Without Glory in Arabia

The British Retreat from Aden

Peter Hinchcliffe, John T. Ducker, Maria Holt

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781845111403
• eBook ISBN: 9780857717948
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

'So we left without glory but without disaster ' Sir Humphrey Trevelyan, the last High Commissioner of the Federation of South Arabia In 1967, 139 years after their arrival in Aden, the British withdrew from the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Their departure was abrupt, messy and controversial. Using important, previously unpublished material and original interviews with a range of individuals, both British and Yemeni, who lived through this defining period of colonial history, Without Glory in Arabia tells the story of the final few years of British rule in Aden and the neighbouring Eastern and Western Aden Protectorates. While some view British rule, on the whole, as beneficial to the local population, others insist that very little was achieved. Worse, Britain did not provide a structure of government constitution which met the conflicting needs of Aden and the Protectorate. This illuminating book brilliantly sets the 'scuttle – as the epidode came to be known – in context with a thorough re-examination of the background against which the events of the 1960s unfolded in this obscure backwater of the British Empire.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Aden: a poem by James Nash
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• Introduction
• 1. Historical and constitutional background
• 2. The international context of South Arabia and British policy
• 3. The Political Officers in the Western Aden Protectorate
• 4. The Eastern Aden Protectorate (EAP)
• 5. Robin Young's diaries
• 6. The military
• 7. Aden: the 1966 Defence White Paper
• 8. British civilians reflect on the end of empire in Aden
• 9. An oral history of colonialism and revolution in Southern Yemen
• 10. Britain and Aden: a relationship for the twenty-first century
• Appendix 1: Sir Richard Turnbull remembers
• Appendix 2: Mukalla 1960: matters colonial, consular and curious
• Appendix 3: Peter Hinchcliffe's letter of appointment
• Appendix 4: An oral history of the British in Aden
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index