King and Emperor

Tafari's authority was challenged in 1928 when Dejazmach Balcha Safo went to Addis Ababa with a sizeable armed force. When Tafari consolidated his hold over the provinces, many of Menelik's appointees refused to abide by the new regulations. Balcha Safo, the governor (Shum) of coffee-rich Sidamo Province, was particularly troublesome. The revenues he remitted to the central government did not reflect the accrued profits and Tafari recalled him to Addis Ababa. The old man came in high dudgeon and, insultingly, with a large army.^{[nb 4]} The Dejazmatch paid homage to Empress Zewditu, but snubbed Tafari.^[88]^[89] On 18 February, while Balcha Safo and his personal bodyguard^{[nb 5]} were in Addis Ababa, Tafari had Ras Kassa Haile Darge buy off Balcha Safo's army, and arranged to have him replaced as Shum of Sidamo Province^[90] by Birru Wolde Gabriel – who himself was replaced by Desta Damtew.^[71]

Even so, the gesture of Balcha Safo empowered Empress Zewditu politically and she attempted to have Tafari tried for treason. He was tried for his benevolent dealings with Italy including a 20-year peace accord that was signed on 2 August.^[61] In September, a group of palace reactionaries including some courtiers of the Empress made a final bid to get rid of Tafari. The attempted coup d'état was tragic in its origins and comic in its end. When confronted by Tafari and a company of his troops, the ringleaders of the coup took refuge on the palace grounds in Menelik's mausoleum. Tafari and his men surrounded them, only to be surrounded themselves by the personal guard of Zewditu. More of Tafari's khaki clad soldiers arrived and decided the outcome in his favor with superiority of arms.^[91] Popular support, as well as the support of the police,^[88] remained with Tafari. Ultimately, the Empress relented, and, on 7 October 1928, she crowned Tafari as Negus (Amharic: "King").

The crowning of Tafari as King was controversial. He occupied the same territory as the Empress rather than going off to a regional kingdom of the empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the emperor (in this case empress), had never ruled from a single location simultaneously in Ethiopian history. Conservatives agitated to redress this perceived insult to the crown's dignity, leading to the Ras Gugsa Welle's rebellion. Gugsa Welle was the husband of the Empress and the Shum of Begemder Province. In early 1930, he raised an army and marched it from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa. On 31 March 1930, Gugsa Welle was met by forces loyal to Negus Tafari and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action.^[92] News of Gugsa Welle's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the Empress died suddenly on 2 April 1930. Although it was long rumored that the Empress was poisoned upon her husband's defeat,^[93] or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband,^[94] it has since been documented that Zewditu succumbed to paratyphoid fever and complications from diabetes after the Orthodox clergy imposed strict rules concerning her diet during Lent, against her physicians' orders.^[95]^[96]

Upon Zewditu's death, Tafari himself rose to emperor and was proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya, "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was crowned on 2 November 1930, at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George. The coronation was by all accounts "a most splendid affair",^[97] and it was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were the Duke of Gloucester (King George V's son), Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espèrey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Special Ambassador Herman Murray Jacoby attended the coronation as the personal representative of U.S. president Herbert Hoover.^[98]^[99]^[100]^[101] Emissaries from Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were there.^[97] British author Evelyn Waugh was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event, and American travel lecturer Burton Holmes shot the only known film footage of the event.^[102]^[103] One American newspaper report suggested that the celebration had incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000.^[104] Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts;^[105] in one instance the Emperor, a Christian, even sent a gold-encased Bible to an American bishop who had not attended the coronation, but who had dedicated a prayer for the Emperor on the day of the coronation.^[106]

Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931,^[107] providing for a bicameral legislature.^[108] The constitution kept power in the hands of the nobility, but it did establish democratic standards among the nobility, envisaging a transition to democratic rule: it would prevail "until the people are in a position to elect themselves."^[108] The constitution limited succession to the throne to descendants of Selassie, which had the effect of placing other dynastic princes at the time (including the princes of Tigrai, and even the Emperor's loyal cousin Ras Kassa Haile Darge) outside of the line for the throne.^[109]

In 1932, the Sultanate of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia following the death of Sultan Abba Jifar II of Jimma.^[110]

Conflict with Italy

Ethiopia became the target of renewed Italian imperialist designs in the 1930s. Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime was keen to avenge the military defeats Italy had suffered to Ethiopia in the First Italo-Abyssinian War, and to efface the failed attempt by "liberal" Italy to conquer the country, as epitomised by the defeat at Adwa.^[111]^[112]^[113] A conquest of Ethiopia could also empower the cause of fascism and embolden its empire's rhetoric.^[113] Ethiopia would also provide a bridge between Italy's Eritrean and Italian Somaliland possessions. Ethiopia's position in the League of Nations did not dissuade the Italians from invading in 1935; the "collective security" envisaged by the League proved useless, and a scandal erupted when the Hoare–Laval Pact revealed that Ethiopia's League allies were scheming to appease Italy.^[114]

Mobilisation

Following the Welwel Incident of 5 December 1934, Selassie joined his northern armies and set up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. He issued a generalized mobilization order on 3 October 1935. On 19 October 1935, he gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa, instructing the men to choose hidden positions, to conserve ammunition, and to avoid wearing conspicuous clothing for fear of air attack.^[115] Compared to the Ethiopians, the Italians had an advanced, modern military that included a large air force. The Italians also came to employ chemical weapons throughout the conflict, even targeting Red Cross field hospitals.^[116]

Progress of the war

Starting in early October 1935, the Italians invaded Ethiopia. But, by November, the pace of invasion had slowed appreciably, and Selassie's northern armies were able to launch what was known as the "Christmas Offensive".^[117] During this offensive, the Italians were forced back in places and put on the defensive. In early 1936, the First Battle of Tembien stopped the progress of the Ethiopian offensive and the Italians were ready to continue their offensive. Following the defeat and destruction of the northern Ethiopian armies at the Battle of Amba Aradam, the Second Battle of Tembien, and the Battle of Shire, Selassie took the field with the last Ethiopian army on the northern front. On 31 March 1936, he launched a counterattack against the Italians himself at the Battle of Maychew in southern Tigray. The Emperor's army was defeated and retreated in disarray. As his army withdrew, the Italians attacked from the air along with rebellious Raya and Azebo tribesmen on the ground, who were armed and paid by the Italians.^[118]^[119]^[120] Many of the Ethiopian military were obsolete compared to the invading Italian forces, possessing mostly untrained and non-modern rifles and weaponry.^[121]^[122]^[123]^[124]

Selassie made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital.^[125] After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interest of preserving the imperial house, Empress Menen Asfaw and the rest of the imperial family should immediately depart for French Somaliland, and from there continue on to Jerusalem.^[126]^[127]^[128]

Exile debate

Thumb — The Emperor arrives in Jerusalem, May 1936.

After further debate as to whether Selassie should go to Gore or accompany his family into exile, it was agreed that he should leave Ethiopia with his family and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous and several participants, including the nobleman Blatta Tekle Wolde Hawariat, strenuously objected to the idea of an Ethiopian monarch fleeing before an invading force.^[129] Selassie appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for French Somaliland on 2 May 1936.

On 5 May, Marshal Pietro Badoglio led Italian troops into Addis Ababa, and Mussolini declared Ethiopia an Italian province. Victor Emanuel III was proclaimed as the new Emperor of Ethiopia. On the previous day, the Ethiopian exiles had left French Somaliland aboard the British cruiser HMS Enterprise. They were bound for Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine, where the Ethiopian imperial family maintained a residence. The family disembarked at Haifa and then went on to Jerusalem. Once there, Selassie and his retinue prepared to make their case at Geneva. The choice of Jerusalem was highly symbolic, since the Solomonic Dynasty claimed descent from the House of David. Leaving the Holy Land, Selassie and his entourage sailed aboard the British cruiser HMS Capetown for Gibraltar, where he stayed at the Rock Hotel. From Gibraltar, the exiles were transferred to an ordinary liner. By doing this, the United Kingdom government was spared the expense of a state reception.^[130]

Collective security and the League of Nations, 1936

On 12 May 1936, the League of Nations allowed Selassie to address the assembly. In response, Italy withdrew its League delegation.^[131] Selassie was introduced as "His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia" (Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Éthiopie), to jeering and whistling by Italian journalists.^[132]^[133] The Romanian delegate Nicolae Titulescu shouted "To the door with the savages!", and the journalists were removed from the hall. Selassie responded with an admired^[134]^[135] with a speech.^[136]^[137]^{[peacock prose]}

Although fluent in French, Selassie chose to deliver his speech in his native Amharic. He asserted that Italy was employing chemical weapons on military and civilian targets alike.^[138] He pointed out that the same European states that found in Ethiopia's favor at the League of Nations were refusing Ethiopia credit and matériel while aiding Italy. Noting that his own "small people of 12 million inhabitants, without arms, without resources" could never withstand an attack by a large power such as Italy, with its 42 million people and "unlimited quantities of the most death-dealing weapons", he contended that the aggression threatened all small states, which were in effect reduced to vassal states in the absence of collective action. He admonished the League that "God and history will remember your judgment."^[139]

At the beginning of 1936, Time named Selassie "Man of the Year" for 1935,^[140] and his June 1936 speech made him an icon for anti-fascists around the world. He failed, however, to get the diplomatic and matériel support he needed. The League agreed to only partial sanctions on Italy, and Selassie was left without much-needed military equipment. Only six nations in 1937 did not recognise Italy's occupation: China, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the Republic of Spain, Mexico and the United States.^[112] The League of Nations had failed to condemn Italy's invasion of Abyssinia, perhaps helping to bring about its collapse.^[141]

Exile

Selassie spent his exile years (1936–1941) in Bath, England, in Fairfield House, which he bought. The Emperor and Kassa Haile Darge took morning walks together behind the 14-room Victorian house's high walls. His favorite reading was "diplomatic history". It was during his exile in England that he began writing his 90,000-word autobiography.^[142]

Prior to Fairfield House, he briefly stayed at Warne's Hotel in Worthing^[143] and in Parkside, Wimbledon.^[144] A bust of Haile Selassie by Hilda Seligman stood in nearby Cannizaro Park to commemorate his stay, and was a popular place of pilgrimage for London's Rastafari community, until it was destroyed by protestors on 30 June 2020.^[145] Selassie stayed at the Abbey Hotel in Malvern in the 1930s, and his granddaughters and daughters of court officials were educated at Clarendon School for Girls in North Malvern. During his time in Malvern, he attended services at Holy Trinity Church, in Link Top. A blue plaque commemorating his stay in Malvern was unveiled on Saturday, 25 June 2011. As part of the ceremony, a delegation from the Rastafari movement gave a short address and a drum recital.^[146]^[147]^[148]

Selassie's activity in this period was focused on countering Italian propaganda as to the Ethiopian resistance and the legality of the occupation.^[149] He spoke out against the desecration of houses of worship and historical artifacts, including the theft of a 1,600-year-old imperial obelisk, and condemned the atrocities suffered by the Ethiopian civilian population.^[150] He continued to plead for League intervention and to voice his certainty that "God's judgment will eventually visit the weak and the mighty alike",^[151] though his attempts to gain support for the struggle against Italy were largely unsuccessful until Italy entered World War II on the German side in June 1940.^[152]

Selassie's pleas for international support took root in the United States, particularly among African-American organisations sympathetic to the Ethiopian cause.^[153] In 1937, Haile Selassie was to give a Christmas Day radio address to the American people to thank his supporters when his taxi was involved in a traffic accident, leaving him with a fractured knee.^[154] He delivered the address despite his injury, in which he linked Christianity and goodwill with the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asserted that war can be resolved diplomatically.^[154]

During this period, Selassie suffered several personal tragedies. His two sons-in-law, Ras Desta Damtew and Dejazmach Beyene Merid, were both executed by the Italians.^[151] The Emperor's daughter, Princess Romanework, wife of Dejazmach Beyene Merid, was taken into captivity with her children, and she died in Italy in 1941.^[155] His daughter Tsehai died during childbirth shortly after the restoration in 1942.^[156]

After his return to Ethiopia, Selassie donated Fairfield House to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged.^[157] In 2019, two blue plaques commemorating his residence at Fairfield and his visits to nearby Weston-super-Mare were unveiled by his grandson.^[158]

1940s and 1950s

British forces, which consisted primarily of Ethiopian-backed African and South African colonial troops under the "Gideon Force" of Colonel Orde Wingate, coordinated the military effort to liberate Ethiopia. Selassie issued several imperial proclamations in this period, demonstrating that British military might and the Emperor's popular appeal could be joined in the concerted effort to liberate Ethiopia.^[152]

On 18 January 1941, during the East African Campaign, Selassie crossed the border between Sudan and Ethiopia, near the village of Um Iddla. The standard of the Lion of Judah was raised again. Two days later, he and a force of Ethiopian patriots joined with Gideon Force, which was already in Ethiopia and preparing the way.^[159]

Italy was defeated by combined forces of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Free France, Free Belgium, and Ethiopian partisans. On 5 May 1941, Selassie entered Addis Ababa and personally addressed the Ethiopian people, exactly five years after the fascist forces entered Addis Ababa. He urged them not to reciprocate the atrocities they had been subjected to.^[160]

On 27 August 1942, Selassie confirmed the legal basis for the abolition of slavery that had been illegally enacted by Italian occupying forces throughout the empire and imposed severe penalties, including death, for slave trading.^[161]^[162] After World War II, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. In 1948, the Ogaden, a region disputed with both Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland, was granted to Ethiopia.^[163] On 2 December 1950, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 390 (V), establishing the federation of Eritrea (the former Italian colony) into Ethiopia.^[164] Eritrea was to have its own constitution, which would provide for ethnic, linguistic, and cultural balance, while Ethiopia was to manage its finances, defense, and foreign policy.^[164]

With Queen Elizabeth II heading towards to Buckingham Palace, 1954

Despite his centralisation policies that had been made before World War II, Selassie still found himself unable to push for all the programmes he wanted. In 1942, he attempted to institute a progressive tax scheme, but this failed due to opposition from the nobility, and only a flat tax was passed; in 1951, he agreed to reduce this as well.^[165] Ethiopia was still "semi-feudal",^[166] and the Emperor's attempts to alter its social and economic form by reforming its modes of taxation met with resistance from the nobility and clergy, which were eager to resume their privileges in the post-war era.^[165] Where Selassie actually did succeed in effecting new land taxes, the burdens were often still passed by the landowners onto the peasants.^[165]

With President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on board the USS Quincy (CA-71) in Egypt after the Yalta Conference, 13 February 1945

Selassie with Sir Winston Churchill at Downing Street, 22 October 1954

Between 1941 and 1959, Selassie worked to establish the autocephaly of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.^[167] The Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been headed by the Abuna, a bishop who answered to the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. In 1942 and 1945, Selassie applied to the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church to establish the independence of Ethiopian bishops, and when his appeals were denied he threatened to sever relations with the Coptic Church of Alexandria.^[167] Finally, in 1959, Pope Kyrillos VI elevated the Abuna to Patriarch-Catholicos.^[167] The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated with the Alexandrian Church.^[165] In addition to these efforts, Selassie changed the Ethiopian church-state relationship by introducing taxation of church lands, and by restricting the legal privileges of the clergy, who had formerly been tried in their own courts for civil offenses.^[165]

In 1956, on a state visit to India, he met with Indian leaders who supported Ethiopia against fascist Italy's illegal occupation during the 1935-1941 war against the country. He also discussed with Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru relating to Asian and African decolonisation, and cooperation between economic and education sectors.^[168]

In 1948, Harari and Somali Muslims staged a significant rebellion against the empire in Harar. The state responded with a violent crackdown. Hundreds were arrested and the entire town of Harar was put under house arrest.^[169] The government also seized many assets and estates belonging to the people.^[170]^[171] This led to a massive exodus of Hararis from the region.^[20]^[172] Harari dissatisfaction stemmed from the fact that they had never received autonomy for Harar, which was promised by Menelik II after his conquest of the kingdom. The promise was eroded by successive Amhara governors of Harar and infringed by Selassie himself.^[173]^[174] According to historians Tim Carmicheal and Roman Loimeier, Selassie was directly involved in the suppression of the Harari movement that formed as a response to the crackdown on Hararis who collaborated with the Italians during their occupation of Ethiopia from 1935 to 1941.^[175]^[176]

In keeping with the principle of collective security, for which he was an outspoken proponent, Selassie sent a contingent, under General Mulugueta Bulli, known as the Kagnew Battalion, to take part in the Korean War by supporting the United Nations Command. It was attached to the American 7th Infantry Division, and fought in a number of engagements including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.^[177] In a 1954 speech, Selassie spoke of Ethiopian participation in the Korean War as a redemption of the principles of collective security.

During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Selassie introduced a revised constitution,^[178] whereby he retained effective power, while extending political participation to the people by allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body. Party politics were not provided for. Modern educational methods were more widely spread throughout the Empire.^[179]^[180]^[181]

The country embarked on a development scheme and plans for modernisation, tempered by Ethiopian traditions, and within the framework of the state's ancient monarchical structure. Selassie compromised, when practical, with the traditionalists in the nobility and church. He also tried to improve relations between the state and ethnic groups, and granted autonomy to Afar lands that were difficult to control. Still, his reforms to end feudalism were slow and weakened by the compromises he made with the entrenched aristocracy. The revised constitution of 1955 has been criticised for reasserting "the indisputable power of the monarch" and maintaining the relative powerlessness of the peasants.^[182]

Selassie also maintained cordial relations with the government of the United Kingdom through charitable gestures. He sent aid to the British government in 1947 when Britain was affected by heavy flooding. His letter to Lord Meork, National Distress Fund, London said, "even though We are busy of helping our people who didn't recover from the crises of the war, We heard that your fertile and beautiful country is devastated by the unusually heavy rain, and your request for aid. Therefore, We are sending small amount of money, about one thousand pounds through our embassy to show our sympathy and cooperation."^[183]

1958 famine of Tigray

In the summer of 1958, a widespread famine in the Tigray province of northern Ethiopia was already two years old yet people in Addis Ababa knew hardly anything about it. When significant reports of death finally reached the Ministry of Interior in September 1959 the central government immediately disclosed the information to the public and began asking for contributions. The Emperor personally donated 2,000 tons of relief grain, the U.S. sent 32,000 tons, which was distributed between Eritrea and Tigray, and money for aid was raised throughout the country but it is estimated that approximately 100,000 people had died before the crisis ended in August 1961. The causes of the famine were attributed to drought, locusts, hailstone and epidemics of small-pox, typhus, measles and malaria.^[184]^[185]^[186]

1960s

With John F. Kennedy, October 1963

Selassie contributed Ethiopian troops to the United Nations Operation in the Congo peacekeeping force during the 1960 Congo Crisis, per United Nations Security Council Resolution 143. On 13 December 1960, while Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil, the imperial guard staged an unsuccessful coup, briefly proclaiming Selassie's elder son, Asfa Wossen, as emperor. The regular army and police forces crushed the coup d'état. The attempt lacked broad popular support, was denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and was unpopular with the military and police. Nonetheless, the effort had support among students and the educated classes.^[187] The attempt has been characterised as a pivotal moment in Ethiopian history, the point at which Ethiopians "for the first time questioned the power of the king to rule without the people's consent".^[188] Student populations began to empathise with the peasantry and poor and advocate on their behalf.^[188] The coup spurred Selassie to accelerate reform, manifested as land grants to military and police officials and political groups.^[189]

Video of Haile Selassie's 1968 United Nations speech

Selassie continued to be a staunch ally of the West, while pursuing a firm policy of decolonisation in Africa, which was still largely under European colonial rule. The United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry regarding Eritrea's status, with the superpowers each vying for a stake in the state's future. Britain, the administrator at the time, suggested Eritrea's partition between Sudan and Ethiopia, separating Christians and Muslims. The idea was instantly rejected by Eritrean political parties, as well as the UN.^[190]^[191]

A UN plebiscite voted to have Eritrea federated with Ethiopia, later stipulated on 2 December 1950 in resolution 390 (V). Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and would become the federal parliament.^[192] Selassie rejected European attempts to draft a separate constitution under which Eritrea would be governed, and wanted his own 1955 constitution protecting families to apply in both Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean War for Independence began, followed by the dissolution of the federation and shutting down of Eritrea's parliament.^[193]^[194]

In September 1961, Selassie attended the Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia. This is considered to be the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.^[195]

In 1961, tensions between independence-minded Eritreans and Ethiopian forces culminated in the Eritrean War of Independence. Eritrea's elected parliament voted to become the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in 1962.^[196]^[197] The war would continue for 30 years; first Selassie, then the Soviet-backed junta that succeeded him, attempted to retain Eritrea by force.^[198]

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Haile Selassie's address to the United Nations, 1963

In 1963, Selassie presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the continent-wide African Union (AU). The new organisation would establish its headquarters in Addis Ababa. In May of that year, Selassie was elected as the OAU's first official chairperson, a rotating seat. Along with Modibo Keïta of Mali, the Ethiopian leader would later help successfully negotiate the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to the border conflict between Morocco and Algeria. In 1964, Selassie would initiate the concept of the United States of Africa, a proposition later taken up by Muammar Gaddafi.^[199]^[200]

In 1963, a revolt in Bale occurred, where peasant rioters whom were discouraged by the Ethiopian taxation headed by Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold later turned into an insurgency.^[201] This caused a semi-civil war with terrorist activities carried out by rebels supported by Somalia which later forced the Ethiopian government to declare a state of emergency.^[202]^[203]^[204] The Emperor's armed forces led by Prime Minister Aklilu's cabinet with the support of the United Kingdom and the United States were able to end the revolt after over six years of insurgency. This assured weakened diplomatic ties with Siad Barre's Somalia.^[202]^[204]^[205]

On 4 October 1963, Selassie addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations^[206]^[207]^[208]

On 25 November 1963, the Emperor traveled to Washington, D.C., and attended the state funeral of assassinated U.S. president John F. Kennedy. He was the only African head of state to attend the funeral.^[209] In addition, he was the only one of the three prominent world leaders that would have another meeting with the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, in Washington during his presidency; he met Johnson again during an informal visit to the United States in 1967.^[210]^[211]^[212]

In 1966, Selassie attempted to replace the historical tax system with a single progressive income tax, which would weaken the nobility who had avoided paying most of their taxes.^[213] This law led to a revolt in Gojjam, which was repressed although enforcement of the tax was abandoned. Having achieved its design in undermining the tax, the revolt encouraged other landowners to defy Selassie.^[214] In October that year, Selassie had a four-day visit to the Kingdom of Jordan hosted by King Hussein. During this trip, Selassie visited Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[215]

While he had assured Ethiopia's participation in UN-approved collective security operations, including Korea and Congo, Selassie drew a distinction between it and the intervention in Indochina, deploring it as needless suffering and calling for the Vietnam War to end. At the same time, he remained open toward the United States, commending it for making progress with African Americans' Civil Rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s and visiting the US several times during these years.^[216]^[217]^[218]

During a visit to Washington, D.C. with President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967

With President Richard Nixon on 8 July 1969

In 1967, he visited Montréal, Canada, to open the Ethiopian Pavilion at the Expo '67 World's Fair where he received great acclaim among other World leaders there for the occasion.^[219]^[220]^[221]

Student unrest became a regular feature of Ethiopian life in the 1960s and 1970s. Communism took root among the Ethiopian intelligentsia, particularly those who had studied abroad and been exposed to radical and left-wing sentiments.^[187] Resistance by conservatives at the Imperial Court and Parliament, and by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, made Selassie's land reform proposals difficult to implement. The standing of the government was damaged, costing Selassie much goodwill and sowing resentment among the peasant population. Efforts to weaken unions also hurt his image.^[222]^[223] As these issues began to pile up, Selassie left much of domestic governance to Aklilu Habte-Wold and concentrated more on foreign affairs. Over the previous two decades, Ethiopia had received over 400 million dollars in aid, 140 million of that being for the Ethiopian military, and 240 million for economic assistance.^[224]

1970s

In Beijing, China, with Chinese leader and Chairman of the CPC Mao Zedong in 1971. Selassie also met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in his state visit.

Outside Ethiopia, Selassie continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. As the longest-serving head of state in power, he was often given precedence over other leaders at state events, such as the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle, the summits of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the 1971 celebration of the 2,500 years of the Persian Empire.^[225]^[226] In 1970, he visited Italy as a guest of President Giuseppe Saragat, and in Milan he met Giordano Dell'Amore, President of the Italian Savings Banks Association. He visited China in October 1971, and was the first foreign head of state to meet Mao Zedong following the death of Mao's designated successor Lin Biao in a plane crash in Mongolia.^[227]^[228]

In the last years of his rule, civil liberties and political rights in Ethiopia were low, with Freedom House giving Ethiopia a "Not Free" score in both categories.^[229] Common human rights abuses included poor prison conditions and the imprisonment and torture of political dissidents. Nonetheless, the Emperor was known for pardoning hundreds of prisoners at a time and there were no more than ten political prisoners during his entire reign.^[21]^[230]^{[verification needed]}

The Imperial Ethiopian Army also carried out a number of atrocities while fighting the Eritrean separatists. There were a number of mass killings of hundreds of civilians during the war in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[231]^[232]^[233]^[234]

Selassie went to the Vatican City to meet Pope Paul VI on 1970 where they discussed issues regarding both their countries and history.^[235] Selassie's political influence was significant; he kept an eye on Ethiopia's political status through four spy agencies all which coherently spy on each other and civilian and military aspects of the nation. He was the only person who knew the 'true' scope of things in Ethiopia.^[236]

Selassie's speech regarding human rights on 23 October 1970, which marked the 25th anniversary of the United Nations' founding

Wollo famine

Famine—mostly in Wollo, north-eastern Ethiopia, as well as in some parts of Tigray—is estimated to have killed 40,000 to 80,000 Ethiopians^[17]^[237] between 1972 and 1974. A BBC News report^[238] has cited a 1973 estimate that 200,000 deaths occurred, based on a contemporaneous estimate from the Ethiopian Nutrition Institute. While this figure is still repeated in some texts and media sources, it was an estimate that was later found to be "over-pessimistic".^[240] Although the region is infamous for recurrent crop failures and continuous food shortage and starvation risk, this episode was remarkably severe. A 1973 production of the ITV programme The Unknown Famine by Jonathan Dimbleby^[241]^[242] relied on the unverified estimate of 200,000 dead,^[238]^[243] stimulating a massive influx of aid while at the same time destabilising Selassie's administration:^[237]^[244]

Some reports suggest that the Emperor was unaware of the famine's extent,^[245]^[246]^[238] while others assert that he was well aware of it.^[247]^[248] In addition to the exposure of attempts by corrupt local officials to cover up the famine from the imperial government, the Kremlin's depiction of Selassie's Ethiopia as backwards and inept (relative to the purported utopia of Marxism–Leninism) contributed to the popular uprising that led to its downfall and the rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam.^[249] The famine and its image in the media undermined the government's popular support, and his once unassailable popularity declined.^[250]

Ethiopia's population and GDP Per Capita growth during a part of Selassie's reign from 1950 to 1973

The Land distribution throughout the Ethiopian Empire to nobles throughout each region.^[251]

The crisis was exacerbated by military mutinies and high oil prices, the latter a result of the 1973 oil crisis. The international economic crisis caused the costs of imported goods, gasoline, and food to skyrocket, while unemployment spiked.^[182]

Revolution

In February 1974, four days of serious riots in Addis Ababa against sudden economic inflation left five dead. The Emperor responded by announcing on national television a reduction in petrol prices and a freeze on the cost of basic commodities. This calmed the public, but the promised 33% military wage hike was not substantial enough to pacify the army, which then mutinied, beginning in Asmara and spreading throughout the empire. This mutiny led to the resignation of Aklilu Habte-Wold as prime minister on 27 February 1974.^[252] Selassie again went on television to agree to the army's demands for still greater pay, and named Endelkachew Makonnen as the new prime minister.^[253]^[254] Despite Endalkatchew's many concessions, discontent continued in March with a four-day general strike that paralyzed the nation.^[255]

Imprisonment

The Derg, a committee of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men, set up in June to investigate the military's demands, took advantage of the government's disarray to depose the 82-year-old Selassie on 12 September.^[256] General Aman Mikael Andom, a Protestant of Eritrean origin,^[252] served briefly as provisional head of state pending the return of Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, who was then receiving medical treatment abroad. Selassie was placed under house arrest briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa.^[252] At the same time, most of his family was detained at the late Duke of Harar's residence in the north of the capital. The last months of the Emperor's life were spent in imprisonment at the Grand Palace.^[257]

Later, most of the imperial family was imprisoned in Addis Ababa's Kerchele Prison, also known as "Alem Bekagn". On 23 November, 60 former high officials of the imperial government were executed by firing squad without trial,^[258] which included Selassie's grandson Iskinder Desta, a rear admiral, as well as General Aman and two former prime ministers.^[257]^[259] These killings, known to Ethiopians as "Black Saturday", were condemned by the Crown Prince; the Derg responded to his rebuke by revoking its acknowledgment of his imperial legitimacy, and announcing the end of the Solomonic dynasty.^[258]

Assassination and burial

On 27 August 1975, Selassie was murdered by military officers of the Derg regime, a fact that remained undiscovered for another twenty years. On 28 August 1975, state media reported that Selassie had died on 27 August of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate examination followed up by a prostate operation.^[260] Dr. Asrat Woldeyes denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. The prostate operation in question apparently had taken place months before the state media claimed, and Selassie had apparently enjoyed strong health in his last days.^[261]

In 1994, an Ethiopian court found several former military officers guilty of strangling the Emperor in his bed in 1975. Three years after the Derg regime was overthrown,^[262] the court charged them with genocide and murder, claiming that it had obtained documents attesting to a high-level order from the military regime to assassinate Selassie for leading a "feudal regime".^[13] Documents have been widely circulated online showing the Derg's final assassination order and bearing the military regime's seal and signature.^[263]^[264] The veracity of these documents has been corroborated by multiple former members of the military Derg regime.^[265]^[266]

The Soviet-backed People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Derg's successor, fell in 1991. In 1992, Selassie's bones were found under a concrete slab on the palace grounds,^[267]^[268] Selassie's coffin rested in Bhata Church for nearly a decade, near his great-uncle Menelik II's resting place.^[269] On 5 November 2000, the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa gave him a funeral, but the government refused calls to declare the ceremony an official imperial funeral.^[270] This may have been due to the government's lack of giving encouragement and subtle political recognition to Royalists.^[269]^[271]^[272]

Prominent Rastafari figures such as Rita Marley participated in the funeral, but most Rastafari rejected the event and refused to accept that the bones were Selassie's remains. There is some debate within the Rastafari movement whether he actually died in 1975.^[273]