Red Terror Campaign

Ethiopian history

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July 16, 2026

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The Red Terror was a brutal campaign initiated in Ethiopia in February 1977 by Mengistu Haile Mariam after he seized complete power. This campaign was a response to attacks by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and other groups. The Red Terror aimed to crush armed opposition and resulted in the deaths of as many as 100,000 people, with thousands more tortured or imprisoned. This period also saw significant land reforms and nationalization of industries, alongside a devastating famine in the mid-1980s. The term "Red Terror" also refers to a period of mass executions in Soviet Russia starting in September 1918, ordered by Lenin to suppress opposition following an assassination attempt against him.123

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Mengistu Haile Mariam
…then unleashed a bloody “Red Terror Campaign” to crush armed opponents among the civilian populace, and later that year he solicited Soviet weaponry and Cuban troops to repel an invasion of the Somali-speaking Ogaden region by Somalia. As undisputed ruler of the country, he oversaw the establishment of the…
Read More
…then unleashed a bloody “Red Terror Campaign” to crush armed opponents among the civilian populace, and later that year he solicited Soviet weaponry and Cuban troops to repel an invasion of the Somali-speaking Ogaden region by Somalia. As undisputed ruler of the country, he oversaw the establishment of the…
Read More