The 1951 Ethiopian-Eritrean War (19 January 1951-) was an armed conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and the newly-independent state of Eritrea that followed Eritrean independence from the United Kingdom just eighteen days earlier.
Background[]
Following World War II, the Ethiopian Empire, Egypt, Liberia, and South Africa were the only African nations to have independence from any European powers. Ethiopia emerged as a regional power in East Africa due to its military strength, and it fought in the Korean War as a member of the United Nations coalition, becoming an African powerhouse. Eager to expand, Emperor Haile Selassie found the opportunity he was looking for when the United Kingdom gave independence to Eritrea on New Year's Day of 1951. President Amna Tekie's government was a democratic government that was pro-West, while Ethiopia took steps to align itself towards the Soviet Union. When Ethiopia declared war on Eritrea on 19 January 1951, the conflict became a part of the wider Cold War.
War[]
The nascent country of Eritrea, only eighteen days old, had no military to speak of and had no experienced military leaders, which allowed for the Ethiopian Army to move into Eritrea without much opposition, taking Asmara by March 1951. Ethiopia was initially closer to the USSR, but on 15 August 1951 Eritrea moved into the USSR-aligned sphere from the USSR-leaning sphere (on the same day as Venezuela and Syria), leading the USSR to give its support to Eritrea instead. By December, the Eritreans moved the capital to Aranat, and the Ethiopians besieged the city into 1952.