Ethiopia: History

A year after Italy invaded Ethiopia, Italy recognizes Ethiopia's independence after being defeated by Ethiopian forces. 

Italy invades Ethiopia again, taking control of the capital and appointing the king of Italy as the new emperor of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is combined with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland to become Italian East Africa.

British and Commonwealth troops, greatly aided by the Ethiopian resistance, known as the arbegnoch, defeat the Italians. 

After becoming a United Nations trust territory in 1949, the UN decides to make Eritrea a federal component of Ethiopia. 

Ethiopia annexes Eritrea, turning it into a province, which marks the beginning of the war of independence. 

An estimated 200,000 people die in Wallo province as a result of famine.

Ethiopia defeats Somali forces after they invaded the Ogaden region, with the help of the Soviet Union and Cuba. A peace treaty between Ethiopia and Somalia is signed later in 1998.

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front captures the capital, Addis Ababa. Eritrea establishes its own provisional government pending a referendum on independence. 

Eritrea becomes independent following referendum.

Eritrean-Ethiopian border clashes turn into a full-scale war, leaving roughly 70,000 people dead.

After the peace treaty was signed in 2000, the two countries accept a new common border, which does not last long.

Ethiopia and Eritrea ordered to pay each other compensation for their 1998-2000 border war.

Millions of people face dire food shortages after Ethiopia suffers its worst drought in decades.

Britain, the European Union, and the World Bank announce a project to create 100,000 jobs in Ethiopia. A third of the jobs will be Eritrean refugees to whom the Ethiopian government will grant full employment rights. Economic growth declines to 8% from a previous annual average of 10%; the government blames drought but observers say political unrest has also had an effect. 

The Ethiopian government releases thousands of prisoners who had been detained for speaking out against the current administration. 

Federal troops and interim government officials abruptly withdrew from the capital and the broader Tigray region, and the federal government declared a unilateral cease-fire, citing humanitarian reasons. Yet, the fighting continued.