As king Ahmad was more open to foreign contact than his father, but he never allowed free intercourse with other nations.
His rule was autocratic and conservative; he never brooked suggestions.
It was said that every detail, no matter how small or trivial, had to be approved by the Imam, even for a government truck to be moved in Ta'izz or mules to receive fodder.
A governor of Aden reported, "Everything hangs on the King's nod.
Yet his situation is pathetic, for he knows he has no friends."

To the outside world, the Imam was virtually unknown, noted only for seemingly odd conduct.
In 1950 a wire service report noted when he and his son Muhammad al-Badr married two sisters, nurses at the only hospital in Sana'a.
Although his father had banned aircraft after a fatal accident, Ahmad was fascinated by them and on taking the throne bought two DC-3s and another in 1951.
All the planes, however, were at the personal disposal of the Imam.
The Swedish crew were terrified of his inconsistent orders.
The museum which was once his palace (now no longer open to the public) supposedly contains his "bizarre collection of hundreds of identical bottles of eau de cologne, Old Spice and Christian Dior, an electronic bed, a child's KLM handbag, projectors, films, guns, ammunition and swords ... passports, personalized Swiss watches and blood-stained clothes."

His mood swings and unpredictable behavior had several sources.
Chief among them was his addiction to a mix of drugs, chiefly morphine, which he took for his chronic rheumatism.
He lived in fear of sudden death and divine retribution.
He was subject to beliefs in the supernatural, consulted astrologers and often would succumb to "mystical crises" during which he would fast and cut himself from the world for weeks.

His one abiding policy guide as Imam (aside from his reactionary position on government) was to drive the British from Aden and recover the protectorate for "Greater Yemen" as his father saw it.
Ahmad also believed Britain was behind the plot that killed his father.
Aden was also a center for the Free Yemen movement, a collection of intellectuals and republican-leaning nationalists expatriates from the north.
Rhetoric turned to border skirmishes and on March 26, 1955 Ahmad charged Britain with having killed a number of Yemenis in a "brutal attack" in southern Yemen.
Ahmad became further alarmed by the British plan to federate 18 petty sheikdoms and sultanates within the protectorate, which would consolidate territory under British protection which Yemen still claimed.

The tensions with British Aden caused Ahmad to overcome his antipathy for Saudi Arabia, which he also received from his father.
In 1955 Yemen began talks with a view towards entering a military pact with Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
The warming of relations coincided with a Saudi need for foreign workers to service its expanding oil industry, and in 1955 the Saudi government decreed that Yemenis could enter without work permits.

Egypt and Syria signed their pact for a new Arab military alliance on March 3, 1955.
Egypt's interest was in putting together a pan-Arab league to counter the pro-Western tilt of the recent Iraq-Turkey pact (which, with the addition of Pakistan and Great Britain would become known as the Baghdad Pact).
Three days later from their respective capitals Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia issued a joint decree announcing an agreement to "strengthen the Arab structure politically, militarily and economically."
Egypt wanted the remaining four members of the Arab League (Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Yemen) but Lebanon with commercial interests in the West and the Arab world vacillated and Jordan was disqualified by the terms of British participation in her defense.
By the end of March Egyptian diplomatic sources conceded that Syria, under diplomatic pressure from Turkey and Iraq, was refusing to move forward on the plans for joint defense and might decide to withdraw if the agreement continued to prohibit signatories from entering into any defense treaty with any non-Arab nation.
Egypt was able to s
As king Ahmad was more open to foreign contact than his father, but he never allowed free intercourse with other nations. His rule was autocratic and conservative; he never brooked suggestions. It was said that every detail, no matter how small or trivial, had to be approved by the Imam, even for a government truck to be moved in Ta'izz or mules to receive fodder. A governor of Aden reported, "Everything hangs on the King's nod. Yet his situation is pathetic, for he knows he has no friends."
To the outside world, the Imam was virtually unknown, noted only for seemingly odd conduct. In 1950 a wire service report noted when he and his son Muhammad al-Badr married two sisters, nurses at the only hospital in Sana'a. Although his father had banned aircraft after a fatal accident, Ahmad was fascinated by them and on taking the throne bought two DC-3s and another in 1951. All the planes, however, were at the personal disposal of the Imam. The Swedish crew were terrified of his inconsistent orders. The museum which was once his palace (now no longer open to the public) supposedly contains his "bizarre collection of hundreds of identical bottles of eau de cologne, Old Spice and Christian Dior, an electronic bed, a child's KLM handbag, projectors, films, guns, ammunition and swords ... passports, personalized Swiss watches and blood-stained clothes."
His mood swings and unpredictable behavior had several sources. Chief among them was his addiction to a mix of drugs, chiefly morphine, which he took for his chronic rheumatism. He lived in fear of sudden death and divine retribution. He was subject to beliefs in the supernatural, consulted astrologers and often would succumb to "mystical crises" during which he would fast and cut himself from the world for weeks.
His one abiding policy guide as Imam (aside from his reactionary position on government) was to drive the British from Aden and recover the protectorate for "Greater Yemen" as his father saw it. Ahmad also believed Britain was behind the plot that killed his father. Aden was also a center for the Free Yemen movement, a collection of intellectuals and republican-leaning nationalists expatriates from the north. Rhetoric turned to border skirmishes and on March 26, 1955 Ahmad charged Britain with having killed a number of Yemenis in a "brutal attack" in southern Yemen. Ahmad became further alarmed by the British plan to federate 18 petty sheikdoms and sultanates within the protectorate, which would consolidate territory under British protection which Yemen still claimed.
The tensions with British Aden caused Ahmad to overcome his antipathy for Saudi Arabia, which he also received from his father. In 1955 Yemen began talks with a view towards entering a military pact with Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The warming of relations coincided with a Saudi need for foreign workers to service its expanding oil industry, and in 1955 the Saudi government decreed that Yemenis could enter without work permits.
Egypt and Syria signed their pact for a new Arab military alliance on March 3, 1955. Egypt's interest was in putting together a pan-Arab league to counter the pro-Western tilt of the recent Iraq-Turkey pact (which, with the addition of Pakistan and Great Britain would become known as the Baghdad Pact). Three days later from their respective capitals Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia issued a joint decree announcing an agreement to "strengthen the Arab structure politically, militarily and economically." Egypt wanted the remaining four members of the Arab League (Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Yemen) but Lebanon with commercial interests in the West and the Arab world vacillated and Jordan was disqualified by the terms of British participation in her defense. By the end of March Egyptian diplomatic sources conceded that Syria, under diplomatic pressure from Turkey and Iraq, was refusing to move forward on the plans for joint defense and might decide to withdraw if the agreement continued to prohibit signatories from entering into any defense treaty with any non-Arab nation. Egypt was able to s
Ahmad bin Yahya