Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
| Ethiopian Civil War | |||||||||
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| Part of the Eritrean War of Independence, the Ethiopian–Somali conflict, the Oromo conflict and the Cold War | |||||||||
Clockwise from top: Public demonstration amid the Ethiopian Revolution; T-62 tank destroyed shortly after the fall of the Derg; Red Terror victims' skull remains at "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa; Haile Selassie being deposed in the 1974 coup d'état | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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EPRP MEISON EDU OLF WSLF ALF ONLF |
Derg (1974–1987) PDR Ethiopia | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Meles Zenawi Tsadkan Gebretensae Isaias Afwerki Elemo Qiltu † |
Mengistu Haile Mariam Tesfaye Gebre Kidan Fisseha Desta | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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141,000 (1991) 110,000 (1990) 13,000 (1991) | 230,000 (1991) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Casualties and impact of the Ethiopian Civil War | |||||||||
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~400,000–579,000 killed ~1,200,000 deaths from famine | |||||||||
| History of Ethiopia |
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| History of Eritrea |
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| Eritrea portal |
The Derg overthrew the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie in a coup d'état on 12 September 1974, establishing Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state under a military junta and provisional government. Various opposition groups of ideological affiliations ranging from Communist to anti-Communist, often drawn from a specific ethnic background, began armed resistance to the Soviet-backed Derg, in addition to the Eritrean separatists already fighting in the Eritrean War of Independence. The Derg used military campaigns and the Qey Shibir (Ethiopian Red Terror) to repress the rebels. By the mid-1980s, various issues such as the 1983–1985 famine, economic decline, and other after-effects of Derg policies ravaged Ethiopia, increasing popular support for the rebels. The Derg dissolved itself in 1987, establishing the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) under the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE) in an attempt to maintain its rule. The Soviet Union began ending its support for the PDRE in the late-1980s and the government was overwhelmed by the increasingly victorious rebel groups. In May 1991, the PDRE was defeated in Eritrea and President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled the country. The Ethiopian Civil War ended on 28 May 1991 when the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of left-wing ethnic rebel groups, entered the capital Addis Ababa. The PDRE was dissolved and replaced with the Tigray People's Liberation Front-led Transitional Government of Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Civil War left at least 1.4 million people dead, with 1 million of the deaths being related to famine and the remainder from combat and other violence.