Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, romanized: Qädamawi Ḫäylä Śəllase, lit. 'Power of the Trinity';[2] born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975)[3] was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) for Empress Zewditu from 1916 until 1930. Haile Selassie is widely considered a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the major figure of Rastafari, a religious movement in Jamaica that emerged shortly after he became emperor in the 1930s. Before he rose to power he defeated Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul (nephew of Empress Taytu Betul) of Begemder at the Battle of Anchem in 1928.[4][5] He was a member of the Solomonic dynasty, which claims to trace its lineage to Emperor Menelik I, a legendary figure believed by the claimants to be the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who they name as Makeda.
"Ras Tafari" redirects here. For the religion, see Rastafari.
Haile Selassie I
ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ
2 April 1930 – 12 September 1974[nb 1]
2 November 1930
27 September 1916 – 2 April 1930
Kirubel Abraham
Lij Tafari Makonnen
(Täfäri Mäkonnän)
23 July 1892
Ejersa Goro, Hararghe, Ethiopian Empire
27 August 1975 (aged 83)
Jubilee Palace, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
5 November 2000
Wolde Tzaddick
1930–1974
Haile Selassie attempted to modernise the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of the 1931 constitution, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent most of the period of Italian occupation exiled in the United Kingdom. In 1940, he travelled to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to assist in coordinating the anti-fascist struggle in Ethiopia and returned to his home country in 1941 after the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1950, and annexed Eritrea into Ethiopia as one of its provinces, while fighting to prevent secession.[6]
Haile Selassie's internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations.[7] In 1963, he presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union, and served as its first chairman. Haile Selassie's actual role and real intentions in the Organization of African Unity have been a subject of controversy; it is claimed that he may have been working to sabotage the OAU from the inside for the benefit of his capitalist Western allies in an "attempt to outflank 'African socialism,' acting as a pro-American pole in continental politics."[8] By the early 1960s, African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, and Ahmed Ben Bella envisioned a "United States of Africa" organized along socialist lines. The rhetoric of this faction was anti-Western, and Haile Selassie saw this as a threat to the alliance he had so calculably constructed. Therefore, he took it on himself to attempt to influence a more moderate posture within the group.[9]
In 1974, following popular uprising by students, peasants, urban dwellers, merchants, political activists, marginalized religious and ethnic groups and the wider public, he was overthrown in a military coup by a Marxist–Leninist junta, the Derg. On 27 August 1975, Haile Selassie was assassinated by Derg military officers, a fact that was only revealed in 1994.[10][11]
Among some members of the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie is referred to as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. This distinction notwithstanding, he was a Christian and adhered to the tenets and liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.[12][13] He has been criticised by some historians for his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the mesafint), which consistently opposed his changes. Some critics have also criticised Ethiopia's failure to modernise rapidly enough.[14][15] During his rule the Harari people were persecuted and many left the Harari Region.[16][17] His administration was also criticised by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal.[15][18] Although some sources state that late during his administration the Oromo language was banned from education, public speaking and use in administration,[19][20][21] there was never an official law or government policy that criminalised any language.[22][23][24] The Haile Selassie government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, and church.[25][26][27] Following the death of Hachalu Hundessa in June 2020, the Bust of Haile Selassie in Cannizaro Park, London, was destroyed by Oromo protesters, and an equestrian monument depicting the Emperor's father, Makonnen Wolde Mikael, in Harar was removed.[28][29][30]
A blue plaque which was unveiled in 2011 in Great Malvern, England serves as a historical marker of his stay in the United Kingdom
Styles of
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
- His Imperial Majesty
- Amharic: ግርማዊ; girmāwī
- Your Imperial Majesty
- Amharic: ጃንሆይ; djānhoi
- lit. "O [esteemed] royal"
- Our Lord (familiar)
- Amharic: ጌቶቹ; getochu
- lit. "Our master" (pl.)
Haile Selassie held the following ranks: