Ethiopia’s Soviet-Cuban campaign shifted from the Ogaden to a harder Eritrean front

Evidence

By the summer of 1978, after the reconquest of the Ogaden, the Russo-Cuban directed Ethiopian war-machine had, predictably, transferred its attentions to Eritrea. Here the situation for the Russians and Cubans was much more delicate and potentially damaging than that in the Ogaden. The Eritrean freedom-fighters had previously enjoyed direct Cuban support in their struggle to recover independence for the former Italian colony of Eritrea, federated to Ethiopia in 1952. They had, moreover, a much longer tradition of highly organized resistance to the Ethiopians and had succeeded in recovering control of virtually the whole country except for the beleaguered Ethiopian garrisons in Asmara and the port of Massawa. The mountainous Eritrean terrain was also, unlike the Ogaden, ideally suited to successful guerrilla operations – as previous campaigns had illustrated. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 575

Categorization

• XREF: Builds on the earlier Ogaden War chapters; links Ethiopia’s patron-switching to the Cold War competition narrative threaded through the book. — connects to: Russian and Cuban reinforcements stalled the W.S.L.F.’s advance on Harar into stalemate; Ethiopia’s 1977 expulsion of U.S. personnel triggered a superpower realignment in the Horn. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 563; Russian and Cuban reinforcements turned the Ogaden offensive into stalemate — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 569

Related

• By 1978 Somalia had lost superpower patronage while Ethiopia switched camps (similarity 0.87)
• Russian and Cuban reinforcements turned the Ogaden offensive into stalemate (similarity 0.86)
• Ethiopia won a tactical victory at Addis Ababa over Somalia (similarity 0.82)
• Ethiopia’s 1977 expulsion of U.S. personnel triggered a superpower realignment in the Horn. (similarity 0.81)
• Superpower alignments in the Horn flipped twice over the Ogaden (similarity 0.81)
• A Cuban-armoured Ethiopian offensive took Jigjiga from an unexpected direction (similarity 0.80)
• Russian and Cuban reinforcements stalled the W.S.L.F.’s advance on Harar into stalemate (similarity 0.80)
• Somalia’s overconfidence and tactical errors invited military disaster in the Ogaden. (similarity 0.79)
• Ethiopian revolution emboldened Somali hopes for the Ogaden (similarity 0.79)
• Italian reoccupation and Ethiopian claims broke nationalist momentum in the 1950s (similarity 0.78)
• Ethiopian meddling in Somalia revived Somali nationalism, culminating in the 1977 Ogaden war. (similarity 0.78)
• The Ogaden War forced Somalia to sever its military alliance with the Soviet Union (similarity 0.78)