List of wars involving Ethiopia

This is a list of wars involving the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (modern-day Ethiopia) and its predecessor states.

Ethiopian Empire (1270–1975)

See also: Ethiopian Empire

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results
Conquests of Amda Seyon I (1316–1332)	Ethiopia	Sultanate of Ifat Kingdom of Damot Hadiya Sultanate Sultanate of Dawaro Enderta Province Kingdom of Simien & more	Victories Incorporation of the southern kingdoms into the Ethiopian Empire Conquest of Dawaro Re-establishment of Imperial hegemony in Tigray Establishment of Imperial hegemony in Ifat Spread of Judaism in modern day Mi'irabawi halted
Reconquests of Sabr Ad Din (1415-1430)	Ethiopia	Adal Sultanate	Defeat Gidaya, Mora, Adal, and Hargaya incorporated into the Adal Sultanate
Badley ad-Din II's Invasion of Ethiopia (1445)	Ethiopia	Adal Sultanate	Victory Death of the Adal Sultan [1] [2] [3]
Abyssinian–Adal War (1529–1543)	Ethiopia Portugal	Adal Sultanate Ottoman Empire	Stalemate Status quo ante bellum [4]
Iyasu II's Invasion of Sennar (1738)	Ethiopia	Sennar Sultanate	Defeat Iyasu II's army defeated Several of the Ethiopian Emperor's valuables lost
Zemene Mesafint (1769–1855)	Various factions	Various factions	Reunification of Ethiopia Tewodros II becomes Emperor
Ottoman–Ethiopian border conflicts (1832–1848)	Ethiopia	Egypt	Victory Ethiopia retains territorial integrity and independence Ottoman-Egyptians expand south into the Great Lakes region Leads to the Egyptian-Ethiopian war
British Expedition to Abyssinia (1867–1868)	Ethiopia	United Kingdom	Defeat Tewodros II commits suicide to avoid capture
Ethiopian–Egyptian War (1874–1876)	Ethiopia	Egypt	Victory Egyptian Khedive defeated Collapse of Egyptian Khedivate
Mahdist War (1881–1889)	Ethiopian Empire   United Kingdom   Egypt   Italy	Mahdist state	Victory End of Mahdist raids into Ethiopia at the Battle of Gallabat Death of Emperor Yohannes IV End of the Mahdist war in 1889
Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889	Ethiopia	Italy	Compromise [5] Treaty of Wuchale; establishment of Italian Eritrea
Menelik's Expansions (Late 19th century)	Kingdom of Shewa Ethiopian Empire	Emirate of Harar Kingdom of Gojjam Mahdist Sudan Kingdom of Kaffa Kingdom of Jimma Kingdom of Wolaita Arsi Oromo	Victories Incorporation of the southern kingdoms into the Ethiopian Empire. Incorporation of the Oromo borderlands such as the Kingdom of Jimma, Qabesh, and Arsi Oromo into the Ethiopian Empire Incorporation of the Emirate of Harar and Ogaden region into the Ethiopian Empire Beginning of the Dervish war in response to Ethiopian expansion into the Ogaden Centralization of Ethiopia in Shewa Founding of Addis Ababa in 1897.
First Italo-Ethiopian War (1896)	Ethiopia	Italy	Victory Ethiopia retains independence Italians defeated
Dervish War (1900–1920)	Britain   Ethiopia   Italian Empire	Dervish State	Ethiopian allied victory Collapse of the Dervish State
Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1937)	Ethiopia	Italy	Defeat Italian control over most of the Ethiopian Empire's former territory Establishment of Italian East Africa Beginning of Arbegnoch anti-fascist resistance
East African Campaign (1940–1941)	United Kingdom   Ethiopia   Belgian Congo   Free France	Italy	Ethiopian allied victory Fall of Italian East Africa Independence of Ethiopia
Woyane rebellion (1943)	Ethiopia Supported by:   United Kingdom	Tigrayan rebels	Victory Revolt crushed
Korean War (1950–1953)	South Korea UNC   United States   United Kingdom   Canada   Turkey   Australia Ethiopia   Philippines   New Zealand   Thailand Greece   France   Colombia   Belgium   South Africa   Netherlands   Luxembourg	North Korea   China   Soviet Union	Stalemate The Korean Armistice Agreement
Congo Crisis (1960–1964)	Congo-Léopoldville ONUC   Ireland   Sweden   Norway   India   Nigeria   Ethiopia	Katanga   South Kasai	Victory Debellation of Congolese separatist states
Bale Revolt (1963–1970)	Ethiopia	Oromo and Somali rebels Somali Republic →   Somalia	Victory Revolt crushed, peace agreement
1964 Ethiopian–Somali War (1964)	Ethiopia	Somali Republic United Arab Republic	Stalemate Military offensive of Ethiopia repulsed, ceasefire agreement [6] [7]

Communist Ethiopia (1975–1991)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results
Eritrean War of Independence (1961–1991)	1961–1974 Ethiopian Empire Supported by:   United States [8]   Israel [9] [10] 1974–1991 Derg (1974–1987) PDR Ethiopia (1987–1991) Supported by:   Soviet Union [15] (1974–1990)   Cuba (1974–1990)   South Yemen (1974–1990)   Israel [9]   North Korea [16]	ELF (1961–1981) Supported by:   Sudan [17] Libya [18] [19]   China (until 1972) [20] [21]   Cuba (until 1975) [18] [22]   Syria [23] [24] Iraq [25] [26]   Saudi Arabia [27] Somalia [28] [11] EPLF (since 1973) TPLF (since 1975) Supported by: Libya [30] [31]   Sudan [32] Somalia [28] Syria [23] [24] Iraq [32] Kuwait [33] United Arab Emirates [33]	Defeat Eritrean insurgency begins in 1961 ELF defeated by EPLF and TPLF during the Eritrean Civil Wars Fall of the Derg regime Eritrea gains de facto independence from Ethiopia in 1991 under EPLF rule, and de jure independence after the referendum held in 1993 under UN auspices Ethiopia becomes a landlocked country.
Ogaden War (1977–1978)	Ethiopia   Cuba   Soviet Union [34]   South Yemen [35]	Somalia WSLF	Victory Somalia breaks all ties with the Soviet Bloc and the Second World (except China and Romania). [36] Beginning of the Somali Rebellion
1982 Ethiopian-Somali Border War (1982)	Derg and allies	Somali Democratic Republic Supported by:   United States	Stalemate Ethiopian invasion halted Ethiopia occupies the border towns of Galdogob and Balanbale until 1988 United States delivers emergency military and humanitarian aid to Somalia to prevent further attacks by Ethiopia [37]
Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991)	Derg (1974–1987) PDR Ethiopia Supported by:   Soviet Union [38] [39] [40] (1974–1990)   Cuba (1974–1990)   South Yemen (1974–1990)	EPRDF TPLF EPDM OPDO EPRP MEISON (from 1977) EDU OLF WSLF ALF ONLF [41] Eritrean separatists: ELF (until 1981) EPLF Supported by: United States [42]	EPLF/TPLF rebel victory Fall of the Ethiopian Empire and subsequent implementation of military rule Creation, then collapse, of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia by the Derg Installation of the TPLF-led transitional government which would later become the EPRDF government in Ethiopia Installation of the EPLF-established PFDJ government in Eritrea after independence from Ethiopia Independence of Eritrea; Ethiopia becomes a landlocked country

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (from 1995)

See also: Ethiopia § Federal Democratic Republic (1991–present)

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results
Insurgency in Ogaden (1995–2008)	Ethiopia	ONLF	Victory Military defeat of ONLF forces
Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998–2000)	Ethiopia	Eritrea	Victory Algiers Agreement
Ethiopian occupation of Somalia (2006–2009)	Ethiopia TFG AMISOM   Uganda   Burundi   Kenya   Djibouti   Sierra Leone	ICU OLF al-Shabaab	Victory Islamists withdrawal from Somalia Withdrawal of ENDF from Mogadishu and majority of Somalia (2009)
Oromia–Somali clashes (2016–present)	Ethiopia	Oromia Region Somali Region Tigray	Ongoing
OLA insurgency (2018–present)	Ethiopia	OLA	Ongoing
Benishangul-Gumuz conflict (2019–2022)	Ethiopia Amhara militias	Gumuz militias Gumuz Liberation Front Buadin OLA TPLF	Ongoing Majority of Metekel under the control of the ENDF and Amhara militias
Tigray War (2020–2022)	Ethiopia [43] [44]   Eritrea [45] [46]	Tigray OLA (2021–22) [47] [48]	Peace agreement The government and the TPLF formally agreed to a cessation of hostilities and systematic, verifiable disarmament (2 November 2022) [49] [50] [51] Second agreement for implementing the peace deal signed by both parties (12 November 2022) [52] [53] Federal authority in the Tigray Region is reestablished Interim Regional Administration of Tigray formed on 23 March 2023 Continued Eritrean military presence in Tigray as of 2023 Status of Tigray Region's Western Zone still disputed
2020–21 Ethiopian–Sudanese clashes (2020–present)	Ethiopia Amhara militias	Sudan	Ongoing Most of the border recaptured by Sudan
War in Amhara (2023–present)	Ethiopia ENDF OLA	Fano	Ongoing

Footnotes

1. Hassen, Mohammed. Oromo of Ethiopia with special emphasis on the Gibe region (PDF). University of London. p. 22.
2. J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 75.
3. E. A. Wallis Budge, A history of Ethiopia, pp. 307–308.
4. Gikes, Patrick (2002). "Wars in the Horn of Africa and the dismantling of the Somali State". African Studies. 2. University of Lisbon: 89–102. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
5. Sarkees, Meredith Reid; Wayman, Frank Whelon (2010). Resort to War: A Data Guide to Inter-State, Extra-state, Intra-State, and Non-State Wars, 1816–2007. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. p. 262. The conclusion of the war is coded as a compromise
6. "Somalia profile – Timeline". BBC Africa. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
7. "Onwar". Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
8. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45304844 | The U.S. and Ethiopia: The Politics of Military Assistance. Armed Forces & Society
9. "Ethiopia-Israel". country-data.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
10. U.S. Requests for Ethiopian Bases Pushed Archived 6 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine Toledo Blade, 13 March 1957
11. Connell, Dan; Killion, Tom (2011). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN   978-0-8108-5952-4.
12. "Communism, African-Style". Time. 1983-07-04. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
13. "Ethiopia Red Star Over the Horn of Africa". Time. 1986-08-04. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
14. "Ethiopia a Forgotten War Rages On". Time. 1985-12-23. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
15. ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}
16. Clapham, Christopher. Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia. p. 277.
17. The Pillage of Sustainablility in Eritrea, 1600s–1990s: Rural Communities and the Creeping Shadows of Hegemony, 1998. Page 82.
18. Fauriol, Georges A; Loser, Eva (1990). Cuba: the international dimension. Transaction Publishers. ISBN   0-88738-324-6.
19. The maverick state: Gaddafi and the New World Order, 1996. Page 71.
20. Schmidt, Elizabeth (2013). Foreign intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror. Cambridge. p. 158. ISBN   9780521882385. China assisted the ELF with weapons and military training until 1972, when Ethiopian recognition of Beijing as the legitimate Chinese government led to China's abandonment of the Eritrean struggle.
21. Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa 2009, Page 93
22. Schoultz, Lars (2009). That infernal little Cuban republic: the United States and the Cuban Revolution. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-8078-3260-8.
23. Historical Dictionary of Eritrea, 2010. Page 492
24. Oil, Power and Politics: Conflict of Asian and African Studies, 1975. Page 97.
25. Eritrea: Even the Stones Are Burning, 1998. Page 110
26. Eritrea – liberation or capitulation, 1978. Page 103
27. Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years, 2006. page 318.
28. Spencer C. Tucker, A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, 2009. page 2402
29. Ethiopia and the United States: History, Diplomacy, and Analysis, 2009. page 84.
30. ^{[18] [19] [11] [29]}
31. The Political Crisis in Ethiopia and the Role of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1992. ISBN   9780160372056. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
32. Ciment, James (27 March 2015). Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II. Routledge. ISBN   9781317471868. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
33. https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/sub-saharan-africa-region/ethiopiaeritrea-1950-1993/
34. Urban, Mark (1983). "Soviet intervention and the Ogaden counter-offensive of 1978". The RUSI Journal. 128 (2): 42–46. doi:10.1080/03071848308523524. ISSN   0307-1847. Soviet advisers fulfilled a number of roles, although the majority were involved in training and headquarters duties. Others flew combat missions in the MiGs and helicopters.
35. "Ogaden Area recaptured by Ethiopian Forces with Soviet and Cuban Support – International Ramifications of Ethiopian-Somali Conflict – Incipient Soviet and Cuban Involvement in Ethiopian Warfare against Eritrean Secessionists – Political Assassinations inside Ethiopia". Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives). 1 May 1978. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
36. Gorman, Robert F. (1981). Political Conflict on the Horn of Africa. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 208. ISBN   978-0-030-59471-7.
37. "Somalia: Status of the Armed Forces" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. March 1982. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
38. Keneally, Thomas (27 September 1987). "IN ERITREA". The New York Times– via NYTimes.com.
39. ""Wir haben euch Waffen und Brot geschickt"". Der Spiegel. 2 March 1980 – via www.spiegel.de.
40. "Attempts to distort history". www.shaebia.org. Archived from the original on 17 November 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
41. "Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians". 3 July 2007.
42. Brooke, James (15 March 1987). "Ethiopia: Rebellion Behind a Mask of Conformity". The New York Times.
43. "Ethiopia: Fear Tigray conflict could trigger all-out war". DW. 20 July 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
44. Endeshaw, Dawit (16 July 2021). "Three more regions reinforce Ethiopia army, Amhara against Tigray forces". Reuters. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
45. "Ethiopian PM confirms Eritrean troops entered Tigray during conflict". Reuters. 23 March 2021. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021.
46. "Eritrea confirms its troops are fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray". Al Jazeera. 17 April 2021. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
47. Anna, Cara (11 August 2021). "Ethiopia armed group says it has alliance with Tigray forces". AP News. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
48. "Leaked EU Diplomatic Cable: Delegation of the European Union to Ethiopia". Scoop. 25 August 2021. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
49. "African Union: Agreement reached on permanent cessation of hostilities in Ethiopia". National Post. 2 November 2022.
50. Winning, Alexander; Cocks, Tim (2 November 2022). "Combatants in Ethiopia's Tigray war agree to stop fighting". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
51. Feleke, Bethlehem (3 November 2022). "Warring parties in Ethiopia agree on 'permanent cessation of hostilities'". CNN World. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
52. Mersie, Ayenat (12 November 2022). "Ethiopia combatants sign deal to start implementing truce". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
53. "Ethiopia Truce Implementation to Start 'Immediately', Mediator Says". Asharq AL-awsat. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2022.