Haile Selassie I

Emperor of Ethiopia (r. 1930-1974)

• Born: July 23, 1892
• Birthplace: Near Harer, Ethiopia
• Died: August 27, 1975
• Place of death: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

During his long rule as emperor, Haile Selassie instituted programs for unification and modernization at home, while striving to open up Ethiopia to the world outside its formidable borders.

Early Life

Haile Selassie (HI-leh seh-LAHS-see) was the last in a long line of emperors of Ethiopia that, according to the legendary history, originated with Menelik I, the son of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon. He was born Tafari Makonnen on July 23, 1892, near Harer, Ethiopia. His father, Ras (duke) Makonnen, was the governor of Harer and adviser to his cousin, Emperor Menelik II. Young Tafari, born as he was in one of the oldest Christian domains, was baptized while only a few days old and, according to custom, given a Christian name, Haile Selassie (power of the trinity) a name he would use in church and later as ruler.

Haile Selassie was reared in the Coptic Christian faith and educated by European tutors. His father, an important influence on Menelik II and, finally, on young Haile Selassie, had traveled to Rome on state business, and this exposure helped convince him that Ethiopia could benefit from education, modernization, and development. He died in 1906 before he could complete Haile Selassie’s political education, which he had only recently begun. He had, however, made Haile Selassie a district governor in Harer province in 1905, giving him the title dejazmatch (count). Passed over by Menelik to succeed his father as governor of Harer because of his youth and inexperience, Haile Selassie stayed instead at the palace at the emperor’s request. During this eight-month period, he observed much, learning the ways of rulers and much about palace intrigue. His political education advanced rapidly, even without his powerful father. Haile Selassie spent the next year continuing his education in Addis Ababa.

In 1908, Haile Selassie was made governor of Darassa, a subprovince of Sidamo. He moved there with three thousand troops and several trusted officers. In April, 1909, he returned to Addis Ababa because Menelik, who had suffered a minor stroke in 1908, experienced a more crippling one in January, 1909. As his condition worsened, the power of his wife, Empress Taitu, increased, but so did the plotting by some powerful rases against her. Aware of intrigues by various factions against various members of the royal family, Haile Selassie managed to remain on good terms with all. In 1910, Taitu, who had gained more power following Menelik’s third and worst stroke in October, 1909, was overthrown, and Lij Iyasu, Menelik’s grandson and Haile Selassie’s cousin, assumed power. Taitu had promoted Haile Selassie to governor of Harer, and Iyasu confirmed the appointment. Haile Selassie entered Harer on May 12, 1910, and began to restore the reforms begun by his father.

In 1911, Haile Selassie married Waizero Menen, a wealthy, attractive woman of twenty-two who, as it happened, was the crown prince’s niece. The crown prince, meanwhile, was creating problems for his rule even before the death of Menelik II in 1913, favoring Islam in this historically Christian country and not fully tending to the affairs of his office. Haile Selassie, who had been undercut by some of Iyasu’s policies, was at the center of a plot to overthrow the crown prince. The coup came in September, 1916. Iyasu was removed from power, Menelik’s daughter, Zewditu, was named empress (October, 1916), and Haile Selassie, at age twenty-four, was made ras, heir presumptive, and regent. He was also invested with the Grand Cordon of the Order of Solomon.

Life’s Work

Haile Selassie proved to be an able and progressive ruler. Even early in his regency he showed his interest in modernization and reform, despite the more conservative and religious preoccupations of the empress. These early efforts were capped by the seating of Ethiopia in 1923 in the League of Nations. Resistance to accepting Ethiopia was based on objections to its slavery and slave trade. Haile Selassie promised to abolish the slave trade, which he did the next year and then began implementation of a program for the gradual emancipation of Ethiopia’s slaves.

Haile Selassie became the first Ethiopian ruler to go abroad when in 1924 he traveled to Rome, Paris, and London, among other European capitals. This trip only increased his determination to bring change and modernization, however gradual, to Ethiopia on his return.

Ruling Ethiopia, once a group of separate kingdoms, was made difficult not only by the extremes of terrain, the ethnic diversity, and the primitive communication and transportation facilities, but also by the continuing independence of a number of its provinces. In the mid-1920’s, Haile Selassie began to move to exert more control over these provinces. In 1926, he took control of the army and by 1928 had increased his authority while the power of Empress Zewditu and of a number of the provincial governors had lessened. On October 7, 1928, amid much pomp and ceremony, Haile Selassie was crowned negus (king).

In late March, 1930, Ras Gugsa Wolie, the estranged husband of Zewditu, led a coup attempt against Haile Selassie. Wolie was killed in a battle at Ankim on March 31, 1930, and the coup died with him. Zewditu died suddenly the next day. It was at this time that Haile Selassie, with an endorsement by the archbishop, declared himself negusa nagast (king of kings) and took his baptismal name, Haile Selassie. Then, in a grand ceremony on November 2, 1930, to which world leaders and monarchs specifically were invited, Haile Selassie was crowned His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of Judah, and Elect of God. The event and the refurbishing of Addis Ababa to host it were, among other things, calculated to symbolize Haile Selassie’s determination to bring modernization and reform to Ethiopia and to open the country to the rest of the world.

In July, 1931, Haile Selassie proclaimed a new constitution. The “constitutional monarchy” that was established vested all final power and authority in the emperor. It also increased the power of the central government in an attempt to unify what had been little more than a collection of interacting provincial governments. Haile Selassie then began his efforts at modernization, introducing programs for road building, public works, education, and public health.

These long-overdue changes would be abruptly halted by actions taken against Ethiopia by Italy from bases it had established in Somalia and Eritrea. Benito Mussolini had designs on the horn of Africa, and the conquest of Ethiopia was crucial to the realization of those designs. Haile Selassie was not unaware of the threat that Italy represented but trusted in the League of Nations to protect Ethiopia against aggression. On October 3, 1935, Mussolini telegraphed instructions to open the attack against Ethiopia. The League did nothing. Haile Selassie led his warriors against the invading Italian army. They fought bravely but were gravely overmatched. The Italians, using planes, poison gas, and sophisticated weapons, crushed the Ethiopian resistance, capturing Addis Ababa on May 5, 1936. Haile Selassie fled his country, living in exile, ultimately, in England. This represented the first loss of national independence in Ethiopian recorded history.

On June 30, 1936, Haile Selassie addressed the League of Nations. A decade earlier, protests to that body opposing some 1926 Anglo-Italian accords that infringed on the sovereignty of Ethiopia had fallen on deaf ears. Now Haile Selassie’s personal appeal for military sanctions to help stop Italy’s aggression brought similar results. His warning that “God and history will remember your judgment” struck a chord but produced no immediate result. Only mild sanctions were issued and were never really enforced. By late 1938, the horn was being recognized as Italian East Africa.

When World War II broke out and Italy joined the Axis Powers, Great Britain recognized Haile Selassie as an ally, then, in January, 1941, joined with him and his army in exile in Sudan. They, with the assistance of freedom fighters still in the country, drove the Italian army out of Ethiopia. On May 4, 1941, Haile Selassie reentered Addis Ababa. By November, he once again ruled Ethiopia, now with a new set of circumstances and problems. His absence and the struggle against the Italians at the local level had revitalized some provincial power bases. At the same time, the Italians had constructed roads, bridges, and a bureaucracy that would facilitate unification. Haile Selassie moved quickly to reassert his authority, extending his administrative and military control over the country by regulating the church, the government, and the finances of the nation. He also put down uprisings in Gojjam and Tigre provinces. Unification as he envisioned it would not be easy, nor would the establishment of proper relations with foreign nations. Haile Selassie wanted foreign assistance in the development of Ethiopia but not interference in its internal affairs. In fact, however, Great Britain, then other Western nations including the United States, especially while World War II raged, were deeply involved in Ethiopia’s modernization and, almost necessarily, its internal affairs.

In 1947, Haile Selassie began to press for annexation of Eritrea. Arguing that it had been a part of Ethiopia before the 1890’s, that Eritreans shared with Ethiopia a common language, dress, and set of social customs, and adding Ethiopia’s need for a Red Sea port (Mesewa), Haile Selassie took his case to the United Nations. In December, 1950, the United Nations General Assembly voted to federate an “autonomous Eritrea” with Ethiopia “under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian crown.” This arrangement would remain, Eritrea’s objections notwithstanding, until Ethiopia absorbed Eritrea in 1962. Eritrea’s struggle for independence would present problems for Haile Selassie for the rest of his rule.

In 1954, Haile Selassie, who would be among the most widely traveled of world leaders, visited the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He was an overnight guest of President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House, he addressed a joint session of Congress, and he received honorary degrees from Howard, Columbia, and Montreal universities. He was less fortunate during another series of state visits in December, 1960. While he was in Brazil, a number of important and highly placed individuals attempted to overthrow Haile Selassie’s government. His supporters managed to defeat the conspirators, but the very challenge to his authority suggested the growing tensions in the changing if still delicately balanced society.

Haile Selassie would continue to keep a high profile in his country, on the continent, and in the world. In 1963, he helped found the Organization of African Unity, whose headquarters opened that year in Addis Ababa. He helped mediate disputes on the continent, such as the Algerian-Moroccan Border War (1963), and continued his rounds of state visits. By 1970, he seemed more involved in foreign affairs than in domestic concerns. In February, 1974, a military coup, this time successful, was mounted against Haile Selassie’s government. On September 12, a provisional military government was established and Haile Selassie was deposed and made a prisoner in his own palace. Crown Prince Asfa Wossen was named king-designate, but then in March, 1975, the military rulers issued a proclamation abolishing the monarchy entirely. Haile Selassie died in Addis Ababa on August 27, 1975.

Significance

During his rule first as regent and then emperor, Haile Selassie I sought to unify and modernize Ethiopia and involve it in the larger world. This meant moving, within the period of his rule, from an isolated, preindustrial, feudal society, still with the institution of slavery, to a unified nation-state growing in wealth and exercising influence throughout the continent and the world. His efforts at unification, based on control of a standing army, the institution of a centralized fiscal system, and the reorganization of provincial governments under a more powerful “constitutional monarchy,” were successful, unleashing new forces less easily controlled.

The same result was obtained through Haile Selassie’s efforts at modernization. Foreign aid was sought but not foreign intrusion. For a time the Italians provided the most and worst of both, but even friendly nations would leave their stamp. For Haile Selassie modernization included three priorities, which he articulated in 1950: expansion of education, development of communications, and secure employment for all Ethiopians. Progress in these areas, which would involve restructuring Ethiopian society and the creation of an intelligentsia, would also give rise to groups less content to live under the limitations and restrictions of Haile Selassie’s autocratic rule. It seemed inevitable that the forces of change unleashed in Ethiopia should one day challenge the ancient system of rule that had first set them in motion. It is a tribute to Haile Selassie that he was able to balance competing claims and remain in power for as long as he did.

Bibliography

Greenfield, Richard. Ethiopia: A New Political History. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965. Another survey, and a good one, this study emphasizes the complexities of Ethiopian politics, especially in the twentieth century, all building toward the 1960 coup attempt. Greenfield devotes a quarter of the book to the failed coup and makes no effort to hide his sympathy for it.

Hess, Robert L. Ethiopia: The Modernization of Autocracy. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970. This is a good introductory survey of prerevolutionary Ethiopia, including some two thousand years of history. The last two-thirds of this book, which includes a good bibliography, concentrates on the rule of Haile Selassie.

Marcus, Harold G. Haile Selassie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. The first of a three-volume biography, this is an excellent account of Haile Selassie’s life up to the time of the Italian occupation. It is illustrated and includes an extensive bibliography.

Mockler, Anthony. Haile Selassie’s War. Rev. ed. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2003. Originally published in 1984, this book recounts the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and Haile Selassie’s subsequent battle to recapture his country.

Mosely, Leonard. Haile Selassie: The Conquering Lion. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965. A generally sympathetic book by a British journalist who covered the liberation of Ethiopia and who knows his subject well. Illustrated.

Spencer, John H. Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years. Algonac, Mich.: Reference Publications, 1984. A detailed study of Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia written in the first person by an American who was an adviser to that country’s government during the Italian invasion and who later served as principal adviser to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for much of the period 1943-1974. Though its maps and illustrations are welcomed by the general reader, its prose and detail make it more appropriate to the specialist.