In many ways, the political unity that Yemen achieved in its 1990 unification was an anomaly. The country's spectacular geographic diversity has given rise to a richly varied populace composed of regionally distinct tribes. That diversity has both established a set of hierarchies and fostered struggles to upend those hierarchies, as regions and tribes compete for resources and power. Over many centuries, complex dynamics between Zaidi Shiite and Shafii Sunni sects have further divided Yemen into the two vastly different north and south regions — the regions that the unification brought together. Today as much as ever, the country is fractured not only by ethnic and religious differences but also by the civil war that has ravaged it since late 2014. Yemen's current war is, to a great extent, a rehashing of the struggles that have persisted throughout its history.