The ( to
1962 in the northern part of what is now
Yemen . Its capital was at
Sanaa .
Religious leaders of the
Zaydi Sect of
Shi'ite Islam expelled forces of the
Ottoman Empire from what is now northern Yemen by the middle of the
17th Century but, within a century, the unity of Yemen was fractured due to the difficulty of governing Yemen's mountainous
Terrain . In
1849 , the Ottoman Empire occupied the coastal
Tihamah region and pressured the Zaydi
Imam to sign a treaty recognizing Ottoman
Suzerain ty and that allowed for a small Ottoman force to be stationed in Sanaa. However, the Ottomans were slow to gain control over Yemen and never managed to totally eliminate resistance from local Zaydis. In
1913 , shortly before
World War I , the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede formally some power to
Highland Zaydis.
On
30 October 1918 , following the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire ,
Imam Yahya Muhammad of the
Al-Qasimi Dynasty declared northern Yemen an independent
State . In
1926 , Imam Yahya declared himself king of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom Of Yemen, becoming a temporal as well as a (Zaydi)
Spiritual leader, and won
International Recognition for the state.
In the
1920s Yahya had expanded Yemeni power to the north into southern
Tihamah and southern
'Asir but collided with the rising influence of the
Sa'udi king of
Hejaz and
Nejd ,
Abdul Aziz Ibn Sa'ud . In the early
1930s , Sa'udi forces retook much of these gains before withdrawing from some of the area including the southern Tihamah city of
Al Hudaydah . The present-day boundary with
Saudi Arabia was established by the
20 May 1934 Treaty Of Taif . Yahya's non-recognition his kingdom's southern boundary with the
British Aden Protectorate (later the
People's Democratic Republic Of Yemen ) that had been negotiated by his Ottoman predecessors and resulted in occasional clashes with the British.
Yemen became a founding member of the
Arab League in
1945 and the
United Nations on
30 September 1947 .
Imam Yahya died during an unsuccessful
Coup attempt in
1948 and was succeeded by his son
Ahmad Bin Yahya . His reign was marked by growing repression, renewed friction with the
United Kingdom over the British presence in the south that stood in the way of his aspirations for the creation of
Greater Yemen . In March
1955 , a coup by a group of officers and two of Ahmad's brothers briefly deposed the king but was quickly suppressed.
Imam Ahmad faced growing pressures to support the Arab
Nationalist objectives of
Egypt ian President
Gamal Abdul Nasser and, in April
1956 , he signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. In
1958 , Yemen joined the
United Arab Republic (Egypt and
Syria ) in a loose confederation known as the
United Arab States but it was dissolved in September
1961 and relations between the United Arab Republic (Egypt) and Yemen subsequently deteriorated.
Ahmad died in September
1962 , and was succeeded by his son, the Crown Prince
Muhammad Al-Badr . However Muhammad al-Badr's reign was brief. Egyptian-trained military officers inspired by Nasser and led by the commander of the royal guard
Abdullah As-Sallal deposed him the same year of his coronation, took control of Sanaa, and created the
Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). Egypt assisted the YAR with troops and supplies to combat forces loyal to the Imamate, while
Saudi Arabia and
Jordan supported Badr's royalist forces opposing the newly formed republic sparking the
North Yemen Civil War . Conflict continued periodically until
1967 when Egyptian troops were withdrawn. By
1968 , following a final royalist siege of Sanaa, most of the opposing leaders reached a reconciliation; Saudi Arabia recognized the Republic in
1970 .
The YAR united with the
People's Democratic Republic Of Yemen (South Yemen) on
May 22 ,
1990 to form the
Republic Of Yemen .
