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  • The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa
  • Sandra F. Joireman
Gebru Tareke . The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. xx + 437 pp. List of Abbreviations. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Map. $45.00. Cloth.

When was the Ethiopian Revolution? The standard answer of 1974 will not do. So argues Gebru Tareke in this extensively researched and well-written volume, which claims that the 1974 revolution began a process that was completed in 1991 with the overthrow of the socialist regime of the Derg.

According to Gebru Tareke, the very same forces that unleashed regime change in 1974, the Marxist-Leninist ideologies born out of the student movement in the early 1970s, persisted through to the overthrow of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. He writes that "two revolutions were waged simultaneously in Ethiopia from 1975 to 1991. One was led from the center by radical soldiers who dubbed themselves Marxist-Leninists and used the state's resources and tools of control. It was a top-down revolution that relied heavily on compulsion. The second was guided by insurgent intellectuals, also Marxist-Leninists, and its primary base was the countryside" (45). Separating the two regime changes, the author argues, ignores the fact that it was the same people and ideological struggles that were key to both. This is a fascinating and well-supported argument. The book draws on [End Page 178] transcripts of Politburo meetings, interviews, minutes of meetings between the Soviets and the Ethiopian government in Moscow, and other secondary sources.

The Ethiopian Revolution is, first and foremost, a military history. Since so much of the history of modern Ethiopia is military history, the book will evoke interest among a broad spectrum of readers. There are chapters devoted to the Eritrean independence struggle and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). There are also individual chapters on major battles from the Eritrean independence struggle and a chapter on the Ogaden War. Analysis of the tactical methods of guerilla warfare and counterinsurgency exist throughout the book.

Gebru Tareke is deeply sympathetic to the common solider. He lauds the commitment and dedication of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and TPLF insurgents and laments the deplorable conditions of the soldiers in the Ethiopian revolutionary army—their pay, their rations, and their treatment. Indeed, he calls for a proper memorial to the soldiers of the revolutionary army who suffered so much. While sympathetic to the soldier, however, he is extremely critical of Mengistu Haile Mariam, whom he portrays as an incompetent strategist, uncaring in his direction of the country and largely to blame both for the misery of the common citizen and for military defeat.

Gebru Tareke helpfully brings social theory to bear on traditional understandings of the nationalities question and is insightful in identifying the need for, and trying to provide, an acceptable single narrative of the civil war in order to promote the stability of the Ethiopian state. He notes two distinct and competing contemporary narratives: one portrays the civil wars as part of the "just struggles for human freedom, dignity, equality and democracy"; the second perspective sees the wars as sowing the "seeds of ethnic hatred and social disharmony" (323).

One major flaw of this book is the nearly complete absence of any analysis of the Oromo nationalist movement. It is not clear why there is no discussion of this significant facet of Ethiopian politics; its absence becomes glaring when the book begins to detail the formation of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, which had Oromo parties within it. While the most influential groups, the EPLF and the TPLF, get significant consideration, there is so little discussion of the Oromo movements that one might think they did not even exist.

That said, this book makes an extremely important contribution to the literature on Ethiopian history. The even tone, significant detail, and attention to the effects of war on the peasantry and the state make it a necessary source for anyone interested in Ethiopia. [End Page 179]

Sandra F. Joireman
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
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