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)[edit]

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	Victory^[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 French	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 Somalia	Victory Revolt crushed, peace agreement
1964 Ethiopian–Somali War (1964)	Ethiopia	Somalia United Arab Republic	Stalemate Military offensive of Ethiopia repulsed, ceasefire agreement^[6]^[7]

Communist Ethiopia (1975–1991)[edit]

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Results
Eritrean War of Independence (1961–1991)	Ethiopia and allies	ELF EPLF	Defeat Eritrean independence following referendum
Ethio-Somali War (1977–1978)	Ethiopia and allies	Somalia WSLF	Victory Somali retreat from Ogaden with assistance from Soviet, Cuban, and South Yemani personnel
1982 Ethiopian-Somali Border War (1982)	Ethiopia and allies	Somalia 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^[8]
Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991)	PDRE	Ethiopian Empire EPRP EPLF TPLF MEISON ANDM EDUP OLF ONLF WSLF ALF	Regime change Fall of government, installation of new TPLF-led government, the EPRDF

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (from 1995)[edit]

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
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 Amhara militias Eritrea	TPLF Tigray Regional Government Local militias TDF	Victory The Ethiopian Government and TPLF come to an agreement on terms mostly favorable to the Ethiopian Government Eritrean Defense Forces maintain presence in Tigray
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[edit]

^ Hassen, Mohammed. Oromo of Ethiopia with special emphasis on the Gibe region (PDF). University of London. p. 22.
^ J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), p. 75.
^ E. A. Wallis Budge, A history of Ethiopia, pp. 307–308.
^ 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.
^ 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
^ "Somalia profile – Timeline". BBC Africa. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
^ "Onwar". Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
^ "Somalia: Status of the Armed Forces" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. March 1982. Retrieved 20 October 2018.

[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

[autogenerated3-6] "Somalia profile – Timeline". BBC Africa. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

[autogenerated4-7] "Onwar". Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.

[Status_of_the_Armed_Forces-8] "Somalia: Status of the Armed Forces" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. March 1982. Retrieved 20 October 2018.

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v t e Lists of wars involving African countries
Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)