ShmoopTube

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It’s pretty clear by this point that US and other Western opposition to socialism [Africa and USA tug of war over Socialism]

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led to a lot of war in Africa.

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So… it’s no shocker that the Soviet Union caused a bunch of problems on its end, too. [Soviet soldiers]

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That country’s shenanigans in Ethiopia and the surrounding Horn of Africa are probably

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the most glaring example.

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So let’s…horn in on it… [Girl uses an air horn]

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Here’s how it went down…

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In 1974, our buddy Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was violently overthrown by a

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pack of Marxist military officers called The Derg. [The Derg throw Haile away]

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The Derg didn’t take down Haile on their own.

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The USSR hooked them up with all the weapons and money they needed to take Selassie down.

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But not everyone in Ethiopia was cool with the Derg.

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Moderate democratic socialists weren’t into the Derg’s hardcore ways, and civil war [Democratic socialists protest on the streets]

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flared up immediately.

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The war lasted from 1975 to 1991.

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Yep, that’s over 15 years of Ethiopian on Ethiopian violence, brought to us by the USSR,

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without commercial interruption.

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Soviet strategists even helped the Derg write some of their greatest hits, like… mass [Soviet strategist playing the piano]

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murder, purges, and military crackdowns.

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Soviet influence spread out from Ethiopia like a bad case of poison ivy.

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In 1976, the military interim government in Somalia was replaced by a socialist one-party state.

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Islamic fundamentalists tried to put up a serious fight, but the Soviets propped up [Men in suits fighting with swords]

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the failing socialist government.

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Things were downright terrible and out of control. [Soviet soldiers pull the men apart]

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But when the USSR went bankrupt and folded in 1991… everything got even more insane.

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Two regions, Somaliland in Somalia and Eritrea [air-uh-TREE-uh] in Ethiopia, declared independence.

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Islamist movements seized chunks of land in both states. [Islamic man holds a piece of dirt and claims it as his own]

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So the countries were crumbling like old, stale biscuits.

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Without any gravy in sight.

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Ethiopia next launched into a bloody fight for democracy.

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Multiparty elections were eventually held in 1994, and a milder socialist government [Man voting at a polling booth]

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took control.

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But the bad stuff was far from over.

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Islamic terrorism, Christian nationalism, and regional politics did their best to take

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down the new regime.

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So it responded with strict police crackdowns and attacks on freedom of the press. [Police running down a street]

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Then, in 1998, Ethiopia got into a war with Eritrea over a border dispute and both governments

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went bankrupt.

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Oh, and also there was a huge drought. [Man in desert looking for water]

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Well, at least we can’t blame the USSR for that one…

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Despite everything that happened, Ethiopia is still holding it together.

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Sure, it’s got more than its fare share of problems, but it’s still holding elections

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and working as a unified state.

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But Somalia…err…not so much.

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There, several different governments claim to be the true Somali government, and each

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rules its own part of the country.

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Competing socialist, moderate, and Islamist ideologies have caused bloody street clashes. [Two men fighting in the street]

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Different clans, or extended families, have tried to carve out small empires in various

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parts of the country for themselves.

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Continuous war has prevented real development.

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And the increasing poverty and desperation has made Somalia a recruiting ground for terrorists

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and pirates.

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Anyway, colonialism was wrapping up by the time of the Cold War, but Somalia and Ethiopia

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demonstrate how meddling by outside powers was still causing huge problems. [Somalia and Ethiopia both firing guns]

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When the power is a superpower like the US or the USSR, those problems can get, uh…super

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big… [Zombie smashes through a wall and the USSR and US look terrified]

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