| First Battle of Massawa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Eritrean War of Independence | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 EPLF |  Ethiopia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Mesfin Hagos | Merid Negussie | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| At least 2,000 dead 400 wounded [1] | Unknown | ||||||
The First Battle of Massawa took place from 1977 to 1978 in and around the coastal city of Massawa in Eritrea. The port was besieged by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the forces of Ethiopia, and was one of two battles in and around the city.
On March 25, 1977, the EPLF overran the Ethiopian garrisson at Nakfa. The fall of Nakfa highly demoralized other garrisons throughout Eritrea. In the next few months, the EPLF controlled Afabet, Keren, Elabored, and Dekemhare and captured many weapons. Similarly, the ELF seized Omhajar, Teseney, Adordat, Mendefera, and Adi Kuala. Though they remained in government hands, Asmara, Barentu, Adi Keyeh, and Maşssawa were now besieged by the insurgents. By October 1977, EPLF fighters had besieged the town of Massawa. [2] This included the main road used by the garrison for the transport of supplies from Asmara. Essentially the garrison was cut off by land and under siege. [3] [4]
On 9 December 1977, the Ethiopian garrison launched a strong counterattack against the EPLF positions on the coastal lowlands near Mai Antal, however this attack ended in failure and the Ethiopians were forced to retreat back to Massawa, allowing the EPLF to take control of Dogali. On 21st December 1977, the EPLF managed to overrun the city's main defensive perimeter, forcing the Ethiopian defenders to pull back to the Abd-el Kader and Gherar peninsulas and the islands, where they were protected by naval support. [2] [1] On December 23rd, the EPLF launched a massive frontal assault on the final Ethiopian positions on the peninsulas. When the EPLF fighters attempted to march through the evaporation ponds of the Salina saltworks, the Ethiopian naval artillery initiated a devastating slaughter that killed over 2,000 EPLF fighters and wounded 400. The Eritreans were forced to pull back for a long siege, before completely withdrawing to Semhar on July 1978. [5] [1]
Eritrea is an ancient name, associated in the past with its Greek form Erythraia, Ἐρυθραία, and its derived Latin form Erythræa. This name relates to that of the Red Ocean, then called the Erythræan Sea, from the Greek for "red", ἐρυθρός, erythros. But earlier Eritrea was called Mdre Bahri. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara and named it with its current name. After World War II, Eritrea annexed to Ethiopia. Following the communist Ethiopian government's defeat in 1991 by the coalition created by various armed groups notably the EPLF and the TPLF among others, Eritrea declared its independence. Eritrea officially celebrated its 1st anniversary of independence on May 24,1994.
Massawa or Mitsiwa is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for many centuries. Massawa has been ruled or occupied by a succession of polities during its history, including the Kingdom of Aksum, the Ethiopian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy.
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1973 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). After achieving Eritrean independence in 1991, it transformed into the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), which serves as Eritrea's sole legal political party.
Keren, historically known as Sanhit, is the second-largest city in Eritrea. It is situated around 91 kilometres (57 mi) northwest of Asmara at an elevation of 1,590 metres (5,220 ft) above sea-level. The city sprawls on a wide basin surrounded by granitic mountains on all sides. It serves as the capital of the Anseba Region, and is home to a number of ethnic groups including the Bilen people and Tigre people.
Nakfa, Tigrinya: ናቕፋ, is a town in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea. It is also the name of a sub region of Eritrea.
The Eritrean Liberation Front, colloquially known as Jebha, was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s. It was established in 1960 after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie violated a 1952 UN resolution that guaranteed Eritrea the right to an autonomous government. Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals founded the ELF as a primary Pan Arab movement in Cairo, but the first attack was led by Hamid Idris Awate in 1961. Over the course of the 1960s, the ELF was able to obtain support from Arab countries such as Egypt and Sudan. However, tensions between Muslims and Christians in the ELF along with the failure of the ELF to ward off Ethiopia's 1967–1968 counter offensive internally fractured the ELF, causing it to split. By the mid 1970s, the ELF and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an ideologically Maoist liberation movement, were the key liberation movements in Eritrea. The EPLF ultimately overtook the ELF as the primary Eritrean independence movement by 1977, and the ELF was subsequently defeated in 1981.
The Battle of Dogali was fought on 26 January 1887 between Italy and Ethiopia in Dogali near Massawa, in present-day Eritrea.
The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991.
Petros Solomon is an Eritrean politician. He was an Eritrean People's Liberation Front commander during the Eritrean War of Independence, and following independence he served in several positions in the Cabinet, including Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has been in prison, held incommunicado in an undisclosed location, since September 18, 2001 for opposing the rule of Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki. Amnesty International has named him a prisoner of conscience.
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The Second Battle of Massawa took place in 1990 in and around the coastal city of Massawa in Eritrea. The offensive was conducted by both land and sea units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the Ethiopian Army and resulted in the destruction of the Ethiopian 606th Corps.
The siege of Barentu took place in 1977 in and around the town of Barentu in western Eritrea. It was jointly laid to siege by the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the forces of Ethiopia.
The Eritrean Air Force (ERAF) is the air service branch of the Eritrean Defence Forces.
The Ethiopian Navy, known as the Imperial Ethiopian Navy until 1974, is a branch of the Ethiopian National Defense Force founded in 1955. It was disestablished in 1996 after the independence of Eritrea in 1991 left Ethiopia landlocked. In 2019 the Ethiopian Navy was re-established based in Bahir Dar, Amhara region, near Lake Tana.
The Eritrean Navy is a smaller branch of the Eritrean Defence Forces. It is responsible for the security of the entire coastline of Eritrea, more than 1,100 km, as well as the Eritrean territorial waters.
Bereket Mengisteab is a well-known Eritrean songwriter, composer and singer and is known as the "Godfather of Eritrean music".
The fall of the Derg, also known as Downfall of the Derg, was a military campaign that resulted in the defeat of the ruling military junta, called the Derg by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered from insurgency with different factions, and separatist rebel groups since their early rule, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization made the Derg unpopular with the majority of Ethiopians tending to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
Red Star Campaign, officially known as the Red Star Multifaceted Revolutionary Campaign was a 1982 Ethiopian Army operation during the Ethiopian Civil War aimed at eliminating separatist forces, specifically the EPLF from Eritrea. From February to June of 1982, more than 80,000 Ethiopian troops attempted to crush the EPLF in a series of offensives. Despite the operation, the government made no significant gains in Eritrea. Contrary to crushing the Eritrean will to resist, the unsuccessful operation actually strengthened it, prompting the people to rally behind the EPLF with increased fervor. Red Star dealt a personal and political blow to the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.
The siege of Nakfa took place in 1977 in and around the town of Nakfa in western Eritrea. It was laid to siege by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against a small isolated Ethiopian battalion.
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