Chapter 1
Part 3: The Battle of Addis Ababa
Around roughly 10:00 in the evening on the night of December the 15th a significant number of divisions stationed in Addis Ababa set out into the streets. They had been planning this for weeks after being secretly contacted by General Aman Andom, and now was their time to strike. For weeks they had put up with the the vile and illegitimate Derg as it had slowly moved away from its original goal of supporting to the common soldier and further and further into the depths of marxist drivel, but no longer.
The ragtag group quickly secured important strategic locations around the city meeting little resistance at for the moment. This state of affairs of course couldnt last, and around 12:30, the government had been officially notified of what was going on. A crude resistance was mobilized, and while they might have perhaps outnumbered the conspirators, the element of surprise was crucial. Nonetheless by 1:00 serious fighting had erupted in the streets. Gunshots and screams could be heard around every corner as the Battle of Addis Ababa surged to a bloody start. Major government officials had evacuated out of the city for the most part with the exception of a few stragglers notably head of state and secretary of the derg Mengistu Haile Mariam.
After a no doubt stressful evening Mariam had retired to his home for a well deserved rest. Around 12:45 Mariam awoke to a sharp crack on one his lower floors as his front door was shattered to pieces. Numerous footsteps could be heard ascending his staircase. Startled, but with his usual military discipline, he scrambled out of his bed and opened his bedside drawer where he kept a handgun for just this eventuality. Aiming it at the door he managed to shoot and kill two of his assailants before being fatally shot himself. Aman’s revenge was fulfilled, the secretary was dead.
One of the key locations seized was the Alem Bekagn prison complex where a number of high profile political prisoners and former members of the imperial regime. The prison was quickly taken and many of those aforementioned prisoners were spirited away to safer locations in Northern Ethiopia. Aman saw these individuals as not only potential allies, but also thought that the sparing of these men who had previously been on the chopping block for execution as a potential net gain in political and international reputation. One of the most notable of those released was Endalkachew Makonnen a former prime minister and noted liberal reformer.
Endalkachew Makonnen
By dawn most of the city was under the control of the rebels, and by extension Aman. Sporadic fighting still occurred in the streets, but by noon the next day it had mostly calmed down. However these rebels didn't have nearly enough forces to defend against a true counterattack from the Derg, and counted on reinforcements from Aman to rendezvous at the city. Aman was currently on his way marching through the regions just north of Addis Ababa: Welo, Gonder, and Gojam. He had split his forces in two with one group going south west to seize Gonder and Gojam, while Aman personally commanded a larger force to head directly to Addis Ababa through Gojam.
But while Aman’s army was marching the Derg was getting back on its feet. With the death of Mariam and some other senior Derg members the leadership was in a state of disarray. It was decided that reelections would be held once the city was taken back, but General Tafari Benti would be given temporary comma d of the military forces outside the city. Unfortunately for them they lacked the current numbers to retake the city in a full frontal assault. However reinforcements from the Ogaden would be arriving any day now. The race for the grand prize of the capital was at its beginning, and with it the civil war had finally started in earnest.
But as with most beginnings they often replace that which came before. And this was no different. During the night of the coup the former Emperor Haile Selassie died of unknown causes. Some claimed the stress of the battle happening outside his windows as his country tore itself apart was too much for him, while others theorized that perhaps the Derg or even Aman thought that it would be safer with the old monarch dead, but nonetheless December 15th 1974 would signal the beginning of a new chapter in Ethiopian history.