Ogaden War

Ogaden War
	Part of the Ethiopian Civil War, the Ethiopian–Somali conflict, and the Cold War
	Clockwise from top:; Somalian T-55 tanks invade Ogaden; destroyed Ethiopian M47 tank in Jijiga; Ethiopian People's Militia marching on the Revolution square, 1977; WSLF militants fighting Ethiopian army.
Date	13 July 1977 – 23 March 1978; (8 months and 2 days)
Location	Ogaden, Ethiopia
Result	Ethiopian victory Somalia breaks all ties with the Soviet Bloc and the Second World (except China and Romania).; Beginning of the Somali Rebellion;
Belligerents
Ethiopia; Cuba; Soviet Union; South Yemen;	Somalia; WSLF;
Commanders and leaders
Mengistu Haile Mariam; Tesfaye Gebre Kidan; Merid Negussie; Addis Tedla; Arnaldo Ochoa; Salem Rubaya Ali; Abdul Fattah Ismail; Vasily Petrov;	Siad Barre; Mohammad Ali Samatar; Abdullah Mohamed Fadil; Abdullahi Ahmed Irro; Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed; Mohamed Farrah Aidid; Mohamed Ali;
Strength
Beginning of war:; 35,000–47,000 soldiers; 37 aircraft, 62 tanks, 100 armored vehicles; Later:; 64,500 soldiers; 1,500 Soviet advisors; 12,000–18,000 Cuban soldiers; 2,000 Yemeni soldiers	Beginning of war:; 31,000–39,000 soldiers; 53 aircraft, 250 tanks, 350 armored vehicles, and 600 artillery guns; Later:; 45,000–63,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
Ethiopia:; 6,133 killed; 8,207 wounded; 2,523 captured; Equipment losses:; 23 aircraft; 139 tanks; 108 APCs; 1,399 vehicles; Cuba:; 163 killed ; 250 wounded; 6 tanks; South Yemen:; 90 killed; 150 wounded; Soviet Union:; 33 advisors killed	Somalia:; 6,453 killed; 2,409 wounded; 275 captured; Equipment losses:; 34 aircraft; 154 tanks; 270 APCs; 624 vehicles; 295 artillery guns
	25,000 civilians killed; 500,000 Somali inhabitants of Ethiopia displaced

The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (Somali: Dagaalkii Xoraynta Soomaali Galbeed, Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, romanized: ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orinet), was a military conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Somalia launched an invasion in support of the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) insurgency, triggering a broader inter-state war. The intervention drew the disapproval of the Soviet Union, which subsequently withdrew its support for Somalia and backed Ethiopia instead.

Ethiopia was saved from defeat and permanent loss of territory through a massive airlift of military supplies worth $1 billion, the arrival of more than 12,000 Cuban soldiers and airmen and 1,500 Soviet advisors, led by General Vasily Petrov. On 23 January 1978, Cuban armored brigades inflicted the worst losses the Somali forces had ever taken in a single action since the start of the war.

The Ethiopian-Cuban force (equipped with 300 tanks, 156 artillery pieces and 46 combat aircraft) prevailed at Harar and Jijiga, and began to push the Somalis systematically out of the Ogaden. On 23 March 1978, the Ethiopian government declared that the last border post had been regained, thus ending the war. Almost a third of the regular SNA soldiers, three-eighths of the armored units and half of the Somali Air Force had been lost during the war. The war left Somalia with a disorganized and demoralized army as well as a heavy disapproval from its population. These conditions led to a revolt in the army which eventually spiraled into the ongoing Somali Civil War.