish Holocaust and Roma Porajmos in the Baltic states - Italian Communist Party -"Reds under the bed" - The Holodomor - Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Peruvian conflict - 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution - Sandinistas - Guerrilla Army of the Poor - Viet Cong - Pathet Lao - Soviet 'oligophrenics' and 'oligophrenia' - New Jewel Movement - The 'false' Cold War theory - All the Communist countries during the Cold War - People's Liberation Army (of China) - People's Republic of China