Editing Eritrean Defence Forces (section)

===Pre-independence===
Military history in [[Eritrea]] stretches back for thousands of years; from ancient times to present day, the society of the Eritreans have dealt with both war and peace. During the kingdom of [[Medri Bahri]], the military fought numerous battles against the invading forces of the Abyssinians to the south and the [[Ottoman Turks]] at the Red Sea.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Eritrea: A Pawn in World Politics|author=Yohannes, O.|date=1991|publisher=University of Florida Press|isbn=9780813010441|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sG41eDVRDnoC|page=31|access-date=27 October 2014}}</ref>

During the 16th century, the port of [[Massawa]] was used by the Ottomans to protect sea lanes from disruption, while more recently it was used by the Italians during their colonial occupation. The kingdom of Medri Bahri was dissolved and the [[Italian Eritrea|Colony of Eritrea]] was founded by the Italians in 1890, shortly after the opening of the [[Suez Canal]]. When Italian troops occupied Ethiopia in 1936, Eritrean native soldiers (known as [[Askari#Italian colonies|Askaris]]) supported the invading force. However, this was reversed by British and Ethiopian troops in 1941. The Eritrean infantry battalions and cavalry squadrons of the "[[Royal Corps of Colonial Troops|Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali]]" (Royal Colonial Corps) saw extensive service in the various Italian colonial territories between 1888 and 1942.

During the war for Eritrea's independence rebel movements (the [[Eritrean Liberation Front|ELF]] and the [[Eritrean People's Liberation Front|EPLF]]) used volunteers. In the final years of the struggle for independence, the EPLF ranks grew to 110,000 volunteers (some 3% of the total population).<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/10/13/eritrea-operating-as-a-land-in-limbo/bd119947-e36c-468d-b664-040912e669d5/| title = Eritrea Operating As a Land in Limbo | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>{{Citation needed|reason= a claim of numbers requires a source |date=November 2020}}