The United Kingdom's last hot war of the Cold War: Oman, 1963–75

Abstract

Between 1963 and 1975, the United Kingdom fought its last ‘hot war’ that can be classified as part of the Cold War. Attracting little media attention at the time, the war the United Kingdom waged in Oman's Dhofar province halted the spread of communism in the Persian Gulf at a period of acute vulnerability. Contrary to existing studies, which treat the conflict as a textbook British counter-insurgency conducted in a remote province of Oman, the purpose of this article is to highlight the complex regional and international dynamics that arguably proved more critical to the conflict's resolution. Within this context, the key elements contributing to the Anglo-Omani victory were the ability of British policymakers to forge an alliance of the Middle East's conservative monarchies, their successful mobilization of conservative Islam against secular Marxism and their persistent efforts to destabilize the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen