Red Terror Thesis

I.Thesis
Thesis Statement: In response to the many protests of the Ethiopian people to remove the Derg party from the Ethiopian Government, Mengistu,chairman of the Derg political party, started the Red Terror, which was a genocide of Ethiopian citizens who opposed the Derg. As a result of Mengistu's Red Terror Movement, Ethiopia had suffered irreversible damage to its economy, experienced a country wide famine, and thousands of its citizens had been slaughtered. Mengistu's terror was primarily shaped by Communism; Mengistu's socialist ideas, alliances with the Soviet Union, and radical principles gave the Ethiopian Red Terror a Soviet character that made Ethiopia a figurative part of the Communist bloc.
II. Background
Our project is about
Mengistu’s Red Terror, which was a movement that killed thousands of Ethiopians who opposed Derg. Derg was a political party in Ethiopia that took control of the government from Haile Selassie, the previous emperor, and was responsible for enforcing the Red Terror. Mengistu was the leader of the Derg, and commanded the military to search and kill any citizen who opposed Derg. The genocide of these Ethiopian citizens was coined the Red Terror by Mengistu himself.
-Mengistu and his party, Derg, started the Red Terror
-The Soviet Union supported Derg by giving the party weapons. They did so because Mengistu supported communist beliefs and allied himself with the Soviets. The Soviets were eager to support any country that wanted to switch to communist beliefs, because they were engaged in a Cold War with the United States, and wanted to have as many allies as possible. Ethiopia was prime example of this, as Mengistu was trying to set up communist principles within the country, and asked for the Soviet Union to help.
-The Ethiopian Revolutionary Party opposed Derg

-Derg overthrew Haile Selassie and gained control of Ethiopia in 1974, and the Red Terror took place from 1977-1978
-The Ethiopian people started to revolt against Mengistu because they did not like his communist ideals -The Ethiopian people started the Ethiopian Revolutionary Party to overthrow Mengistu
-Mengistu was angered by this and sent thousands of troops to stop the party and its supporters

III. Social and Cultural Context
The Ethiopian famine during 1973-1974 affected Ethiopia negatively, killing about 300,000 people. The Derg regime never understood to address basic problems leading Ethiopia to the horrors of famine.
-Eritrean-Ethiopian War
Mengistu wasn’t aiming for a specific group of people, but he was killing anyone who opposed Derg. In total, Mengistu and his regime killed hundreds to thousands of people.
-There were not many specific or cultural trends that affected the Red Terror.
Mengistu treated all his victims based on their political beliefs, and not on by their race, religion, or ethnicity. One notable thing that Mengistu did believe in was the communist and socialist ideas that the Soviet Union were using, as Mengistu idolized their principles.
IV. Causes
-A major cause would be Emperor Haile Selassie being overthrown leaving the government of Ethiopia extremely weak. Haile Selassie ruled Ethiopia for around 50 years, and everyone who owned land was a feudal lord under him. Because Haile Selassie had ruled for so long, new radical groups that were comprised of educated students, protested that Haile Selassie should be overthrown, so that the land owned by the feudal lords could disperse to the Ethiopian citizens.
-The Ethiopian Famine
Many Ethiopians formed opposition groups such as Tigray Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), Ethiopian People's' Revolutionary Party (EPRP), Eritrean Peoples' Liberation Front (EPLF), Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). These groups, made up of civilians, became the victims of the Derg; many Ethiopians fled the country for peace and freedom. This later formed mass killings of Ethiopians who opposed Mengistu’s rule and more conflicts amongst the opposition
groups.
V. Pros
-There were not many positive aspect of the Red Terror because it was genocide of Ethiopian citizens. One slight positive aspect from the Red Terror was that it drew foreign attention to Mengistu, attention that eventually grew and overthrew him.
-Soviet Union support Mengistu and Derg by giving them military weapons
-The Red Terror mainly benefitted the Eritrean People's’ Liberation Front, because Mengistu put most of his attention in controlling the cities of Addis Ababa, and Gonder.
VI. Cons
-Thousands of people died -Another Famine occurred -The economy was crippled
-The Ethiopian Revolutionary Party opposed Derg
-Many citizens opposed the idea of making Ethiopia a Communist country, and rebelled against Derg because of it, which ultimately started the Red Terror
-The Red Terror caused many Ethiopian citizens to die -The Red Terror also crippled the economy which then caused another famine
VII. Significance
-Thousands of Ethiopian citizens died because of the Red Terror -Many Ethiopians fled the country to survive
-The economy collapsed which then caused famine throughout the country
-The Red Terror affected the Ethiopia-Eritrea war because Mengistu mainly focused on enforcing the Red Terror in Addis Ababa and did not give much attention to the war
-Many foreign countries, such as Great Britain and the United states, worked to overthrow Mengistu after seeing what happened in the Red Terror VIII. Conclusion
-The current government of Eritrea and Ethiopia have been committing similar actions as Mengistu and Red Terror. Eritrea has been forcing its citizens to join the military and for those who refuse to join the military are sent to prison. The Ethiopian government favors the Tigray people giving them power and land; they want them to succeed and for anyone who is protesting and against it will be killed. Our project connected to the theme, because it shows how Mengistu’s Red Terror negatively shaped Ethiopia for the many years to follow. After the Red Terror, the economy was ravaged, and because of that, famine occurred within the country. Also, thousands of people died, leaving their families to mourn over their loss.
The Red Terror showed an example of the power that Mengistu possessed, and the negative things that happened because of that power. It is remembered as a symbol of Mengistu’s rule, and the many disastrous things that Derg has done. Though much of the world may not be informed of the Red Terror, it still remains one of the darkest periods of East African history.