Peasant revolution in Ethiopia

There is not much in-depth information available about the revolution in Ethiopia, but the book Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia by John Young provides detailed information about the revolution, why it started, how the Derg affected the nation, and the role of the peasant population in Tigray and Eritrea.

In an effort to undermine the support of its opponent, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the Derg restricted the sale of agricultural implements and machinery to peasants. The Derg's control was subsequently weakened by a famine that disrupted the peasant economy. The famine diverted energies away from mobilization and military campaigns, to relief and reconstruction. In early 1978, the Derg launched a resettlement program with the alleged aim of combating drought, averting famine, and increasing agricultural productivity, although it was not until 1984–85 that the program assumed massive proportions. Its objective was to move 1.5 million peasants from the northern provinces, and by the end of 1986, half a million had been moved, most of them forcibly. By the mid-1980s, the vast majority of the peasantry were irrevocably connected to the TPLF and it was clear that the Derg did not have the capacity to defeat its northern-based opposition. By 1987, the TPLF leadership had concluded that its forces and those of the Derg were roughly in balance and that a stalemate ensued. As a consequence, the Front leadership began preparing plans to break the stalemate.

The dismissal of the PDRE from Tigray in 1989 marked somewhat of an ending to the conflicts in the region, but the war went on until the overthrow of the PDRE and the EPRDF's capture of the entire country in 1991. Although the overthrow of the PDRE brought a much-desired peace, Tigray's transition from a regime of virtual independence to one of measured autonomy in post-1991 Ethiopia has not always been easy. Not only did Tigrayans resent the roles of the central bureaucrats in funding decisions, but they also had little sympathy for their management style that increasingly came to the fore as provincial and national ministries were integrated.