Ethiopia’s Wars: Anti-Colonial Victory, Socialist Revolution and the Return of War in Tigray
Updated: Oct 1
Ethiopia’s modern history is a struggle over state survival, empire, national liberation, socialism, federalism and access to regional power. The renewed war in Tigray in 2026 is dangerous precisely because it sits on top of all of those unresolved layers at once.
Adwa made Ethiopia an anti-colonial symbol
Ethiopia’s 1896 victory over Italy at Adwa preserved the country’s independence during the height of European colonial expansion in Africa. That victory gave Ethiopia a symbolic position far beyond its borders: an African state had defeated a European colonial army in a conventional war.
Italy returned with fascist war
Mussolini’s Italy invaded again in 1935, using overwhelming military force and chemical weapons. Ethiopia was occupied, but resistance continued until Allied and Ethiopian forces restored the government during World War II.
Revolution turned the state toward socialism
The 1974 revolution overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie and brought the Derg to power. The new government nationalized land and major industries and aligned closely with the Soviet bloc. During the Ogaden War, Cuban troops and Soviet support helped Ethiopia repel Somalia’s invasion.
Federalism did not resolve the national question
After the Derg fell in 1991, Ethiopia adopted an ethnic-federal system designed to give national groups formal autonomy. Eritrea became independent in 1993. Yet disputes over territory, power, borders and the balance between federal and regional authority remained embedded in the new system.
The 2020–2022 Tigray war never produced a stable settlement
The Pretoria agreement ended large-scale war in 2022, but it did not settle every dispute over territory, disarmament, political authority or relations with Eritrea. In September 2026, renewed fighting erupted between Tigrayan forces and the federal government, ending four years without major war.
Reuters reported that the fighting quickly spread across Tigray, Amhara and Afar, with telecom disruptions, population flight and competing claims of large battlefield losses. By October 1, Ethiopia and Eritrea had severed diplomatic ties after Addis Ababa accused Eritrea and other neighboring states of supporting a TPLF-led opposition alliance; those governments denied the accusations.
The danger is regional state fragmentation
A Marxist reading of Ethiopia’s wars focuses on state formation: who controls land, armies, borders, ports, taxation and national development. Ethiopia’s history repeatedly shows how national liberation and social revolution can coexist with unresolved regional and ethnic conflicts. The present crisis is dangerous because those contradictions now intersect with Red Sea rivalry, Nile politics and a wider Horn of Africa security system.
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