Ethiopian-Eritrean Wars Volume 2

Ethiopia, a country of ancient origins in eastern Africa, remains a military powerhouse. Currently involved in the war in neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia has also been involved in half a dozen other armed conflicts during the last 60 years.

The Eritrean War of Independence was a crucial conflict. Fought between 1961 and 1991, this was one of the largest armed conflicts on the African continent, especially if measured by numbers of involved combatants. It included a wide spectrum of operations, from ‘classic' counter-insurgency (COIN) to conventional warfare in mountains – with the latter being one of the most complex and demanding undertakings possible for a military force to conduct.

Campaigns fought during the Eritrean War of Independence often included large formations of relatively well-equipped forces, led by well-trained commanders, along well-thought-out plans, based on home-grown doctrine.