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OTL, North Yemen in Arabia really didn't do a whole lot. It was neutral in WWII, and yet was not a colony or protectorate. Unlike Saudi Arabia, who had ties with Britain, North Yemen had nobody that was overly enthusiastic about defending it. However, it was difficult to govern by the Ottomans, and was lost many times.

What if, before WWII, either Italy or Germany (because Japan really had no use for it) invaded it. The most plausible situation imo is that Italy invades it roughly around when Ethiopia was taken over. The good ol' LoN sends some strongly worded letters but does nothing. During WWII, the Italians basically end up abandoning it due to determined local resistance and a kind of uselessness about the territory. The land either gets lumped into Saudi Arabia or British Yemen afterwards, where it causes ethnic strife and confusion ever after similar to OTL.

A bit more implausibly, I could see the Germans try to take it, if Hitler says he wants a "New Kamerun/Togoland/whatever," and someone finds oil there or something along those lines. The German administration there would either embrace Hitler's half view that Islam was a stronger version of Christianity, or decide that Leopold's ideas as to colonies were not half bad. Knowing Hitler, it is a toss up. Either way, when WWII happens, the Germans probably try to take Aden in conjunction with an Italian attack on British Somaliland. I am not sure if they would win, but if they did, it would further keep British supplies from entering Europe.

What do you think?
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