The Derg (also spelled Dergue; from Ge'ez "committee" or "council"), officially the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia, refers to the military junta that rules Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987.

The Derg is established in June 1974 as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army, by low-ranking officers of the Ethiopian Army and police led by Chairman Aman Andom.

The Derg is formally renamed the Provisional Military Administrative Council and in September 1974 overthrows the government of the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie during mass protests.

The Derg abolishes the monarchy and embraces communism as an ideology, establishing Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist one-party state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional government.

The abolition of feudalism, increased literacy, nationalization, and sweeping land reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands become priorities.

Mengistu Haile Mariam becomes Chairman in 1977, launching the Qey Shibir to eliminate political opponents, with tens of thousands imprisoned and executed without trial.

By the mid-1980s, Ethiopia is ravaged by various issues such as droughts, economic decline and the 1983–1985 famine (the Derg itself estimates more than a million deaths from famine during its time in power).

This is followed by increasing reliance on foreign aid and a gradual resurgence of conflicts, particuarly the Eritrean War of Independence, and the Ethiopian Civil War between it and various ethnic militias in the periphery.

In 1987, Mengistu abolishes the Derg and forms the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia led by the Workers' Party of Ethiopia, with a new government containing civilians but still dominated by surviving members of the Derg.