Battle of the Red Sea

The Battle of the Red Sea was a military engagement between the failing Ottoman Empire and the Ethiopian Empire. The Ottomans who had discovered their former allies were aiding nationalist rebellion within the Empire and aiding the new state of Armenia declared that they would expand their war to Ethiopia. Utilizing the Suez Canal they sailed for the Red Sea on February 20th, 1980 to attack the capital of the Ethiopian State.

Commanded by Ras Hassan, the Ethiopians had come prepared and deployed their navy to meet and match the Ottomans. The ensuing naval battle defeated the Ottoman forces but also destroyed the Ethiopian navy, leaving them in the end only with the Chinese-built Aksum and a handful of other ships.

The engagement injured, some had feared killed Hassan. However he recovered in Hedjaz, and embarked on his own mission against the Ottomans by land, relieving the Palestine rebels of the Ottomans in Trans Jordan and Sinai before returning home a war hero. His foray into Ottoman territory won him a retinue of Palestinian mercenaries who accompany him as his entourage.

Dangers against the Ethiopian Empire by the Turks would cease after. The death of the Ottoman Sultan would end the Turkish political threat as it collapses soon after. However, the victory put the Empire at threat from the later Spanish invasion.