Yemen

Flag of Yemen

**Yemen,** Officially the **Yemeni Imamate** is one of the absolute monarchies in the Middle East. Like its neighbor Arabia, Yemen is an Unitary Autocratic Theocratic Monarchy, however it is notably Zaydi and not Sunni. It is under the rule of the house of Rassid witch has ran portions the country since 897. Yemen did not fight in the Arab Revolution and initially supported the Ottoman State, but recently due to recent events has caved into the Cairo Pact having a near full 180 in its foreign policy. The Yemeni Imamate was founded in 1918 during the First Weltkrieg and later would be puppeted by the Ottoman Empire. Yemen did not fight in the Second Weltkrieg, due to it not being part of ether the Cairo Pact or any other faction at the time of the war. Yemen joined the Cairo Pact in 1946 after a series of threats from its neighbors but Yemen would quickly become an enthusiastic member being the main advocate for Somalia's entry into the alliance.

## History

Yemen in 1936 was little more than a puppet to the Ottoman State as the nations main enforcer of stability within the nation. This is why when the Black Monday hit and the region was thrown into Chaos, Yemen was one of the more heavily effected regions as the Ottoman State began to pull back several thousands troops from Yemen in order to save money for stabilizing its own realm. This would hurt Yemen severely as rebellious elements within the nation began to agitate for more rights and freedoms for the people of Yemen against the absolute monarch in Sana'a. However this unlike in many areas did not happen suddenly as the Ottomans were reluctant to withdrawal from Yemen entirely given that it was needed in order to keep stability on the Arabian Peninsula. However as the situation globally only continued to get worse the Ottomans in 1938 where forced to withdrawal their troops from the nation and Yemen was thrown into mass chaos as protestors immediately took the opportunity to get their message known. This would quickly begin to blow over in the cities as Yemen continued to get more and more tense as the two factions of the Imamate and the liberal revolutionaries began to separate the nation in two. Thus in 1939 before the outbreak of the Arab Revolution, Yemen would go through its short lived "Civil War". But this war was very short as with Ottoman support the liberal revolutionaries were crushed and the Imam's position kept. Thus Yemen wasn't in the best nor worst position it could have been when the Arab Revolution began as Yemen was forced to pick a side as the conflict spiraled into a regional conflict. Yemen decided to align with the Ottoman Empire but did not actually support it witch initially got it embargoed by basically the entire middle east. But after Yemen blockaded the Bab Al-Mandab straight these embargoes were lifted but Yemen's reputation amongst the Arab powers was ruined. Yemen would continue in isolation during the Second Weltkrieg not wishing to get involved in international politics and rather it focused on itself. But by 1946 it was clear that Yemen needed economic partners and with Arabia looking like it was going to try and attack Yemen as a first step in unifying the Peninsula, Yemen decided to ask Egypt to join. And after some paper work the process was completed relatively quickly. Yemen would prove to be a good member of the Cairo Pact as it would extend the welcome to Somalia and would also begin extracting oil like the rest of them. While Yemen is not as rich as its alliance members the future of Yemen looks to be okay. Yemen sides with Egypt in the ongoing leadership struggle given it does not want to be part of Saudi Arabia and its mostly Zaydi faith.

## Military

Yemen's military is average for its size given that Yemen has not had to fight any wars in the recent few years. The Yemeni Army seems to be averagely equipped and sized and should provide sufficient support in the case of war. Yemen's navy is slightly larger for its size and has been tasked in the case of war to protect the straights and Somalia's coast given Somalia's relative current weakness. Yemen does not have a sizable air force currently but it seems to be in the backs of the minds of their military generals to get one.