Aden Emergency

Aden Emergency
Part of the Cold War, the Arab Cold War, and the decolonization of Asia

The location of the Aden Protectorate
Date14 October 1963 – 30 November 1967
(4 years, 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Result

Yemeni NLF victory

Belligerents

 United Kingdom

Yemen NLF FLOSY
Supported by:
United Arab Republic
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Harold Wilson
United Kingdom Michael Le Fanu
United Kingdom Michael Beetham
United Kingdom Colin Campbell Mitchell
Yemen Qahtan al-Shaabi
Yemen Jarallah Omar
Abdullah al-Asnag
Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser
Units involved
Federal Regular Army
Hadhrami Bedouin Legion [ar]
Yemen Guerrilla fighters
Strength
United Kingdom 30,000 at peak[1]
(3,500 in November 1967)[2]
15,000 federal troops[3]
Yemen 26,000 fighters[4]
Casualties and losses
British Army:
United Kingdom 90–92 killed
United Kingdom 510 wounded[5][3]
Federal Regular Army:
17 killed
58 wounded
Yemen 382 killed
Yemen 1,714 wounded[3]
Total: 2,096 casualties[6]

The Aden Emergency, also known as the 14 October Revolution (Arabic: ثورة 14 أكتوبر, romanizedThawrat 14 ʾUktūbar, lit.'14th October Revolution') or as the Radfan Uprising, was an armed rebellion by the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) against the Federation of South Arabia, a British Protectorate of the United Kingdom, which led to the proclamation of the People's Republic of South Yemen.

Partly inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser's pan-Arab nationalism, it began on 14 October 1963 with the throwing of a grenade at a gathering of British officials at Aden Airport. A state of emergency was then declared in the British Crown colony of Aden and its hinterland, the Aden Protectorate. The emergency escalated in 1967 and hastened the end of British rule in the territory which had begun in 1839.

  1. ^ "Wars and Global Conflict: Confrontations and Hostilities". Modern-Day Commando. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014.
  2. ^ "Aden Emergency". nam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Aden Emergency PSYOP 1963–1967". PsyWar.Org. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  4. ^ Molyneux, Maxine; Yafai, Aida; Mohsen, Aisha; Ba'abad, Noor (1979). "Women and Revolution in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen". Feminist Review (1): 5–20. doi:10.2307/1394747. JSTOR 1394747.
  5. ^ Roll of Honor
  6. ^ Peterson, J. E. (August 2009). "British Counter-Insurgency Campaigns and Iraq" (PDF). Arabian Peninsula Background Notes: 12.