ABSTRACT
The British government most certainly did not welcome the revolution for it brought a regime of Nasser-influenced republicans to the borders of their South Arabian protectorates at a most inopportune time. The British government had just engineered-after bitter debate in the Aden legislature-the merger of their Aden Crown Colony with the hinterland protectorates (Federation of South West Arabia since 1959). Aden port had been a Crown Colony for over a century, while the hinterland consisted of emirates under British protection. Aden’s military and strategic value had been minor until the 1950s, when the forced withdrawal of British forces from bases in Egypt, Kenya, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Jordan left it as the only significant British base in the Indian Ocean and the Middle East. It was thus the key base for intervention in the Gulf and as a staging post covering the route to Britain’s defence responsibilities in the Far East. Aden was designated a fortress colony in the late 1950s and it was made clear that it was a long way from independence.3
