# Ogaden War and the Soviet shift to Ethiopia (12 July 1977)

URL: https://allhistories.com/eritrea/timeline/1977-ogaden-war-and-the-soviet-shift-to-ethiopia
Location: Ogaden, Ethiopia
Themes: battle

The Somali National Army invaded the Ogaden on 12 July 1977, according to Ethiopian defence documents cited by Wikipedia; other sources give 13 or 23 July. Ethiopia's best units were then engaged in Eritrea, which left the Ogaden thinly defended. Ethiopia declared on 23 March 1978 that its last border post had been regained. The Soviet Union, which had backed Somalia, switched to Ethiopia: it supplied artillery and tanks in early September 1977, stopped arms to Somalia about two weeks later, and ran a major airlift from late September. Cuban forces grew from a few hundred in December 1977 to roughly 16,000 by February 1978. The civil war article gives 1,700 advisers and 17,000 Cuban troops. After the Ogaden war the Ethiopian army, with Cuban support, turned back to Eritrea and drove the ELF and EPLF from many areas, according to the war article. The Eritrean fronts did not regain the initiative until 1984. The Ogaden article itself does not discuss the effect on Eritrea. At this point in the timeline (1977), Mengistu Haile Mariam (3 Feb 1977 – 10 Sep 1987) was Chairman of the Derg and head of state of Ethiopia; the Ethiopian government treated Eritrea as one of its provinces, while the ELF and the EPLF fought for independence.

## Why it matters
The Soviet and Cuban intervention rescued the Derg from two wars and gave it the arms to drive the Eritrean fronts back in 1978.

Ruler at the Time: [Mengistu Haile Mariam (Chairman of the Derg)](https://allhistories.com/eritrea/rulers/mengistu-haile-mariam-chairman-of-the-derg-1977)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Ogaden War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War)
- [Wikipedia — Eritrean War of Independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrean_War_of_Independence)
- [Wikipedia — Ethiopian Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Civil_War)