Historical Research Letter www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3178 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0964 (Online) Vol.55, 2024 12 The 1984 EPRP’s Surgical Military Operation of Dangila Town Wondemeneh Adera (M.A in History) Lecturer, Department of History and Heritage Management (Faculty of Social Science and Humanities) Woldia University (Ethiopia) Tel- +251 904345620 E-mail: wondemeneh61@gmail.com Abstract This paper tries to chronicled, narrate and depict Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Party (EPRP’s) surgical military operation in Dangila, a town then was the capital of Agäw-Mider Awraja, Gojjam province. This operation was very important to EPRP, for it was a decisive comeback after breakup in 1980. This time around, the Därge was very sure about the total exhaustion of EPRP. However, this successful military operation of EPRP has shocked the Därge governorates deeply. So using the historical research method, basically consulting primary sources, this paper tried to produce the military operation of EPRP in Danglia and the surrounding area. The principal sources of the study were both secondary and primary sources. Much emphasis was given to acquire primary sources of information through, the Därge security reports, various other documents, ex-EPRP fighters and eye witnesses. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions of ex-EPRP fighters was also employed and analyzed to substantiate this study. Using the aforementioned sources of information, deep discussions and analysis was conducted to drawn this conclusion. Keywords: EPRP, Därge, Quara, Dangila, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/HRL/55-02 Publication date: April 30 th 2024 I. Introduction The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Party known by its acronym as EPRP, and in Amharic also as Ihapa (ኢህአፓ), was an essential ingredient of the history the Ethiopian Revolution. It was a civilian political left and one of the most significant offshoots the Ethiopian Students Movement (c.1960-1974). The party was actively and boldly engaged in all sorts of revolutionary activities. In a very short period of time, EPRP has evolved from student activism to urban guerilla and eventually to peasant based protracted armed struggle against the Mängestu Haile-Mariam regime. During the tumultuous years of the Ethiopian revolution, EPRP has paid the dearest price among civilian political groupings. This was due to the nature of its political contriving and direct confrontation with the Därge on urban insurrection. EPRP which had been pervasively challenged the military rule of the Därge during the bloody years of the Ethiopian revolution was horribly lost much of its urban structure by the counter measurement of the Därge—the Red Terror. The reign of terror was categorically from 1976-1978 (Fantahun Ayele, 2014; 208, Bahru Zewde, 2008; 436). What has been declared as ‘the Red Terror’ by Mängestu was a large scale indiscriminate programmatic attack for the liquidation of the EPRP in urban centers. With unprecedented cruelty in Ethiopian history, Mängestu was succeeded in executing his plan. It was a traumatic political experience that badly affected the subsequent political developments of Ethiopia. After the Red Terror, a number of young Ethiopians were fleeing to the rural areas to join their comrades in the mountains of Northern Ethiopia. A mountains place on Eastern Tigray popularly known as Assimba was the base of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Army (EPRA). It was the military wing of EPRP who had maintained a precarious existence for some time (John Markakis, 1981; 18). EPRA was established a little before the Ethiopian revolution, for the purpose of protracted peasant based armed struggle against the Imperial regime. But with the outbreak of the Ethiopian revolution, there comes a shift on strategic engagement of the EPRP. Thus, before the Red Terror EPRA was in the mountains with insignificant role. The Red Terror increased the role of EPRA exponentially, both in its size as well as in its activities. This growth of EPRA, however, was not survived so long for it was again counter-checked by the TPLF. During this time the TPLF was almost emerged as formidable force and vanguards of Tigrian Nationalism in Tigray region. Unable to challenge the TPLF, EPRA/EPRP forced to relocate its center from Eastern Tigray to the North Western parts of the then Gondar province. After lost its initial base forever, by the end of 1979, EPRP/EPRA began to operate in the areas around Wäleqayit, Ţägädé, Ţälämet, Armaçiho, Bäläsa, and Çilega. However, the strong presence of Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) in this area too, makes the territory again was not a safe haven for EPRP. In Wäleqayite and Ţägädé, the EPRP was seen by the local people as similar to the Därge (Maserasha Alebachew, 2016; 60). This sentiment of the locality was due to the deeper existence of EDU in that specific region. For EDU, both EPRP and the Därge are materialist atheists and Marxist political radicals who stood against the