Soviet dominance over Ethiopia fulfilled a long-repressed Tsarist protectorate ambition

Evidence

The long-cherished Tsarist ambition of making Ethiopia a Russian protectorate, prominent at the end of the nineteenth century when Russian arms and advisers had facilitated Menelik’s conquests, and romanticized in the Ethiopian origins ascribed to the national poet Pushkin, had at last borne fruit. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 576 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The opportunist Russian thrust into the power vacuum created in Ethiopia by the withdrawal of American support from Colonel Mengistu’s reign of terror, may initially have seemed advantageous to Western interests. America was no longer involved in sustaining a precariously poised regime which, soi-disant socialist as it was, was clearly determined to remain in power by liquidating all opposition in the most savage manner. Russia had taken on a perilous and ultimately arguably thankless task, since it was far from clear whether Ethiopia could be held together, except at a cost in manpower, arms and involvement at which even the U.S.S.R. might baulk. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 574 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Soviet control over Ethiopia fulfilled a century-old Tsarist ambition — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 576; Russia inherited a thankless task sustaining Mengistu’s Ethiopia — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 574

Related

• Soviet control over Ethiopia fulfilled a century-old Tsarist ambition (similarity 0.95)
• Russia inherited a thankless task sustaining Mengistu’s Ethiopia (similarity 0.88)
• Ethiopia’s victory at Adowa forced European powers to treat it as sovereign. (similarity 0.80)
• A former Russian mission head directed the Ethiopia campaign against Somalia (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Soviet control over Ethiopia fulfilled a century-old Tsarist ambition #corroborates (0.90) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 576
• Russia inherited a thankless task sustaining Mengistu’s Ethiopia #qualifies (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 574