View source for Haile Selassie

{{Short description|Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974}}
{{Redirect|Ras Tafari|the religion|Rastafari}}
{{Distinguish|Haile Gebrselassie|Haile Selassie Gugsa}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Haile Selassie I<br />{{nobold|{{lang|gez|ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ}}}}
| title        = [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Negusa Nagast|Negusa Nagast]]
| alt          = Selassie, in his seventies, with a full beard, wearing formal military dress uniform.
| image        = Haile Selassie in full dress (3x4 cropped).jpg
| caption      = Selassie in 1970
| succession   = [[Emperor of Ethiopia]]
| reign        = 2 April 1930 – {{nowrap|12 September 1974}}{{refn|In exile from 2 May 1936 – {{nowrap|20 January 1941<ref>{{Cite book|last=Talbot|first=David Abner|title=Ethiopia: Liberation Silver Jubilee 1941–1966|date=1966|publisher=Ministry of Information|location=Addis Ababa, Ethiopia|pages=64–66}}</ref>}}|group="nb"}}
| coronation   = 2 November 1930
| predecessor  = [[Zewditu]]
| successor    = [[Victor Emmanuel III]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/05/15/archives/chamber-confirms-empire-for-italy-cheers-for-army-and-duce-mark.html|title=CHAMBER CONFIRMS EMPIRE FOR ITALY; Cheers for Army and Duce Mark Session Ratifying Ethiopia's Annexation.|date=15 May 1936|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Arnaldo Cortesi|access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref> <br> [[Amha Selassie]]
| reg-type     = {{nowrap|Prime Minister}}
| regent       = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|[[List of heads of government of Ethiopia|See list]]}}
                        |''[[#Early life|Himself]]''
                        |Wolde Tzaddick
                        |[[Makonnen Endelkachew]]
                        |[[Abebe Aregai]]
                        |[[Imru Haile Selassie]]
                        |[[Aklilu Habte-Wold]]
                        |[[Endelkachew Makonnen]]
                        |[[Mikael Imru]]}}
| succession2  = [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Important offices of the Imperial Court|Regent of Ethiopia]]
| reign2       = 27 September 1916 – {{nowrap|2 April 1930}}
| reign-type2  = Regency
| regent2      = Zewditu
| reg-type2    = Monarch
| predecessor2 = [[Tessema Nadew]]
| birth_name   = Lij Tafari Makonnen<br />(''Täfäri Mäkonnän'')<br />ልጅ ተፈሪ መኮንን
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=y|1892|7|23}}
| birth_place  = [[Ejersa Goro]], [[Hararghe]], [[Ethiopian Empire]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=y|1975|8|27|1892|7|23}}
| death_place  = [[National Palace, Addis Ababa|Jubilee Palace, Addis Ababa]], [[Derg|Ethiopia]]

| death_cause  = [[Murder]] by [[Strangling|strangulation]]
| burial_date  = 5 November 2000
| burial_place = [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa]], Ethiopia
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* ''Woizero'' Altayech
* {{marriage|[[Menen Asfaw]]|1911|1962|end=died}}
}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
* [[Princess Romanework]]
* [[Princess Tenagnework]]
* [[Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen]]
* [[Princess Zenebework]]
* [[Princess Tsehai]]
* [[Prince Makonnen]]
* [[Prince Sahle Selassie]]
}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| dynasty      = [[Solomonic dynasty]]
| regnal name  = ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ<br />(Qädamawi Haylä Səllasé)
| house        = [[List of rulers of Shewa|Shewa]]
| father       = [[Makonnen Wolde Mikael]]
| mother       = [[Yeshimebet Ali]]
| signature    = File:Haile Selassie bigger signature.svg
| religion     = [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo]]
| module       = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes
|office        = [[Prime Minister of Ethiopia|Chief Minister]]
|term_start    = 12 December 1926
|term_end      = 1 May 1936
|predecessor   = [[Habte Giyorgis Dinagde]]
|successor     = Wolde Tzaddick
|name          = Haile Selassie
|order2        = 1st and 5th
|office2       = Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity
|term_start2   = 25 May 1963
|term_end2     = 17 July 1964
|successor2    = [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]
|term_start3   = 5 November 1966
|term_end3     = 11 September 1967
|predecessor3  = [[Joseph Arthur Ankrah]]
|successor3    = [[Mobutu Sese Seko]]
 {{Infobox person | embed=yes
| education    =
| alma_mater   =
 |module       =
 {{Infobox military person | embed = yes
| allegiance         = {{flag|Ethiopian Empire}}
| branch             =
| serviceyears       = 1930–1974
| rank               =
* [[List of titles and honours of Haile Selassie I|Field Marshal]]
* [[List of titles and honours of Haile Selassie I|Admiral of the Fleet]]
* [[List of titles and honours of Haile Selassie I|Marshal of the Air]]
| commands           = [[Military ranks of Ethiopia|Commander-in-chief]]
| battles            = {{collapsible list|title = {{nobold|''See list:''}}|
{{tree list}}
* [[Gugsa Wale's rebellion]]
* [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]
** [[First Battle of Tembien]]
** [[Battle of Amba Aradam]]
** [[Second Battle of Tembien]]
** [[Battle of Shire (1936)|Battle of Shire]]
** [[Battle of Maychew]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]]
* [[Korean War]]
* [[1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}
| module        = {{Listen |embed=yes
| title         = Haile Selassie&nbsp;I's voice
| filename      = Emperor Haile Selassie I's 1955 Constitutional Reform speech.ogg
| type          = speech
| description   = {{Br separated entries|Speech to the [[Ethiopian Parliament]] following the occasion of a new Constitution|Recorded 4 November 1955}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
'''Haile Selassie I'''{{efn|{{langx|gez|ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ|Qädamawi Ḫäylä Śəllase}}, {{IPA|am|kʼədäˈmäwi ˈhäjlə sɨlˈläse|-|Haile Selassie.ogg|link=yes}}, {{Literal translation|Power of the [[Trinity]]}};<ref>[[Henry Louis Gates Jr.|Gates, Henry Louis]], and [[Kwame Anthony Appiah|Anthony Appiah]], ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience''. 1999, p. 902.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Haile Selassie I|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Haile-Selassie-I|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=13 November 2024|archive-date=26 November 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241126220719/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Haile-Selassie-I|url-status=live}}</ref>}} (born '''Tafari Makonnen''' or ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij|Lij]]'' '''Tafari''';<ref>{{Cite web|last=Atiso|first=Kodjo|title=Subject & Course Guides: Emperor Haile Selassie Research Guide : Biography of Emperor Haile Selassie|url=https://guides.lib.ku.edu/c.php?g=1413002&p=10465656|access-date=30 November 2024|website=guides.lib.ku.edu|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 23 July 1892{{spnd}}27 August 1975)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Page|first1=Melvin Eugene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA247|title=Colonialism: an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia|last2=Sonnenburg|first2=Penny M.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2003|isbn=978-1-57607-335-3|volume=1|page=247}}</ref> was [[Emperor of Ethiopia]] from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Important offices of the Imperial Court|Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia]] (''{{Transliteration|gez|Enderase}}'') under Empress [[Zewditu]] between 1916 and 1930.

Widely considered to be a defining figure in [[History of Ethiopia#Modern era|modern Ethiopian history]], he is accorded divine importance in [[Rastafari]], an [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religion]] that emerged in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the [[Ethiopian Empire]], Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander [[Gugsa Welle|Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul]], nephew of Empress [[Taytu Betul]], at the [[Battle of Anchem]].<ref>Erlich, Haggai (2002), ''The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile''. Lynne Rienner Publishers. {{ISBN|1-55587-970-5}}, p. 192.</ref><ref name="babylon148">{{Harvnb |Murrell | p = 148}}</ref> He belonged to the [[Solomonic dynasty]], founded by Emperor [[Yekuno Amlak]] in 1270.

Selassie, seeking to modernise Ethiopia, introduced political and social reforms including the [[1931 Constitution of Ethiopia|1931 constitution]] and the [[Abolition of slavery in Ethiopia|abolition of slavery]] in 1942. He led the empire during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]], and after its defeat was exiled to the United Kingdom. When the [[Italian East Africa|Italian occupation of East Africa]] began, he traveled to [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]] to coordinate the Ethiopian struggle against [[Fascist Italy]]; he returned home after the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]] of [[World War II]]. He dissolved the [[Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea]], established by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] in 1950, and annexed [[Eritrea Province|Eritrea]] as one of [[Provinces of Ethiopia|Ethiopia's provinces]], while also [[Eritrean War of Independence|fighting to prevent Eritrean secession]].<ref name="Consolidated Laws Vol. I pp. 45-46">{{Cite book|last1=Ewing|first1=William H.|title=Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia Vol. I|last2=Abdi|first2=Beyene|date=1972|publisher=The Faculty of Law Haile Sellassie I University|location=Addis Ababa|pages=45–46}}</ref> As an [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalist]], Selassie led Ethiopia's accession to the [[United Nations]].<ref>Karsh, Efraim (1988), ''Neutrality and Small States''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-00507-8}}, p. 112.</ref> 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. By the early 1960s, prominent [[African socialism|African socialists]] such as [[Kwame Nkrumah]] envisioned the creation of a "[[United States of Africa]]". Their rhetoric was [[Anti-Western sentiment|anti-Western]]; Selassie saw this as a threat to his alliances. He attempted to influence a&nbsp;more moderate posture within the group.<ref name="EDMOND J. KELLER pp. 92">{{Cite book|last=Keller|first=Edmond J.|title=Revolutionary Ethiopia, From Empire to People's Republic|date=1988|publisher=Indiana University Press|page=92}}</ref>

Amidst popular uprisings, Selassie was overthrown by the [[Derg]] [[military junta]] in the [[1974 Ethiopian coup d'état|1974 coup d'état]]. With support from the [[Soviet Union]], the Derg began governing Ethiopia as a [[Marxist–Leninist state]]. In 1994, three years after the [[fall of the Derg regime]], it was revealed to the public that the Derg had assassinated Selassie at the [[National Palace, Addis Ababa|Jubilee Palace]] in [[Addis Ababa]] on 27 August 1975.<ref name="Tadese Tele Salvano pp. 81-97">{{Cite book|last=Salvano|first=Tadese Tele|title=የደረግ አነሳስና (የኤርትራና ትግራይ እንቆቅልሽ ጦርነት)|date=2018|publisher=Tadese Tele Salvano|isbn=978-0-7915-9662-3|pages=81–97|trans-title=The Derg Initiative (The Eritrean-Tigray Mysterious War)}}</ref><ref name="wapo"/> On 5 November 2000, [[Excavation of Haile Selassie's remains|his excavated remains]] were buried at the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa|Holy Trinity Cathedral of Addis Ababa]].

Among adherents of [[Rastafari]], Selassie is called the [[Second Coming|returned Jesus]], although he was an adherent of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox Church]] himself.<ref>[https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/haile-selassie-becomes-emperor-ethiopia/ Nov 2, 1930 CE: Haile Selassie Becomes Emperor of Ethiopia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323015638/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/haile-selassie-becomes-emperor-ethiopia/ |date=23 March 2024 }} [[National Geographic]]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Barrett|first=Leonard E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swdaI6DfDkEC&pg=PA118|title=The Rastafarians|publisher=Beacon Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-8070-1039-6}}</ref> He has been criticised for his suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (''{{Transliteration|gez|Mesafint}}''), which consistently [[Opposition to Haile Selassie|opposed his changes]]. Others have criticised Ethiopia's failure to modernise rapidly enough.<ref>Meredith, Martin (2005), ''The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair''. Public Affairs. {{ISBN|1-58648-398-6}}, pp. 212–213.</ref><ref name="hrw" /> During his reign, the [[Harari people]] were persecuted and many left their homes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huurne|first1=Dieneke|title='It's like carrying a heavy box with many people.' A study about the contributions of indigenous social security systems to poverty reduction|publisher=Radboud University Nijmegen|page=36|url=https://everythingharar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Hurnneie_thesis.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.everythingharar.com/files/History_of_Harar_and_Harari-HNL.pdf|title=History of Harar and Hararis|pages=141–144|access-date=3 December 2017|archive-date=3 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003055338/https://www.everythingharar.com/files/History_of_Harar_and_Harari-HNL.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Perspectives">{{cite book|last1=Feener|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsjuQaGLRUkC&q=kulub+movement+harar&pg=PA227|title=Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives|date=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-516-6|page=227|access-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> His administration was criticised as autocratic and illiberal by groups such as [[Human Rights Watch]].<ref name="hrw" /><ref name="Feeding on Ethiopia's Famine">{{Citation|last=Dimbleby|first=Jonathan|title=Feeding on Ethiopia's Famine|date=8 December 1998|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/feeding-on-ethiopias-famine-1189980.html|newspaper=The Independent|place=UK|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=13 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013173119/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/feeding-on-ethiopias-famine-1189980.html|url-status=live}} (taken from Chapter 3 of ''Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia'' Alexander de Waal (Africa Watch, 1991))</ref> According to some sources, late into Selassie's administration, the [[Oromo language]] was banned from education, public speaking and use in administration,<ref>{{citation|title=Oromo children's books keep once-banned Ethiopian language alive|newspaper=The Guardian|date=13 February 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/14/oromo-childrens-books-keep-once-banned-ethiopian-language-alive|access-date=14 February 2016|last1=Davey|first1=Melissa|archive-date=14 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214083716/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/14/oromo-childrens-books-keep-once-banned-ethiopian-language-alive|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Language & Culture|url=https://nalrc.indiana.edu/doc/brochures/oromo.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nalrc.indiana.edu/doc/brochures/oromo.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Ethiopians: Amhara and Oromo|url=https://iimn.org/publication/finding-common-ground/minnesotas-refugees/africa/ethiopians-amhara-oromo/|date=January 2017|access-date=11 February 2021|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419062136/https://iimn.org/publication/finding-common-ground/minnesotas-refugees/africa/ethiopians-amhara-oromo/|url-status=live}}</ref> though there was never a law that criminalised any language.<ref name="Language in Ethiopia pp. 187-190">{{cite book|last1=Bender|first1=M. L.|title=Language in Ethiopia|date=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-19-436102-6|pages=187–190}}</ref><ref name="Scholler 1">{{cite book|last1=Scholler|first1=Heinrich|last2=Brietzke|first2=Paul H.|title=Ethiopia: Revolution, Law and Politics|date=1976|publisher=Weltforum-Verlag|location=Munich|isbn=3-8039-0136-7|page=154}}</ref><ref name="Consolidated Laws Vol. II p. 1105">{{cite book|last1=Ewing|first1=William H.|last2=Abdi|first2=Beyene|title=Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia Vol. II|date=1972|publisher=The Faculty of Law Haile Sellassie I University|location=Addis Ababa|page=1105}}</ref> His government relocated many [[Amhara people]] into southern Ethiopia.<ref>{{citation|title=Oromo Continue to Flee Violence|url=https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence|date=September 1981|access-date=17 February 2021|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412051237/https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/oromo-continue-flee-violence|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Country Information Report ethiopia|url=http://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-information-report-ethiopia.docx|date=12 August 2020|access-date=17 February 2021|archive-date=11 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130711041720/http://https/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Ethiopia. Status of Amharas|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6077.html|date=1 March 1993|access-date=17 February 2021|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125031218/https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6a6077.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Name==
Haile Selassie was known as a child as '''Lij Tafari Makonnen''' ({{langx|Am|ልጅ ተፈሪ መኮንን|Ləj Täfäri Mäkonnən|links=no}}). ''[[Lij (title)|Lij]]'' is translated as "child" and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood. His given name ''Tafari'' means "one who is respected or feared". Like most Ethiopians, his personal name "Tafari" is followed by that of his father [[Makonnen Wolde Mikael|Makonnen]] and that of his grandfather Woldemikael. His name ''Haile Selassie'' was given to him at his infant baptism and adopted again as part of his [[regnal name]] in 1930.<ref name=":1" />

On 1 November 1905, at the age of 13, Tafari was appointed by his father as the Dejazmatch of Gara Mulatta (a region some twenty miles southwest of Harar).<ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.20">{{cite book|last1=Selassie|first1=Haile I|title=My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff|date=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-19-713589-7|page=20}}</ref> The literal translation of Dejazmatch is "keeper of the door"; it is a title of nobility equivalent to a [[count]].<ref>Copley, Gregory R. ''Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World''. Published by Defense & Foreign Affairs, part of the International Strategic Studies Association, 1998. {{ISBN|1-892998-00-9}}. p. 115</ref> On 27 September 1916, he was proclaimed Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne (''Alga Worrach''),<ref name="The Order of Coronation p. 97">{{cite book|last1=Bellizzi|first1=Francesco|last2=Wondim|first2=Simeon|last3=Feqade|first3=Ras|title=The Order of Coronation|date=2013|publisher=Debre Zeyt Books|location=Italy|isbn=978-88-908905-0-5|page=97}}</ref><ref name="Copley p. 114" /> and appointed [[Regent]] Plenipotentiary (''Balemulu Silt'an [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Important offices of the Imperial Court|Enderase]]'').<ref name="The Order of Coronation p. 97" /><ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) pp.48-50">{{cite book|last1=Selassie|first1=Haile I|title=My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff|date=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-19-713589-7|pages=48–50}}</ref> On 11 February 1917, he was crowned Le'ul-Ras<ref name="Steffanson 2" /> and became known as [[Ras (title)|Ras]] Tafari Makonnen {{audio|Ras Teferi Mekonnen.ogg|listen}}. ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|Ras]]'' is translated as "head"<ref name="babylon172">{{Harvnb |Murrell | pp = 172–173}}</ref><ref name="Copley p. 114">Copley, Gregory R. ''Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World''. Published by Defense & Foreign Affairs, part of the International Strategic Studies Association, 1998. {{ISBN|1-892998-00-9}}. p. 114</ref> and is a rank of nobility equivalent to a [[duke]],<ref name="Copley p. 114" />{{Sfn | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, p. xiii}} though it is often rendered in translation as "prince". Originally the title ''[[Le'ul]]'', which means "Your Highness", was only ever used as a form of address;<ref name="KING OF KINGS p. 325" /> however, in 1916 the title ''Le'ul-Ras'' replaced the senior office of ''Ras [[Bitwoded]]'' and so became the equivalent of a [[royal duke]].<ref>{{harvnb|Asserate|p=350}}</ref><ref>Copley, Gregory R. ''Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World''. Published by Defense & Foreign Affairs, part of the International Strategic Studies Association, 1998. {{ISBN|1-892998-00-9}}. p. 117</ref> In 1928, Empress [[Zewditu]] planned on granting him the throne of Shewa; however, at the last moment opposition from certain provincial rulers caused a change and his title ''[[Negus]]'' or "King" was conferred without geographical qualification or definition.<ref name="Steffanson">{{cite book|last1=Steffanson|first1=Borg G.|last2=Starret|first2=Ronald K.|title=Documents on Ethiopian Politics Vol. II|date=1976|publisher=Documentary Publications|location=North Carolina, U.S.|isbn=0-89712-008-6|page=112}}</ref><ref>Bahru Zewde (2001). ''A History of Modern Ethiopia'' (2nd ed.). Oxford: James Currey. p. 135. {{ISBN|0-85255-786-8}}.</ref>

{{Contains special characters|Ethiopic}}

On 2 November 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu, Tafari was crowned ''Negusa Nagast'', literally "King of Kings", rendered in English as "Emperor".<ref name="roberts">{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Neil|year=2015|title=Freedom as Marronage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xoMLBgAAQBAJ|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|page=175|access-date=12 October 2015|isbn=978-0-226-20104-7}}</ref> Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I. ''Haile'' means in Ge'ez "Power of" and ''Selassie'' means [[trinity]]{{snd}}therefore ''Haile Selassie'' roughly translates to "Power of the Trinity".{{Sfn |Murrell | p = 159}} Selassie's full title in office was "By the Conquering [[Lion of Judah|Lion of the Tribe of Judah]], His [[Imperial Majesty]] Haile Selassie I, [[Emperor of Ethiopia|King of Kings]] of Ethiopia, Lord of Lords, Elect of God".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rubenson|first1=Sven|title=The Lion of the Tribe of Judah Christian Symbol and/or Imperial Title|journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies|date=July 1965|volume=3|issue=2|page=85}}</ref><ref name="Steffanson 2">{{cite book|last1=Steffanson|first1=Borg G.|last2=Starrett|first2=Ronald K.|title=Documents on Ethiopian Politics Vol. I: The Decline of Menelik II to the Emergence of Ras Tafari, later known as Haile Selassie, 1910–1919|date=1976|publisher=Documentary Publications|location=Salisbury, North Carolina|isbn=0-89712-008-6|page=133}}</ref><ref name="KING OF KINGS p. 325">{{harvnb|Asserate|p=325}}</ref><ref name="Charles F. Rey">{{cite book|last1=Rey|first1=Charles F.|title=The Real Abyssinia|date=1935|publisher=J. B. Lippincott Company|location=New York City.|isbn=0-8371-2656-8|page=117}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hassen |first1=Getachew Makonnen |title=ንጉሥ ነገሥት ከ1884–1967 ("King of Kings b.1892–1975") |date=1992 |location=Addis Ababa |page=5}}</ref>{{refn|[[Ge'ez]] {{lang|gez|ግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ አፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ሞዓ}} {{lang |gez|አንበሳ ዘእምነገደ ይሁዳ ንጉሠ ነገሥት ዘኢትዮጵያ ሰዩመ እግዚአብሔር}}<!--This text is in Ethiopic. Please don't remove.-->; ''girmāwī ḳedāmāwī 'aṣē ḫayle śillāsē, mō'ā 'anbessā ze'imneggede yihudā niguse negest ze'ītyōṗṗyā, siyume 'igzī'a'bihēr''.<ref name=Kasuka19/>|group=nb}} This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to [[Menelik I]], who is described by the [[Kebra Nagast]] (a 14th-century CE national epic) as the son of the tenth-century BCE [[King Solomon]] and the [[Queen of Sheba]].<ref>Ghai, Yash P. (2000), ''Autonomy and Ethnicity: Negotiating Competing Claims in Multi-Ethnic States''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-78642-8}}, p. 176.</ref>

To Ethiopians, Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy ("His Majesty") Talaqu Meri ("Great Leader") and Abba Tekel ("Father of Tekel", his [[horse name]]).<ref name="Kasuka19">{{cite book|last=Kasuka|first=Bridgette|title=Prominent African Leaders Since Independence|publisher=Bankole Kamara Taylor|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4700-4358-2|page=19}}</ref> [[Rastafari]] employs many of these appellations, also referring to him as [[Jah]], Jah Jah, Jah Rastafari, and HIM (the abbreviation of "His Imperial Majesty").<ref name="Kasuka19" />

==Early life==

{{main|Chronology of Haile Selassie}}

<gallery widths="170" heights="170">
File:Tafari Makonnen dressed in warrior garments.jpg|Then Tafari Makonnen wearing a warrior's dress
File:Lij Teferi and his father, Ras Makonnen.jpg|Ras [[Makonnen Woldemikael]] and his son Lij Tafari Makonnen
</gallery>

Tafari's royal line (through his paternal grandmother) descended from the Shewan [[Amhara people|Amhara]] Solomonic king, [[Sahle Selassie]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pétridès|first1=S. Pierre|title=Le Héros d'Adoua: Ras Makonnen, Prince d'Éthiopie|date=1963|publisher=Librairie Plon|location=Paris|page=299}}</ref> He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of [[Ejersa Goro]], in the [[Hararghe]] province of Ethiopia. Tafari's mother, [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Woyzero|Woizero]] ("Lady") [[Yeshimebet Ali]] Abba Jifar, was paternally of [[Oromo people|Oromo]] descent and maternally of [[Silt'e people|Silte]] heritage, while his father, [[Ras (title)|Ras]] [[Makonnen Wolde Mikael]], was maternally of [[Amhara people|Amhara]] descent but his paternal lineage remains disputed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bridgette|first=Kasuka|date=2012|title=Prominent African Leaders Since Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k2nxqV2R7_8C&dq=kasuka+prominent+african+leaders&pg=PA19|location=Tanzania|publisher=New Africa Press|page=19|isbn=978-1-4700-4358-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Henze|first=Paul B|date=2001|title=Layers of time a history of Ethiopia|location=New York|publisher=Palgrave|page=189}}</ref><ref name="Woodward">Woodward, Peter (1994), ''Conflict and Peace in the Horn of Africa: federalism and its alternatives''. Dartmouth Pub. Co. {{ISBN|1-85521-486-5}}, p. 29.</ref> Tafari's paternal grandfather belonged to a noble family from [[Shewa]] and was the governor of the districts of [[Menz]] and [[Doba Ethiopia|Doba]], which are located in [[North Shewa Zone (Amhara)|Semien Shewa]].<ref name="Pétridès-28">S. Pierre Pétridès, ''Le Héros d'Adoua. Ras Makonnen, Prince d'Éthiopie'', {{p.|28}}</ref> Tafari's mother was the daughter of a ruling chief from [[Were Ilu (woreda)|Were Ilu]] in [[Wollo]] province, [[Dejazmach]] Ali Abba Jifar.<ref name="Moor">de Moor, Jaap, and Wesseling, H. L. (1989), ''Imperialism and War: Essays on Colonial Wars in Asia and Africa''. Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-08834-2}}, p. 189.</ref> 

Ras Makonnen was the grandson of King [[Sahle Selassie]] who was once the ruler of [[Shewa]]. He served as a general in the [[First Italo–Ethiopian War]], playing a key role at the [[Battle of Adwa]];<ref name="Moor" /> Selassie was thus able to ascend to the imperial throne through his paternal grandmother, Woizero Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor [[Menelik II]] and daughter of the Solomonic Amhara King of Shewa, [[Negus]] Sahle Selassie. As such, Selassie claimed direct descent from [[Makeda]], the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel.{{Sfn|Shinn|p=265}}

Ras Makonnen arranged for Tafari as well as his first cousin, [[Imru Haile Selassie]], to receive instruction in Harar from [[Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin]], an Ethiopian [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchin]] friar, and from Dr. Vitalien, a surgeon from [[Guadeloupe]]. Tafari was named [[Dejazmach]] (literally "commander of the gate", roughly equivalent to "[[count]]"){{Sfn | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, p. xii}} at the age of 13, on 1 November 1905.<ref name="so193">{{Harvnb |Shinn | pp = 193–4}}.</ref><ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.20" /> Shortly thereafter, his father Makonnen died at [[Kulibi]], in 1906.<ref name="rad712">{{Harvnb |Roberts | p = 712}}.</ref>

===Governorship===

<!--NOTE: Several sources state that Tafari assumed Harar's governorship in 1906, but this is incorrect and contradicted by better and more numerous sources.-->
[[File:Tafari Dejazmatch Harrar.jpg|thumb|left|''Dejazmatch'' Tafari, as governor of Harar|236x236px]]

Tafari assumed the titular governorship of Selale in 1906, a realm of marginal importance,<ref name="jah">{{Harvnb |White | pp = 34–35}}.</ref> but one that enabled him to continue his studies.<ref name="so193" /> In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of [[Sidamo Province|Sidamo]]. It is alleged that during his late teens, Selassie was married to ''Woizero'' Altayech, and that from this union, his daughter [[Princess Romanework]] was born.<ref name="m387" />

Following the death of his brother Yelma in 1907, the governorate of Harar was left vacant,<ref name="jah" /> and its administration was left to Menelik's loyal general, ''Dejazmach'' [[Balcha Safo]]. Balcha Safo's administration of Harar was ineffective, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief reign of Empress [[Taytu Betul]], Tafari was made governor of Harar in 1910 or 1911.<ref name="rad712" /><ref name="m387">Mockler, Anthony, ''Haile Selassie's War'' (2003), p. xxvii</ref>

=== Marriage ===
[[File:HIM Selassie with his Wife Empress Menen Asfaw.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Together with his wife, [[Menen Asfaw|Empress Menen Asfaw]], 1955]]

On 3 August 1911, Tafari married [[Menen Asfaw]] of [[Ambassel]], niece of the heir to the throne [[Lij Iyasu]]. Menen Asfaw was 22 years old while Tafari was 19 years of age. Menen had already married two previous noblemen, while Tafari had one previous wife and one child. The marriage between Menen Asfaw and Selassie lasted for 50 years. Although possibly a political match designed to create peace between Ethiopian nobles, the couple's family had said they married with mutual consent. Selassie described his spouse as a "woman without any malice whatsoever".<ref>Haile Selassie, ''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'' (Chicago: Frontline Distribution International, 1999), pp. 41f.</ref>

== Regency ==
The extent to which Tafari Makonnen contributed to the movement that would come to depose [[Lij Iyasu]] has been discussed extensively, particularly in Selassie's own detailed account of the matter. Iyasu was the designated but uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. Iyasu's reputation for scandalous behavior and a disrespectful attitude towards the nobles at the court of his grandfather, Menelik II,<ref>Lentakis, Michael B. (2004), ''Ethiopia: Land of the Lotus Eaters''. Janus Pub. Co. {{ISBN|1-85756-558-4}}, p. 41.</ref> damaged his reputation. Iyasu's flirtation with Islam was considered treasonous among the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christian]] leadership of the empire. On 27 September 1916, Iyasu was deposed.<ref name="so228" />

Contributing to the movement that deposed Iyasu were conservatives such as ''[[Fitawrari]]'' [[Habte Giyorgis]], Menelik II's longtime Minister of War. The movement to depose Iyasu preferred Tafari, as he attracted support from both progressive and conservative factions. Ultimately, Iyasu was deposed on the grounds of conversion to Islam.<ref name= babylon172 /><ref name= so228>{{Harvnb |Shinn | p = 228}}.</ref> In his place, the daughter of Menelik II (the aunt of Iyasu) was named Empress [[Zewditu]], while Tafari was elevated to the rank of ''Ras'' and was made [[heir apparent]] and [[Crown Prince]]. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of [[Plenipotentiary|Regent Plenipotentiary]] (''Balemulu 'Inderase''){{refn|''Bālemulu'' literally means "fully empowered" or "wholly authorised", thus distinguishing it from the general use of ''Enderase'', that being a representative or lieutenant of the Emperor to fiefs or vassals, essentially a [[Governor-General]] or [[Viceroy]], by which term provincial governors in the contemporary Imperial period, during Haile Selassie's reign, were referred.<ref name="Otto Harrassowitz">{{cite book|last1=Leslau|first1=Wolf|title=Concise Amharic Dictionary|date=1976|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|location=Wiesbaden, Germany|isbn=3-447-01729-5|pages=15, 273, 332, 354|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Ǝndärase">{{cite book|last1=Rubinkowska|first1=Hanna|title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica vol. 2|date=2005|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|location=Wiesbaden, Germany|isbn=3-447-05238-4|page=297}}</ref> |group= nb}} and became the ''de facto'' ruler of the [[Ethiopian Empire]] (''Mangista Ityop'p'ya''). Zewditu would govern while Tafari would administer.{{Sfn |Marcus | p = 126}}

While Iyasu had been deposed on 27 September 1916, on 8 October he managed to escape into the [[Ogaden Desert]] and his father, ''Negus'' [[Mikael of Wollo]], had time to come to his aid.<ref name="Marcus, page 127">{{Harvnb |Marcus | p = 127}}.</ref> On 27 October, ''Negus'' Mikael and his army met an army under ''Fitawrari'' Habte Giyorgis loyal to Zewditu and Tafari. During the [[Battle of Segale]], Mikael was defeated and captured. Any chance that Iyasu would regain the throne was ended, and he went into hiding. On 11 January 1921, after avoiding capture for about five years, Iyasu was taken into custody by [[Gugsa Araya Selassie]].<ref>Marcus, ''Haile Sellassie'', pp. 25</ref><ref name="Chronicle-372">Gebre-Igzabiher Elyas, ''Chronicle'', p. 372</ref>

[[File:Fh jullien n18x24 00604 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ras Tafari in 1924 at the [[International Labour Organization]]]]
On 11 February 1917, the coronation for Zewditu took place. She pledged to rule justly through her regent, Tafari. While Tafari was the more visible of the two, Zewditu was not simply an honorary ruler, but she did have some political restraints due to the complicated nature of her position compared to other Ethiopian monarchs, one was that it required that she arbitrate the claims of competing factions. In other words, she had the last word. But unlike other monarchs Tafari carried the burden of daily administration, but, initially because his position was relatively weak, this was often an exercise in futility. His personal army was poorly equipped, his finances were limited, and he had little leverage to withstand the combined influence of the Empress, the Minister of War, or the provincial governors. Nonetheless, her authority weakened while Tafari's power increased, she focused on praying and fasting and much less in her official duties which allowed Tafari to later have greater influence than even the Empress.<ref name="Marcus, page 127" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bahru|first=Zewde|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderne00bahr|title=A History of Modern Ethiopia|title-link=|publisher=James Curry|year=2001|isbn=0-85255-786-8|edition=2nd|location=Oxford|page=135|url-access=registration}}</ref>

During his Regency, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of cautious modernisation initiated by Menelik II. Also, during this time, he survived the [[1918 flu pandemic]], having come down with the illness<ref>Marcus, Harold (1996), ''Haile Selassie I: The formative years, 1892–1936''. Trenton: Red Sea Press. {{ISBN|1-56902-007-8}}, pp. 36ff.</ref> as someone fairly "prone to" the effects of disease throughout his life.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2023|editor-last=Jacobs|editor-first=Sam|editor-link=Samuel Jacobs (journalist)|editor2-last=Rothman|editor2-first=Lily|editor3-last=Benedict|editor3-first=Julie Blume|editor4-last=Cassidy|editor4-first=Catherine|editor4-link=Catherine Cassidy|title=Haile Selassie|magazine=Time Person of the Year: 95 Years of the World's Most Influential People|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|page=11}}</ref> He secured Ethiopia's admission to the [[League of Nations]] in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery; each emperor since [[Tewodros II]] had issued proclamations to halt [[slavery]],<ref>Clarence-Smith, W. G. ''The Economics of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century''. 1989, p. 103.</ref> but without effect: the internationally scorned practice persisted well into Selassie's reign with an estimated 2&nbsp;million slaves in Ethiopia in the early 1930s.<ref>{{Citation|last=Miers|url=http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf|title=Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery|publisher=Yale|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515192003/http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2011}}.</ref><ref>Brody, J. Kenneth (2000). ''The Avoidable War''. Transaction Publishers. {{ISBN|0-7658-0498-0}}, p. 209.</ref>

=== Travel abroad ===

[[File:Ras Regent Selassie with King George V of the United Kingdom.jpg|left|thumb|With King [[George V]] at [[Buckingham Palace]], 1924]]

In 1924, Ras Tafari toured Europe and the Middle East visiting [[Jerusalem]], [[Alexandria]], Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, [[Amsterdam]], Stockholm, London, [[Geneva]], Gibraltar and [[Athens]]. With him on his tour was a group that included Ras [[Seyum Mangasha]] of western [[Tigray Province]]; Ras [[Hailu Tekle Haymanot]] of [[Gojjam]] province; Ras [[Mulugeta Yeggazu]] of [[Illubabor Province]]; Ras [[Makonnen Endelkachew]]; and ''[[Blattengeta]]'' [[Heruy Welde Selassie]]. The primary goal of the trip to Europe was for Ethiopia to gain access to the sea. In Paris, Tafari was to find out from the [[French Foreign Ministry]] (''[[Quai d'Orsay]]'') that this goal would not be realised.{{Sfn |Marcus | p = 123}} However, failing this, he and his retinue inspected schools, hospitals, factories, and churches. Although patterning many reforms after European models, Tafari remained wary of European pressure. To guard against [[economic imperialism]], Tafari required that all enterprises have at least partial local ownership.<ref>Gates and Appiah, ''Africana'' (1999), p. 698.</ref> Of his modernisation campaign, he remarked, "We need European progress only because we are surrounded by it. That is at once a benefit and a misfortune."<ref>Rogers, Joel Augustus (1936). ''The Real Facts about Ethiopia'', p. 27.</ref>

Throughout Tafari's travels in Europe, the [[Levant]], and Egypt, he and his entourage were greeted with enthusiasm and fascination. Seyum Mangasha accompanied him and Hailu Tekle Haymanot who, like Tafari, were sons of generals who contributed to the victorious war against Italy a quarter-century earlier at the [[Battle of Adwa]].<ref name=mockler>{{Harvnb |Mockler | pp = 3–4}}.</ref> Another member of his entourage, Mulugeta Yeggazu, actually fought at Adwa as a young man. The "Oriental Dignity" of the Ethiopians<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/17/archives/ethiopian-ruler-wins-plaudits-of-parisians-ras-taffaris-oriental.html |url-access=subscription |title=Ethiopian Ruler Wins Plaudits of Parisians; Ras Taffari's Oriental Dignity Impresses Populace -- Government Extends Royal Honors. |work=The New York Times|date=17 May 1924|page=3|access-date=13 December 2018|archive-date=22 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922134948/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/17/archives/ethiopian-ruler-wins-plaudits-of-parisians-ras-taffaris-oriental.html?sq=ethiopian&scp=29&st=p|url-status=live}}.</ref> and their "rich, picturesque court dress"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/05/archives/ethiopian-royalties-don-shoes-in-cairo-prince-and-eight-field.html |url-access=subscription |title=Ethiopian Royalties Don Shoes in Cairo; Prince and Eight Field Marshals Submit to Tortures in Tribute to Western Civilization. |work=The New York Times|date=5 May 1924|page=3|access-date=13 December 2018|archive-date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923084042/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/05/archives/ethiopian-royalties-don-shoes-in-cairo-prince-and-eight-field.html?sq=ethiopian&scp=27&st=p|url-status=live}}</ref> were sensationalised in the media; among his entourage he even included a pride of lions, which he distributed as gifts to President [[Alexandre Millerand]] and Prime Minister [[Raymond Poincaré]] of [[French Third Republic|France]], to King [[George V]] of the United Kingdom, and to the Zoological Garden (''[[Jardin d'Acclimatation|Jardin Zoologique]]'') of Paris, France.<ref name=mockler /> As one historian noted, "Rarely can a tour have inspired so many anecdotes".<ref name=mockler /> In return for two lions, the United Kingdom presented Tafari with the imperial crown of Emperor [[Tewodros II]] for its safe return to Empress Zewditu. The crown had been taken by [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Sir Robert Napier]] during the [[1868 Expedition to Abyssinia]].<ref>[[#{{harvid|Mockler}}|Mockler]], p. 4.</ref>

In this period, the Crown Prince visited the Armenian monastery of [[Jerusalem]]. There, he adopted 40 [[Armenians|Armenian]] orphans (አርባ ልጆች ''[[Arba Lijoch]]'', "forty children"), who had lost their parents during the [[Armenian genocide|Armenian Genocide]]. Tafari arranged for the musical education of the youths, and they came to form the imperial brass band.<ref>Nidel, Richard (2005), ''World Music: The Basics''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-96800-3}}, p. 56.</ref>

== Reign ==

=== King and Emperor ===
{{see also|Modernization under Haile Selassie}}
[[File:Emperor Haile Selassie I.jpg|thumb|Coronation as Emperor on 2 November 1930]]
Tafari's authority was challenged in 1928 when ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|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.{{refn |Balcha Safo brought an army of ten thousand with him from Sidamo.<ref name="Marcus, page 127"/> |group= nb}} The ''Dejazmatch'' paid homage to Empress Zewditu, but snubbed Tafari.<ref name="cambridge">{{Harvnb |Roberts | p = 723}}.</ref>{{Sfn |Marcus | p = 129}} On 18 February, while Balcha Safo and his personal bodyguard{{refn |Balcha Safo's personal bodyguard numbered about five hundred.<ref name="Marcus, page 127" />|group=nb}} 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{{Sfn |Mockler | p = 8}} by Birru Wolde Gabriel – who himself was replaced by [[Desta Damtew]].<ref name="Marcus, page 127" />

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 [[Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of 1928|20-year peace accord]] that was signed on 2 August.<ref name="so193" /> In September, a group of palace reactionaries including some courtiers of the Empress made a [[1928 Ethiopian coup d'état|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.{{Sfn |Marcus | pp = 127–128}} Popular support, as well as the support of the police,<ref name="cambridge" /> remained with Tafari. Ultimately, the Empress relented, and, on 7 October 1928, she crowned Tafari as ''[[Negus]]'' ([[Amharic]]: "King").<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief Biography of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I |url=https://ethiopiancrown.org/biography-emperor-haile-selassie-i/ |website=[[Crown Council of Ethiopia]] |date=August 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Marcus||pp=128}}</ref>

[[File:Haile Selassie I Coronation Portrait.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Official coronation painting by Beatrice Playne c. 1950s]]

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 [[Gugsa Wale's rebellion|''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]].{{Sfn |Roberts | p = 724}} 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,<ref>Sorenson, John (2001). ''Ghosts and Shadows: Construction of Identity and Community in an African Diaspora''. University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|0-8020-8331-5}} p. 34.</ref> or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband,<ref>Brockman, Norbert C. (1994), ''An African Biographical Dictionary''. ABC-CLIO. {{ISBN|0-87436-748-4}}, p. 381.</ref> 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.<ref>Henze, Paul B. (2000), ''Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia''. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. {{ISBN|1-85065-393-3}}, p. 205.</ref><ref name="The Negus">{{cite book|last1=Del Boca|first1=Angelo|title=The Negus: The Life and Death of the Last King of Kings|date=2015|publisher=Arada Books|location=Addis Ababa|isbn=978-99944-823-9-9|page=107}}</ref>

Upon Zewditu's death, Tafari himself rose to emperor and was proclaimed ''Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya'', "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was [[Coronations in Africa#Ethiopia|crowned]] on 2 November 1930, at [[St. George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa|Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George]]. The coronation was by all accounts "a most splendid affair",<ref name= m12>{{Harvnb |Mockler | p = 12}}.</ref> and it was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were the [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester|Duke of Gloucester]] (King George V's son), [[Marshal of France|Marshal]] [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey]] of France, and the [[Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Genoa (1884–1963)|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]].<ref>{{cite journal|date=September 1930|title=Items|url=http://www.afsa.org/sites/default/files/fsj-1930-09-september_0.pdf|journal=The American Foreign Service Journal|volume=VII|issue=9|pages=327|access-date=28 February 2023|archive-date=28 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228172524/http://www.afsa.org/sites/default/files/fsj-1930-09-september_0.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/35185/2nd-november-ises-requesting-for-a-femail-singer-to-sing-th.html|title=2nd November ises, Requesting for a femail singer to sing the Queenof England for the Coronation.|access-date=16 March 2023|archive-date=14 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314180347/https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/35185/2nd-november-ises-requesting-for-a-femail-singer-to-sing-th.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://en.sewasew.com/p/united-states-of-america-relations-with|title=Sewasew &#124; United States of America, relations with|access-date=28 February 2023|archive-date=28 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228170953/https://en.sewasew.com/p/united-states-of-america-relations-with|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1930/10/24/archives/abyssinian-ruler-honors-americans-special-envoy-for-coronation-pays.html?sq=selassie&scp=2&st=p Abyssinian ruler honors Americans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722190722/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/10/24/archives/abyssinian-ruler-honors-americans-special-envoy-for-coronation-pays.html?sq=selassie&scp=2&st=p |date=22 July 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''. 24 October 1930.</ref> Emissaries from Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were there.<ref name=m12 /> British author [[Evelyn Waugh]] was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event, and American travel lecturer [[Burton Holmes]] made the only known film footage of the event.<ref>Wallace, Irving (1965). "Everybody's Rover Boy", p. 113 in ''The Sunday Gentleman''. New York: Simon & Schuster.</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Coronation of Ras Tafari – 1930 {{!}} Movietone Moments {{!}} 2 Feb 18|date=2 February 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CJsZjXsuHg|language=en|access-date=30 January 2022|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033434/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CJsZjXsuHg|url-status=live}}</ref> One American newspaper report suggested that the celebration had incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/03/archives/emperor-is-crowned-in-regal-splendor-at-african-capital-coptic.html?sq=selassie&scp=4&st=p "Emperor is Crowned in Regal Splendor at African Capital"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722185322/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/03/archives/emperor-is-crowned-in-regal-splendor-at-african-capital-coptic.html?sq=selassie&scp=4&st=p |date=22 July 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''. 3 November 1930.</ref> Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts;<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/12/archives/abyssinias-guests-receive-costly-gifts-each-american-delegate-gets.html?sq=selassie&scp=19&st=p Abyssinia's Guests Receive Costly Gifts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722184856/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/11/12/archives/abyssinias-guests-receive-costly-gifts-each-american-delegate-gets.html?sq=selassie&scp=19&st=p |date=22 July 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''. 12 November 1930.</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1931/01/27/archives/emperor-of-ethiopia-honors-bishop-freeman-sends-goldencased-bible.html?sq=selassie&scp=14&st=p "Emperor of Ethiopia Honors Bishop Freeman; Sends Gold-Encased Bible and Cross for Prayer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722041252/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/01/27/archives/emperor-of-ethiopia-honors-bishop-freeman-sends-goldencased-bible.html?sq=selassie&scp=14&st=p |date=22 July 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''. 27 January 1931.</ref>

[[File:Selassie on Time Magazine cover 1930.jpg|left|thumb|237x237px|Cover of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine, 3 November 1930]]

Selassie introduced [[1931 Constitution of Ethiopia|Ethiopia's first written constitution]] on 16 July 1931,<ref>Nahum, Fasil (1997), ''Constitution for a Nation of Nations: The Ethiopian Prospect''. Red Sea Press. {{ISBN|1-56902-051-5}}, p. 17.</ref> providing for a [[bicameral legislature]].<ref name= vnahum22>Fasil (1997), ''Constitution for a Nation of Nations'', p. 22.</ref> 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."<ref name=vnahum22 /> 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 [[Tigray Province|Tigrai]], and even the Emperor's loyal cousin Ras [[Kassa Haile Darge]]) outside of the line for the throne.<ref name="cs">{{Country study |country=Ethiopia |abbr=et |editor=Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry |date=1991 |section=Haile Selassie: The Prewar Period, 1930–36 |author=John W. Turner}}</ref>

In 1932, the [[Kingdom of Jimma|Sultanate of Jimma]] was formally absorbed into Ethiopia following the death of Sultan [[Abba Jifar II]] of [[Jimma]].<ref name="Marcus-121">Harold G. Marcus, ''The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844–1913'' (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), p. 121</ref>

===Conflict with Italy===

{{See also|Abyssinia Crisis|Second Italo-Abyssinian War}}

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 [[Battle of Adwa|Adwa]].{{Sfn |Mockler | p = 61}}<ref name=carlton>Carlton, Eric (1992), ''Occupation: The Policies and Practices of Military Conquerors''. Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|0-203-14346-9}}, pp. 88–89.</ref><ref name=vander>Vandervort, Bruce (1998), ''Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914''. Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|0-253-21178-6}}, p. 158.</ref> A conquest of Ethiopia could also empower the cause of fascism and embolden its empire's rhetoric.<ref name= vander /> 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.<ref>Churchill, Winston (1986). ''The Second World War''. p. 165.</ref>

====Mobilisation====

Following the [[Welwel Incident]] of 5 December 1934, Selassie joined his northern armies and set up headquarters at [[Dessie|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 Haile Darge|Kassa]], instructing the men to choose hidden positions, to conserve ammunition, and to avoid wearing conspicuous clothing for fear of air attack.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jah-rastafari.com/autobiography/show-jah-chapter.asp?word_chapter=35|title=Chapter 35 – We proclaim mobilisation|access-date=24 April 2014|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611043703/http://www.jah-rastafari.com/autobiography/show-jah-chapter.asp?word_chapter=35|archive-date=11 June 2009}} in ''Words of RasTafarI, Selassie I''. Jah-rastafari. Retrieved on 24 April 2014.</ref> 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.<ref>Baudendistel, Rainer (2006), ''Between Bombs And Good Intentions: The Red Cross And the Italo-Ethiopian War''. Berghahn Books. {{ISBN|1-84545-035-3}}, p. 168.</ref>

====Progress of the war====
Starting in early October 1935, the [[De Bono's invasion of Abyssinia|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]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Barker|1971|p=45}}</ref> 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 (1936)|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 Province|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.<ref>{{harvnb|Barker|1968|pp=237–238}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Abbink|De Bruijn|Van Walraven|2003|p=95}}</ref><ref>Young, John (1997), ''Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-02606-7}}, p. 51.</ref> Many of the [[Army of the Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopian military]] were obsolete compared to the invading Italian forces, being mostly untrained and possessing non-modern rifles and weaponry.<ref>{{harvnb|Pankhurst|1968|pp=605–608}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barker|1971|p=29}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Stapleton|2013|p=203}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mack Smith|1983|pp=231–232}}</ref>

Selassie made a solitary [[pilgrimage]] to the churches at [[Lalibela]], at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital.<ref name= moc>{{Harvnb|Mockler|p=123}}.</ref> 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, Ethiopia|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]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Spencer|first=John H|title=Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years|publisher=Tsehai Publishers|year=2006|isbn=978-1-59907-000-1|pages=63–64|author-link=John H. Spencer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2 May 1936|title=Ethiopian Capital May Move to Gore; Town 220 Miles Southwest of Addis Ababa Reported Chosen on British Advice. Final Stand is Ordered – Emperor Calls Every Able-Bodied Man to Resist Invaders to North of Principal City.|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/05/02/archives/ethiopian-capital-may-move-to-gore-town-220-miles-southwest-of.html|access-date=23 December 2023|archive-date=23 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223071730/https://www.nytimes.com/1936/05/02/archives/ethiopian-capital-may-move-to-gore-town-220-miles-southwest-of.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Anthony Mockler, ''Haile Selassie's War'' (New York: Olive Branch, 2003), pp. 163–166</ref>

====Exile debate====

[[File:SelassieInJerusalem.jpg|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 [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|Blatta]] [[Tekle Wolde Hawariat]], strenuously objected to the idea of an Ethiopian monarch fleeing before an invading force.<ref>Spencer, John (2006). ''Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years''. Tsehai Publishers. {{ISBN|1-59907-000-6}}. p. 62.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mockler||p=136}}</ref>

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 (D52)|HMS ''Enterprise'']]. They were bound for [[Jerusalem]] in the [[Mandatory Palestine|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 (D88)|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.<ref>Barker, A. J. (1936), ''The Rape of Ethiopia'', p. 132</ref>

====Collective security and the League of Nations, 1936====

{{Main|Haile Selassie's speech to the League of Nations (1936)}}

[[File:Emperor Haile Selassie League of Nations speech.png|thumb|At the [[League of Nations]] appealing Italy's invasion in 1936]]

On 12 May 1936, the League of Nations allowed Selassie to address the assembly. In response, Italy withdrew its League delegation.<ref>Spencer, John (2006). ''Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years''. Tsehai Publishers. {{ISBN|1-59907-000-6}}. p. 72.</ref> 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.{{Sfn | Safire | pp = 318|}}

At the beginning of 1936, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' named Selassie "Man of the Year" for 1935,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19360106,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429065839/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19360106,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 April 2007|newspaper=Time|type=magazine|title=Man of the Year|date=6 January 1936}}</ref> 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.<ref name="carlton" />

====Exile====

[[File:Fairfield House, Newbridge, Bath.jpg|thumb|[[Fairfield House, Bath]], was Selassie's residence for five years during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] and parts of [[World War II]]]]

Selassie spent his exile years (1936–1941) in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], England, in [[Fairfield House, Bath|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.{{Sfn | ''Time'' | 1937}}

Prior to Fairfield House, he briefly stayed at Warne's Hotel in [[Worthing]]<ref name="Worthing">{{cite book|last=Elleray|first=D. Robert|title=A Millennium Encyclopaedia of Worthing History|page=119|publisher=Optimus Books|location=Worthing|year=1998|isbn=978-0-9533132-0-4}}</ref> and in Parkside, [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=A&reference=publications/articles/2006summer/selassiewimbledon.php|title=Selassie at Wimbledon|date=Summer 2006|publisher=The Anglo-Ethiopian Society|access-date=24 April 2014|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801130138/http://www.anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=A&reference=publications%2Farticles%2F2006summer%2Fselassiewimbledon.php|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.nycaribnews.com/articles/london-statue-of-haile-selassie-destroyed/|title=London statue of Haile Selassie destroyed|work=NY Carib News|date=3 July 2020|access-date=4 July 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704223345/https://www.nycaribnews.com/articles/london-statue-of-haile-selassie-destroyed/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Selassie stayed at the Abbey Hotel in [[Malvern, Worcestershire|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.<ref>{{cite news|date=18 October 2002|url=http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2002/10/18/Worcestershire+Archive/7679876.Exiled_emperor_at_home_in_hotel/|title=Exiled emperor at home in hotel|newspaper=Malvern Gazette|access-date=25 June 2011|archive-date=6 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406212044/http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2002/10/18/Worcestershire+Archive/7679876.Exiled_emperor_at_home_in_hotel/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=14 February 2003|url=http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2003/02/14/Worcestershire+Archive/7659680.Emperor_s_life_in_town_is_recalled_in_BBC_film/|title=Emperor's life in town is recalled in BBC film|newspaper=Malvern Gazette|access-date=26 June 2011|archive-date=6 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406212240/http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2003/02/14/Worcestershire+Archive/7659680.Emperor_s_life_in_town_is_recalled_in_BBC_film/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=5 May 2006|url=http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2006/05/05/Worcestershire+Archive/7845378._Princesses_were__my_school_chums_/|title=Princesses were my school chums|newspaper=Malvern Gazette|publisher=Newsquest Media Group|access-date=25 June 2011|archive-date=6 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406212053/http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/archive/2006/05/05/Worcestershire+Archive/7845378._Princesses_were__my_school_chums_/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abyssinia, with Brigadier Daniel Arthur Sandford (left) and Colonel Wingate (right) in Dambacha Fort, after it had been captured, 15 April 1941. E2462.jpg|thumb|Haile Selassie with Brigadier [[Daniel Sandford (British Army officer)|Daniel Sandford]] (left) and Colonel [[Orde Wingate|Wingate]] (right) in Dambacha Fort, after its capture, 15 April 1941]]

Selassie's activity in this period was focused on countering Italian propaganda as to the Ethiopian resistance and the legality of the occupation.{{Sfn|Haile Selassie 1999|loc=vol. 2, pp. 11–12.}} 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.{{Sfn|Haile Selassie 1999|loc=vol. 2, pp. 26–27.}} 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",<ref name="progress25" /> 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.<ref name="ofcan">Ofcansky, Thomas P. and Berry, Laverle (2004), ''Ethiopia: A Country Study''. Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4191-1857-9}}, pp. 60–61.</ref>

Selassie's pleas for international support took root in the United States, particularly among African-American organisations sympathetic to the Ethiopian cause.{{Sfn | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, p. 27}} 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.{{Sfn | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, pp. 40–42}} 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.{{Sfn | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, pp. 40–42}}

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.<ref name="progress25">{{Harvnb | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, p. 25}}.</ref> 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.<ref name="him170">{{Harvnb | Haile Selassie 1999 | loc = vol. 2, p. 170}}.</ref> His daughter Tsehai died during childbirth shortly after the restoration in 1942.{{Sfn |Shinn | p = 3}}

After his return to Ethiopia, Selassie donated Fairfield House to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged.<ref>{{Citation|last=Haber|first=Lutz|url=http://anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=O&reference=publications/occasionalpapers/papers/haileselassiebath.php|title=The Emperor Haile Selassie I in Bath 1936–1940|publisher=The Anglo-Ethiopian Society|series=Occasional papers|access-date=16 February 2008|archive-date=30 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130085518/http://anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=O&reference=publications/occasionalpapers/papers/haileselassiebath.php|url-status=live}}.</ref> In 2019, two blue plaques commemorating his residence at Fairfield and his visits to nearby [[Weston-super-Mare]] were unveiled by his grandson.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-49786813|title=Haile Selassie: Blue plaques for emperor unveiled in Somerset|publisher=BBC News|date=22 September 2019|access-date=24 March 2022|archive-date=24 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324212236/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-49786813|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Restoration ==

=== World War II and return ===
[[File:Addis Ababa-8e00855u.jpg|thumb|left|In 1942]]

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.<ref name="ofcan" />

On 18 January 1941, during the [[East African Campaign (World War II)|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.<ref>Barker, A.J. (1936), ''The Rape of Ethiopia'', p. 156.</ref>

Italy was defeated by combined forces of the United Kingdom, the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], [[Free French Forces|Free France]], [[Free Belgian Forces|Free Belgium]], and [[Arbegnoch|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.{{Sfn|Haile Selassie 1999|loc=vol. 2, p. 165}}

On 27 August 1942, Selassie confirmed the legal basis for the abolition of [[African slave trade|slavery]] that had been [[International law|illegally]] enacted by Italian occupying forces throughout the empire and imposed severe penalties, including capital punishment for slave trading.<ref>Hinks, Peter P.; McKivigan, John R. and Williams, R. Owen (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_SeZrcBqt-YC Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703205917/https://books.google.com/books?id=_SeZrcBqt-YC |date=3 July 2023 }}'', Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 248. {{ISBN|0-313-33143-X}}.</ref><ref>Thomas P. Ofcansky, LaVerle Bennette Berry Ethiopia, a Country Study. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress (1993) p. 110</ref>

=== Postwar ===

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.{{Sfn |Shinn | p = 201}} After the war, Italy was stripped of all her overseas possessions. On 2 December 1950, the [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]] adopted Resolution 390 (V), which ceded the former Italian colony known as the federation of Eritrea to the Ethiopian Empire.<ref name=shinn141>[[#CITEREFShinn|Shinn]], pp. 140–141.</ref> 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.<ref name="shinn141" />

{{Multiple image
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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.<ref name="eth">Ofcansky, Thomas P. and Berry, Laverle (2004). ''Ethiopia: A Country Study''. Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4191-1857-9}}. pp. 63–64.</ref> Ethiopia was still "semi-feudal",<ref>Willcox Seidman, Ann (1990), ''Apartheid, Militarism, and the U.S. Southeast''. Africa World Press. {{ISBN|0-86543-151-5}}, p. 78.</ref> 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.<ref name="eth" /> Where Selassie actually did succeed in effecting new land taxes, the burdens were often still passed by the landowners onto the peasants.<ref name="eth" />

{{Multiple image
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| caption1          = With President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] on board the [[USS Quincy (CA-71)|USS ''Quincy'' (CA-71)]] in Egypt after the [[Yalta Conference]], 13 February 1945
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| caption2          = Selassie with Sir [[Winston Churchill]] at [[Downing Street]], 22 October 1954
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Between 1941 and 1959, Selassie worked to establish the [[autocephaly]] of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]].<ref name="copts">Watson, John H. (2000), ''Among the Copts''. Sussex Academic Press. {{ISBN|978-1-902210-56-8}}, p. 56.</ref> For centuries the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been headed by the ''[[Abuna]]'', a bishop chosen by and answerable 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.<ref name="copts" /> Finally, in 1959, [[Pope Kyrillos VI]] elevated the ''Abuna'' to Patriarch-Catholicos.<ref name="copts" /> The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated with the Alexandrian Church.<ref name="eth" /> 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.<ref name="eth" />

In 1956, on a state visit to India, he met with Indian leaders who supported [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]] against fascist Italy's [[Italian Ethiopia|illegal occupation]] during the 1935–1941 war against the [[Ethiopian Empire|country]]. Selassie also discussed with Indian prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] relating to Asian and African decolonisation, and cooperation between economic and education sectors.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kamalakaran|first=Ajay|date=28 March 2024|title=When an emperor came calling on a newly independent India to learn from its early successes|url=https://scroll.in/magazine/1065881/when-an-emperor-came-calling-on-a-newly-independent-india-to-learn-from-its-early-successes|work=[[Scroll.in]]|access-date=30 March 2024|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033416/https://scroll.in/magazine/1065881/when-an-emperor-came-calling-on-a-newly-independent-india-to-learn-from-its-early-successes|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1948, [[Harari people|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 martial law.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shetler|first1=Jan|title=Building a 'City of Peace' through Intercommunal Association Muslim–Christian Relations in Harar, Ethiopia, 1887–2009|url=https://www.manchester.edu/docs/default-source/academics/by-major/philosophy-and-religious-studies/journal/volume-4-issue-1-fall-2010/building-a-city-of-peace-through-intercommunal-association.pdf?sfvrsn=62628962_2|website=Manchester University|access-date=3 July 2020|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703102450/https://www.manchester.edu/docs/default-source/academics/by-major/philosophy-and-religious-studies/journal/volume-4-issue-1-fall-2010/building-a-city-of-peace-through-intercommunal-association.pdf?sfvrsn=62628962_2|url-status=live}}</ref> The government also seized many assets and estates belonging to the people.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Muehlenbeck|first1=Philip|title=Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective|publisher=Vanderbilt University Press|page=147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytEC2bOstFUC&q=kulub+harar&pg=PA147|isbn=978-0-8265-1852-1|year=2012|access-date=11 November 2020|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033416/https://books.google.com/books?id=ytEC2bOstFUC&q=kulub+harar&pg=PA147#v=snippet&q=kulub%20harar&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ibrahim|first1=Abadir|title=The Role of Civil Society in Africa's Quest for Democratisation|publisher=Springer|page=134|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GaCwDQAAQBAJ&q=harar+under+house+arrest&pg=PA134|isbn=978-3-319-18383-1|date=8 December 2016|access-date=11 November 2020|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033423/https://books.google.com/books?id=GaCwDQAAQBAJ&q=harar+under+house+arrest&pg=PA134#v=snippet&q=harar%20under%20house%20arrest&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> This led to a massive exodus of Hararis from the region.<ref name="Perspectives" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Vaughan|first1=Sarah|title=Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia|publisher=The University of Edinburgh|page=235|url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/id/1299/vaughanphd.pdf/|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/id/1299/vaughanphd.pdf/|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 people|Amhara]] governors of Harar and infringed by Selassie himself.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Endris Ali|first1=Mohammed|author2=Gonca Bayraktar Durgun|title=The Ethiopian Revolution : Perceived and Actual Making Factors vis-à-vis the Framing Process|publisher=Dergi Park|page=312|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1386532|archive-date=28 August 2024|access-date=28 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240828014138/https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1386532|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Kulub|date=26 April 2024|publisher=Encyclopedia Aethiopica|page=450|isbn=978-3-447-05607-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4WUdKWGcYsC}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carmichael|first1=Tim|title=Political Culture in Ethiopia's Provincial Administration: Haile Sellassie, Blata Ayele Gebre and the (Hareri) Kulub Movement of 1948|journal=Personality and Political Culture in Modern Africa: Studies Presented to Professor Harold G Marcus, ed. By M. Page, S. Beswick, T. Carmichael and J. Spaulding|date=January 1998|publisher=Boston University African Studies Center Press|pages=198–212|url=https://www.academia.edu/2285540|access-date=6 March 2019|archive-date=22 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222200629/https://www.academia.edu/2285540|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Loimeier|first1=Roman|title=Islamic Reform in Twentieth-Century Africa|date=2016|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|location=UK|isbn=978-1-4744-1491-3|page=215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDZYDwAAQBAJ&dq=kulub+harar+somali&pg=PT215|access-date=19 March 2023|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405042200/https://books.google.com/books?id=IDZYDwAAQBAJ&dq=kulub+harar+somali&pg=PT215|url-status=live}}</ref>

In keeping with the principle of [[collective security]], for which he was an outspoken proponent, Selassie sent Ethiopian armed forces to take part in the [[Korean War]] to fight in support of the [[United Nations Command]]. The elite [[Kagnew Battalion]], under General Mulugueta Bulli, was attached to the American [[7th Infantry Division (United States)|7th Infantry Division]], and fought with distinction in a number of major engagements including the [[Battle of Pork Chop Hill]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Marshall, S.L.A.|title=Pork Chop Hill : the American fighting man in action Korea, Spring, 1953|date=1986|publisher=Battery Press|isbn=0-89839-090-7|location=Nashville|page=164|oclc=13714497}}</ref> In a 1954 speech, Selassie spoke of Ethiopian participation in the [[Korean War]] as a redemption of the principles of collective security.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 23, 1951 |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, The Near East and Africa, Volume V |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1951v05/d704 |website=[[United States Department of State]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=September 25, 2012 |title=An Ethiopian hero of the Korean War |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19639459 |work=[[BBC]]}}</ref>

=== Second constitutional period ===

During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Selassie introduced a [[1955 Constitution of Ethiopia|revised constitution]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.country-studies.com/ethiopia/administrative-change-and-the-1955-constitution.html|title=Ethiopia Administrative Change and the 1955 Constitution|publisher=Country studies|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006140802/http://www.country-studies.com/ethiopia/administrative-change-and-the-1955-constitution.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 became more widely spread throughout the [[Ethiopian Empire|Empire]].<ref name="Lewis 1956 257–268">{{Cite journal|last=Lewis|first=William H.|date=1956|title=The Ethiopian Empire: Progress and Problems|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4322824|journal=Middle East Journal|volume=10|issue=3|pages=257–268|issn=0026-3141|jstor=4322824|access-date=23 March 2024|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209113310/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4322824|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="teferra">{{cite book|editor-first=Damtew|editor-last=Teferra|editor2=Philip G. Altbach|title=African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook|publisher=Indiana University Press|date=2003|pages=316–325}}</ref><ref>Keller, ''Revolutionary Ethiopia'', p. 87.</ref>

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 people|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.<ref name= mammo>Mammo, Tirfe (1999). ''The Paradox of Africa's Poverty: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge.'' The Red Sea Press. {{ISBN|1-56902-049-3}}, p. 103.</ref>

[[File:Soviet Union Ethiopia.png|thumb|240x240px|Haile Selassie with [[Nikita Khrushchev]], Moscow, 1959]]

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 a small amount of money, about one thousand pounds through our embassy to show our sympathy and cooperation."<ref>''Addis Zemen'' newspaper, 3 October 1947.</ref>

==== 1958 famine of Tigray ====

In the summer of 1958, a widespread [[1958 Tigray famine|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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bahru Zewde, [London: James Currey, 1991], p. 196. "A History of Modern Ethiopia: 1855–1974"|isbn=0-8214-0972-7|last1=Zewde|first1=Bahru|year=1991|publisher=J. Currey}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf|first=Peter|last=Gill|pages=26 & 27|title=Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2010|access-date=4 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516155623/http://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf|archive-date=16 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Rural vulnerability pp. 35-36">{{cite book|last1=Wolde Mariam|first1=Mesfin|title=Rural vulnerability to famine in Ethiopia: 1958–1977|date=1986|publisher=Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd.|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-946688-03-6|pages=35–36}}</ref>

=== Attempted coup and era of decolonization ===<!--several paragraphs without references-->
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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 [[Kebur Zabagna|imperial guard]] staged [[1960 Ethiopian coup|an unsuccessful coup]], briefly proclaiming Selassie's elder son, [[Amha Selassie|Asfa Wossen]], as emperor. The regular army and police forces crushed the coup d'état. The coup plotters lacked broad popular support, were 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.<ref name="zewde">Zewde, Bahru (2001), ''A History of Modern Ethiopia''. Oxford: James Currey. {{ISBN|0-85255-786-8}}, pp. 220–226.</ref> 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".<ref name="mammo100">{{cite book|last=Mammo|first=Tirfe|year=1999|title=The Paradox of Africa's Poverty: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge|publisher=The Red Sea Press|isbn=1-56902-049-3|page=100}}</ref> Student populations began to empathise with the peasantry and poor and advocate on their behalf.<ref name="mammo100" /> The coup spurred Selassie to accelerate reform, manifested as land grants to military and police officials and political groups.<ref>Keller, ''Revolutionary Ethiopia'', p. 133</ref>

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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.<ref>{{Cite news|title=HRW Report|page=355|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia.919/e0uspol.pdf|access-date=5 December 2023|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033415/https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia.919/e0uspol.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Henze, ''Layers of Time'', p. 258</ref>

==== Eritrean annexation and uprising ====

A UN plebiscite voted to have Eritrea [[federation|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.<ref name="UN_GA_res-5">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/5/ares5.htm|title=General Assembly Resolutions 5th Session|publisher=United Nations|access-date=16 October 2007|archive-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525180549/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/5/ares5.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>Hickman Cutter, Charles (2001). ''Africa, 2001''. Stryker-Post Publications. p. 177. {{ISBN|978-1-887985-31-4}}. <q> When Emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country in 1962...</q></ref><ref>Gebremedhin, Tesfa G. (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=t-6aHSOI_ukC&pg=PA4 Women, Tradition and Development: A Case Study of Eritrea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033418/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Women_Tradition_and_Development/t-6aHSOI_ukC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover |date=6 July 2024 }}''. Red Sea Press. pp. 4–5. {{ISBN|978-1-56902-153-8}}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230918085135/https://books.google.com/books?id=t-6aHSOI_ukC&pg=PA4 Archived] from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2021.</ref>

[[File:Selassie and Nasser, 1963.jpg|thumb|With Egyptian president [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] in Addis Ababa for the [[Organisation of African Unity]] summit, 1963]]

In September 1961, Selassie attended the [[1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement|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]].<ref>James Mark; Yakov Feygin (2020). "The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Alternative Vision of a Global Economy 1950s–1980s". In James Mark; Artemy M. Kalinovsky; Steffi Margus (eds.). ''Alternative Globalizations: Eastern Europe and the Postcolonial World''. [[Indiana University Press]]. pp. 35–58. {{ISBN|978-0-253-04650-5}}.</ref>

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.<ref>Haile, Semere (1987), "The Origins and Demise of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Federation", ''Issue: A Journal of Opinion'', 15, pp. 9–17.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Ayele|first1=Negussay|title=In Search of the Historical DNA of the Eritrean Problem: Review Article on the Eritrean Affair (1941–1963) by Ambassador Zewde Retta|url=http://www.ethiopians.com/NA_Review_EritreanAffair_ZR.htm|website=Ethiopians.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102051224/http://www.ethiopians.com/NA_Review_EritreanAffair_ZR.htm|access-date=26 July 2022|archive-date=2 November 2021}}</ref> The war would continue for 30 years; first Selassie, then the Soviet-backed junta that succeeded him, attempted to retain Eritrea by force.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ethiopia-Eritrea: A Troubled Relationship|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/eritrea/overview.htm?noredirect=on|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025108/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/eritrea/overview.htm?noredirect=on|archive-date=26 March 2023|access-date=6 June 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

{{Wikisource|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]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 October 2015|title=The Last Emperor – The Fall of Haile Selassie|url=https://adst.org/2015/10/the-last-emperor-the-fall-of-haile-selassie/|website=ADST|access-date=26 February 2024|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033928/https://adst.org/2015/10/the-last-emperor-the-fall-of-haile-selassie/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jimmatimes.com/article/Latest_News/Latest_News/Ethiopia_New_African_un1on_Building_and_Kwame_Statue_Video/34060|title=Ethiopia: New African Union Building and Kwame Statue|format=Video|access-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615065602/http://jimmatimes.com/article/Latest_News/Latest_News/Ethiopia_New_African_un1on_Building_and_Kwame_Statue_Video/34060|archive-date=15 June 2012}}. ''Jimma Times''. 29 January 2012</ref>

In 1963, a [[Bale revolt|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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nicolas|first1=Gildas|year=1972|title=Protest in Ethiopia|url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/18d681jd#page-15|url-status=live|journal=Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies|publisher=UCLA|volume=2|issue=3|page=55|doi=10.5070/F723016603|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226121243/http://escholarship.org/uc/item/18d681jd#page-15|archive-date=26 December 2014|access-date=26 December 2014|doi-access=free}}</ref> This caused a semi-civil war with [[terrorist]] activities carried out by rebels supported by [[Western Somali Liberation Front|Somalia]] which later forced the Ethiopian government to declare a [[state of emergency]].<ref name="De Waal-1991">{{Cite book|last=De Waal|first=Alexander|title=Evil days : thirty years of war and famine in Ethiopia.|date=1991|publisher=Human Rights Watch|others=Human Rights Watch|isbn=1-56432-038-3|location=New York|pages=66–68|oclc=24504262}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beken|first=Christophe van der|title=Unity in diversity : federalism as a mechanism to accommodate ethnic diversity : the case of Ethiopia|date=2012|publisher=LIT|isbn=978-3-643-90172-9|location=Berlin|pages=75–76|oclc=769473477}}</ref><ref name="American Affairs">{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.07200|title=American Affairs, Vol. 82, Issue no. January, April, July, October|page=516}}</ref> The Emperor's armed forces led by [[Government of the Ethiopian Empire|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.<ref name="De Waal-1991"/><ref name="American Affairs"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Briggs|first=Philip|url=http://archive.org/details/ethiopiabradttra0000brig_l3i9|title=Ethiopia : the Bradt travel guide|date=2015|publisher=Chalfont St. Peter : Bradt Travel Guides; Guilford, Connecticut : Globe Pequot Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-84162-922-3|page=487}}</ref>

[[File:ST-C422-87-63. Burial of President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery.jpg|thumb|250x250px|At the [[state funeral of John F. Kennedy]], 25 November 1963]]

==== Reform efforts and relations with the West ====

On 4 October 1963, Selassie addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations.<ref>Brewer, Sam Pope (5 October 1963), [https://www.nytimes.com/1963/10/05/archives/selassie-at-un-recalls-1936-plea-to-league-says-equality-of-all-is.html Selassie, at U.N., Recalls 1936 Plea to League] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722190426/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/10/05/archives/selassie-at-un-recalls-1936-plea-to-league-says-equality-of-all-is.html |date=22 July 2018 }}, ''The New York Times''.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/s/photo/detail/844/0084497.html|work=Emperor of Ethiopia Addresses General Assembly|title=Photo # 84497|publisher=United Nations|place=New York|date=4 October 1963|access-date=30 August 2013|archive-date=8 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108145709/http://www.unmultimedia.org/s/photo/detail/844/0084497.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Haile Selassie's address to the United Nations, 1963 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie%27s_address_to_the_United_Nations,_1963 |access-date=2025-06-14 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en}}</ref>

On 25 November 1963, the Emperor traveled to Washington, D.C., and attended the [[State funeral of John F. Kennedy|state funeral of assassinated U.S. president John F. Kennedy]]. He was the only African head of state to attend the funeral.<ref name="Wamu 88.5">{{cite web|last1=Schwartz|first1=Matthew S.|title=Why is There Such a Large Ethiopian Population in the Washington Region?|url=https://wamu.org/story/16/04/21/how_did_the_dc_region_become_home_to_the_largest_population_of_ethiopians_in_the_us/|website=Wamu 88.5 American University Radio|access-date=14 March 2022|archive-date=24 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324055728/https://wamu.org/story/16/04/21/how_did_the_dc_region_become_home_to_the_largest_population_of_ethiopians_in_the_us/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="LBJHeadsOfState">{{cite web|url=https://www.lbjlibrary.org/life-and-legacy/lbjs-administration/head-of-state-visits|title=Head of State Visits|access-date=8 November 2022|work=LBJ Presidential Library|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033929/https://www.lbjlibrary.org/life-and-legacy/lbjs-administration/head-of-state-visits|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Johnson and Haile Selassie Confer|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 February 1967|page=2|agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Johnson Hails Selassie As an Ignored Prophet|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=14 February 1967|page=2}}</ref>

[[File:His and Her Majesties together viewing Haile Selassie I stadium in Addis Ababa.png|thumb|Selassie with Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in Addis Ababa on her 1965 state visit to Ethiopia]]

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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schwab|first1=Peter|title=The Tax System of Ethiopia|journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology|date=January 1970|volume=29|issue=1|pages=77–88|jstor=3485226|doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.1970.tb03120.x}}</ref> 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.<ref>Zahru Zewde, ''A History of Modern Ethiopia'', second edition (London: James Currey, 2001), pp. 216ff, and Gebru Tareke, ''Ethiopia'', pp. 160–193.</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jordan: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Arrives in Amman to Start Official Visit|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/|access-date=15 September 2023|website=British Pathé|language=en-GB|archive-date=28 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228134836/https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 April 1965|title=The War in Vietnam|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp67b00446r000300150023-8|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|access-date=23 March 2024|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323174509/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp67b00446r000300150023-8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Metaferia|first=Getachew|date=1995|title=The Ethiopian Connection to the Pan-African Movement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45197577|journal=Journal of Third World Studies|volume=12|issue=2|pages=300–325|jstor=45197577|access-date=23 March 2024|archive-date=20 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120171147/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45197577|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Brewer|first=Sam Pope|date=17 February 1967|title=Ethiopia Willing to be Mediator; Haile Selassie Says Here He Would Lead Peace Effort|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/17/archives/ethiopia-willing-to-be-mediator-haile-selassie-says-here-he-would.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324170517/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/17/archives/ethiopia-willing-to-be-mediator-haile-selassie-says-here-he-would.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20120314130919/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/expo/05330204_e.html Special Guests]". ''Expo 67: Man and His World''. Ottawa: [[Library and Archives Canada]]. 2007. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=14 April 1967|title=Canada: Strength for the Centennial|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836954,00.html|magazine=[[TIME]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324170517/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,836954,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Coyle|first=Jim|date=6 May 2017|title=Canada 150: When the impossible dream came true at Expo 67|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/canada-150-when-the-impossible-dream-came-true-at-expo-67/article_44ff5067-c4f4-529e-98c5-a2a728f1c40e.html|work=[[Toronto Star]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324170518/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/canada-150-when-the-impossible-dream-came-true-at-expo-67/article_44ff5067-c4f4-529e-98c5-a2a728f1c40e.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Later reign ===
[[File:Emperor Haile Selassie I with President LBJ.jpg|thumb|During a visit to Washington, D.C. with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], 1967]]As the 1970s began, in contrast to most monarchs at the era, Selassie's political influence continued to be of great significance; he was said to utilize as many as four spy agencies, all which concurrently spied on each other as well as civilian and military circles of the nation. He was the only person who knew the 'true' scope of things in Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 October 2015 |title=The Last Emperor – The Fall of Haile Selassie |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-last-emperor-the-fal_b_8296134 |work=[[HuffPost]] |access-date=17 February 2024 |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217011545/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-last-emperor-the-fal_b_8296134 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="zewde" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cohen|first=John|date=1985|title=Foreign Involvement in the Formulation of Ethiopia's Land Tenure Policies: Part I|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43660357|journal=Northeast African Studies|volume=7|issue=2|pages=23–50|jstor=43660357}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=4 November 1971|title=Haile Selassie Presses Ethiopian Land Reform|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/04/archives/haile-selassie-presses-ethiopian-land-reform.html|access-date=5 December 2023|archive-date=5 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205211939/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/11/04/archives/haile-selassie-presses-ethiopian-land-reform.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="FH1972">{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FIW%20All%20Scores%2C%20Countries%2C%201973-2012%20%28FINAL%29.xls|title=Country ratings and status, FIW 1973–2012|access-date=22 August 2012|publisher=[[Freedom House]]|year=2012|format=XLS|archive-date=24 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424223549/http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FIW%20All%20Scores%2C%20Countries%2C%201973-2012%20%28FINAL%29.xls|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Feeding on Ethiopia's Famine" /><ref>ከበደ, በሪሁን (1 October 2000). ''የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ''. Addis Ababa: አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት. p. 1255.</ref>{{Verify source|date=November 2024|reason=See talk page.}}

The [[Ethiopian Army|Imperial Army]] also carried out a multiple [[List of massacres committed during the Eritrean War of Independence|atrocities]] during the war with Eritrean separatists in the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shabait.com/staging/publish/article_006961.html|title=40th anniversary of Hazemo Massacre commemorated|access-date=26 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015508/http://www.shabait.com/staging/publish/article_006961.html|publisher=Shabait|archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Laett Eritrea|first=Louise|last=Latt|title=Eritrea Re-photographed: Landscape Changes in the Eritrean Highlands 1890–2004|url=http://www.cde.unibe.ch/University/pdf/TTD/Laett_Eritrea.pdf|access-date=26 September 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060304115009/http://www.cde.unibe.ch/University/pdf/TTD/Laett_Eritrea.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2006}}</ref><ref>Killion, Tom (1998). ''Historical Dictionary of Eritrea''. The Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|0-8108-3437-5}}.</ref><ref>Ayele, Fantahun (2014). ''he Ethiopian Army: From Victory to Collapse, 1977–1991''. Northwestern University Press. p. 6. {{ISBN|978-0-8101-6805-3}} – via Google Books.</ref>

==== Foreign relations ====

{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Mao Zedong with Emperor Haile Selassie I.webp
| caption1          = 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.
}}

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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Campbell|first=John Franklin|date=1 April 1970|title=Rumblings Along the Red Sea: The Eritrean Question|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/eritrea/1970-04-01/rumblings-along-red-sea-eritrean-question|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126095131/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/eritrea/1970-04-01/rumblings-along-red-sea-eritrean-question|archive-date=26 November 2018|work=[[Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref>

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 funeral]]s of [[State funeral of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]] and [[Charles de Gaulle]], the summits of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], and the [[2,500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy|1971 celebration]] of the 2,500 years of the [[History of Iran|Persian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=11 November 1970|title=France Mourns de Gaulle; World Leaders to Attend a Service at Notre Dame|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/11/archives/france-mourns-de-gaulle-world-leaders-to-attend-a-service-at-notre.html|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=13 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413194204/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/11/archives/france-mourns-de-gaulle-world-leaders-to-attend-a-service-at-notre.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Tait|first=Robert|date=22 September 2005|title=Iran to rebuild spectacular tent city at Persepolis|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/22/arts.iran|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813144554/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/22/arts.iran|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1970, Selassie 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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1971|title=People's Republic of China: Emperor Haile Selassie Meets Chairman Mao, Then Visits University and Great Wall|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/228687/|website=[[Pathé News]]|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230194801/https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/228687/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>T. Bianchi and M.A. Romani (eds),''Giordano Dell'Amore'', EGEA, Milan, 2013, p. 79.</ref>

{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 230
| image1            = The Emperor in the UN General Assembly.png
| image2            = 1970 UN speech by H.I.M Haile Selassie I.ogg
| footer            = Selassie's speech regarding [[human rights]] on 23 October 1970, which marked the 25th anniversary of the [[United Nations]]' founding
}}

Selassie went to meet [[Pope Paul VI]] in 1970 at [[Vatican City]], where they discussed issues regarding both their countries and history.<ref>{{Cite news|date=9 November 1970|title=SYND 9-11-70 Ethiopian Emperor Selassie arrives at the Vatican and meets with Pope Paul and they exchange gifts|url=https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=9b13e1d5a84c7daa7976f9cdbb6eab9d&mediatype=video&source=youtube|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241108154858/https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=9b13e1d5a84c7daa7976f9cdbb6eab9d&mediatype=video&source=youtube|archive-date=8 November 2024|agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

==== Wollo famine ====

{{main|1972–1975 Wollo famine}}

[[Famines in Ethiopia|Famine]]{{snd}}mostly in Wollo, north-eastern Ethiopia, as well as in some parts of Tigray{{snd}}is estimated to have killed 40,000 to 80,000 Ethiopians between 1972 and 1974.<ref name="hrw">{{cite web|title=Rebellion and Famine in the North under Haile Selassie|url=http://hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia.919/c3wollo.pdf|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=17 February 2008|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924181350/http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia.919/c3wollo.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|De Waal|p=58}} Some reports suggest that the Emperor was unaware of the famine's extent,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mohr|first=Charles|date=18 February 1974|title=Rift in Ethiopian Society May Be Deepened by Famine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/18/archives/rift-in-ethiopian-society-may-be-deepened-by-famine.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164447/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/18/archives/rift-in-ethiopian-society-may-be-deepened-by-famine.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="The Truth About Haile Selassie's Legacy">{{cite web|last1=Mohr|first1=Charles|date=15 February 1974|title=Ethiopian Famine Hits Millions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/15/archives/ethiopian-famine-hits-millions-ethiopian-famine-affects-millions.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164446/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/15/archives/ethiopian-famine-hits-millions-ethiopian-famine-affects-millions.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dson">{{Cite news |date=2005-05-12 |title=The last of the Ethiopian emperors |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4537151.stm |access-date=2025-06-14 |language=en-GB}}</ref> while others assert that he was well aware of it.{{Sfn |De Waal | p = 61}}<ref>Woodward, Peter (2003), ''The Horn of Africa: Politics and International Relations''. I. B. Tauris. {{ISBN|1-86064-870-3}}, p. 175.</ref> The famine and its image in the media undermined the government's popular support, and his once unassailable popularity declined.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Webb|first1=Patrick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4YujWY3vkccC&dq=wollo+Tigray+famine+end+1975&pg=PA27|title=Famine in Ethiopia: Policy Implications of Coping Failure at National and Household Levels|last2=Braun|first2=Joachim Von|last3=Yohannes|first3=Yisehac|date=1992|publisher=Intl Food Policy Res Inst|isbn=978-0-89629-095-2|language=en|access-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005122316/https://books.google.com.et/books?id=4YujWY3vkccC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=wollo+Tigray+famine+end+1975&source=bl&ots=Q8vBxq8a8f&sig=ACfU3U359Aa7aHPRNLrTHWgrdjMfEwhqkg&hl=am&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTt9jth8n6AhWPgP0HHTTkAxs4ChDoAXoECAcQAg#v=onepage&q=wollo%20Tigray%20famine%20end%201975&f=false|archive-date=5 October 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>

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]].<ref>Kumar, Krishna (1998). ''Postconflict Elections, Democratisation, and International Assistance''. Lynne Rienner Publishers. {{ISBN|1-55587-778-8}}, p. 114.</ref> The crisis was exacerbated by military mutinies and high [[oil prices]]. The costs of imported goods, gasoline, and food skyrocketed, while unemployment spiked.<ref name="mammo" />

== Deposition and death ==

{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Ethiopia PPP GDP and Population growth.png
| image2            = Ethiopia Land distribution data.png
| total_width       = 250
| caption1          = Ethiopia's population and [[Lists of countries by GDP per capita|GDP Per Capita]] growth during a part of Selassie's reign from 1950 to 1973
| caption2          = The Land distribution throughout the [[Ethiopian Empire]] to nobles throughout each region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lavers|first=Tom|title=Ethiopia's 'Developmental State' Political Order and Distributive Crisis|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ethiopias-developmental-state/ethiopian-state-formation-and-the-revolutionary-origins-of-eprdf-dominance/B289BE6923C0C6CBC67A288E31CCB1F3|chapter=3: Ethiopian State Formation and the Revolutionary Origins of EPRDF Dominance|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|date=21 September 2023|pages=56–83|doi=10.1017/9781009428316.003|isbn=978-1-009-42831-6|access-date=16 March 2024|archive-date=16 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316182456/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ethiopias-developmental-state/ethiopian-state-formation-and-the-revolutionary-origins-of-eprdf-dominance/B289BE6923C0C6CBC67A288E31CCB1F3|url-status=live}}</ref>
| width2            = 250
}}

=== The Ethiopian revolution ===

{{main|Ethiopian 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.<ref name="evang">Launhardt, Johannes (2005). ''Evangelicals in Addis Ababa (1919–1991)''. LIT Verlag. {{ISBN|3-8258-7791-4}}, pp. 239–240.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mohr|first=Charles|date=1 March 1974|title=Selassie, to Placate Army, Appoints a New Premier|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/01/archives/selassie-to-placate-army-appoints-a-new-premier-selassie-picks-new.html|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230034443/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/01/archives/selassie-to-placate-army-appoints-a-new-premier-selassie-picks-new.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=4 July 1974|title=Selassie Grants 5 Concessions to Army, Including an Amnesty|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/04/archives/selassie-grants-5-concessions-to-army-including-an-amnesty-army.html|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706033932/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/04/archives/selassie-grants-5-concessions-to-army-including-an-amnesty-army.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite Endalkachew's many concessions, discontent continued in March with a four-day general strike that paralyzed the nation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 April 1974|title=Ethiopia: Postal Workers End Four-day Strike|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/130937/|website=[[Pathé News]]}}</ref> In April, [[1974 Ethiopian Muslim protests|protests by Ethiopian Muslims]] broke out in response to discrimination perpetrated by the regime, with approximately 100,000 individuals participating.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tiruneh |first1=Andargachew |title=The Ethiopian Revolution 1974-1987 A Transformation from an Aristocratic to a Totalitarian Autocracy |date=8 April 1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=49 |isbn=978-0-521-43082-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABbnAd0oWokC&dq=1974+ethiopian+muslim+demonstration&pg=PA49}}</ref>

==== Imprisonment ====

{{main|1974 Ethiopian coup d'état}}

The [[Derg]], a clique of junior 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 {{nowrap|12 September.<ref name=qceros>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dDRWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6032%2C2832764|work=Eugene Register-Guard|location=Oregon|agency=Associated Press|title=Quiet coup ends reign of Selassie|date=12 September 1974|page=1A|access-date=21 September 2020|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030164414/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dDRWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6032%2C2832764|url-status=live}}</ref>}} General [[Aman Mikael Andom]], a Protestant of Eritrean origin,<ref name="evang" /> served briefly as provisional head of state pending the return of Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, who was then receiving medical treatment abroad. Selassie was imprisoned briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa<ref name="evang" /> before being moved back to the Grand Palace where the Emperor spent the last months of his life under house arrest.<ref name="fate">Meredith, Martin (2005), ''The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair''. Public Affairs, {{ISBN|1-58648-398-6}}, p. 216.</ref>
[[File:The Ethiopian Royal Family.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Following the [[1974 Ethiopian coup d'état|1974 coup d'état]], much of the [[Solomonic dynasty|Ethiopian royal family]] fled the country, were imprisoned, or were executed.]]

Though initially most of the imperial family was detained at the late [[Prince Makonnen|Duke of Harar]]'s residence in the north of the capital, most were later moved into Addis Ababa's [[Kerchele Prison]], also known as "Alem Bekagn". On 23 November, 60 former high officials of the imperial government were summarily [[executed by firing squad]],<ref name=shinn44>{{Harvnb |Shinn | p = 44}}.</ref> including Selassie's grandson, Rear Admiral [[Iskinder Desta]], General Aman and two former prime ministers.<ref name= fate /><ref name=arexsxtu>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DaRVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3163%2C5786259|work=Eugene Register-Guard|location=Oregon|agency=Associated Press|title=Army rulers in Ethiopia execute 62|date=24 November 1974|page=1A|access-date=21 September 2020|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125225216/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DaRVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3163%2C5786259|url-status=live}}</ref> These killings, known to Ethiopians as [[Massacre of the Sixty|"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]].<ref name="shinn44" />

==== Execution and cover-up ====

On 27 August 1975, Selassie was murdered on the orders of the Derg regime, a fact that was to remain 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Dies at 83|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0723.html|work=The New York Times|date=28 August 1975|access-date=21 July 2007|archive-date=25 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825184920/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0723.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[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.<ref>{{harvnb|Asserate|p=348}}</ref>

In 1994, an Ethiopian court found several former military officers guilty of strangling the Emperor on his bed in 1975. Three years after the Derg regime was overthrown,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/15/world/ex-rulers-of-ethiopia-charged-with-strangling-haile-selassie.html|title=Ex-Rulers of Ethiopia Charged With Strangling Haile Selassie|agency=Reuters|work=The New York Times|date=15 December 1994|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104003/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/15/world/ex-rulers-of-ethiopia-charged-with-strangling-haile-selassie.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref name="wapo">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/15/ethiopian-court-hears-how-emperor-was-killed/af51020c-547c-4b9c-92df-52be6e2a2241/|title=Ethiopian Court Hears How Emperor Was Killed|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=31 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231103240/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/15/ethiopian-court-hears-how-emperor-was-killed/af51020c-547c-4b9c-92df-52be6e2a2241/|url-status=live}}</ref> Documents have been widely circulated online showing the Derg's final assassination order and bearing the military regime's seal and signature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethioreference.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/By-Wibshet-Mulat-Amdetsion-Minilik.jpg|title="እንኳን ሰው ዝንብ አልገደልኩም!" ኮ/ል መንግሥቱ የ''60ዎቹ'' ባለስልጣናት ግድያ 43ኛ ዓመት መታሰቢያ|date=1 November 1974|website=Ethio Reference|access-date=6 November 2018|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104040/http://www.ethioreference.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/By-Wibshet-Mulat-Amdetsion-Minilik.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-real-story-of-the-last-days-of-emperor-haile-selassie-of-ethiopia|title=The real story of the last days of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia|date=27 August 2018|work=Face2Face Africa|access-date=6 November 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107104142/https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-real-story-of-the-last-days-of-emperor-haile-selassie-of-ethiopia|url-status=live}}</ref> The veracity of these documents has been corroborated by multiple former members of the Derg regime.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Misekerenet Bebaale Seltanatu Andebet|last=Riste|first=Tesfaye|year=2009|location=Addis Ababa, Ethiopia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Egnana Abiyotu|last=Wogderess|first=Fikre Selassie|publisher=Tsehay Publishers|year=2014|pages=211, 310}}</ref>
[[File:Tomb of Emperor Haile Selassie (11320061113).jpg|alt=The tombs of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw|thumb|The tombs of Haile Selassie and Menen Asfaw inside the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral]] in Addis Ababa]]
=== Funeral and veneration ===
The Soviet-backed [[People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia]], the Derg's successor, fell in 1991. In 1992, Selassie's bones were [[Excavation of Haile Selassie's remain|found]] under a concrete slab on the palace grounds.<ref name="imperialburial">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3DF1239F935A35752C1A9669C8B63&scp=2&sq=Haile+Selassie&st=nyt "An Imperial Burial for Haile Selassie, 25 Years After Death"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706031309/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/06/world/an-imperial-burial-for-haile-selassie-25-years-after-death.html |date=6 July 2024 }}, ''The New York Times'', 6 November 2000.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DF1F3FF932A35750C0A964958260&scp=4&sq=Haile+Selassie&st=nyt&sq=Haile+Selassie&st=nyt "Ethiopians Celebrate a Mass for Exhumed Haile Selassie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706031304/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/01/world/ethiopians-celebrate-a-mass-for-exhumed-haile-selassie.html |date=6 July 2024 }}, ''The New York Times'', 1 March 1992.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Parmelee|first=Jennifer|date=17 February 1992|title=Ethiopians Exhume Purported Remains of Emperor Amid Probe of Mengistu Regime|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/02/18/ethiopians-exhume-purported-remains-of-emperor-amid-probe-of-mengistu-regime/8d9332af-9d8c-4f85-a8e9-43cdca3f2e60/|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Selassie's coffin rested in Bhata Church for nearly a decade, near his great-uncle [[Menelik II]]'s resting place.<ref name="lorch">{{Cite news |last=Lorch |first=Donatella |date=1995-12-31 |title=Ethiopia Deals With Legacy of Kings and Colonels |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/world/ethiopia-deals-with-legacy-of-kings-and-colonels.html |access-date=2025-06-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On 5 November 2000, the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa]] gave him a funeral, but the government refused calls to declare the ceremony an official imperial funeral.<ref>{{Cite news|date=6 November 2000|title=Haile Selassie Laid to Rest in Ethiopia|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-06-mn-47912-story.html|url-access=subscription|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=19 February 2024|archive-date=19 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219053159/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-06-mn-47912-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This may have been due to the government's reluctance to endorse or give even subtle political recognition to Royalists.<ref name="lorch" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Guardia|first=Anton La|date=13 June 2000|title=Quandary over funeral plan for Haile Selassie|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/1342650/Quandary-over-funeral-plan-for-Haile-Selassie.html/1000|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=19 February 2024|archive-date=19 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219053159/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/1342650/Quandary-over-funeral-plan-for-Haile-Selassie.html/1000|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Astill|first=James|date=2 November 2000|title=Lion of Judah controversial to the last|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

==== Rastafari reaction ====

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]] as to whether he actually died in 1975.<ref>Edmonds, Ennis Barrington (2002), ''Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-803060-6}}, p. 55.</ref>

== Rastafari messiah ==
[[File:Haile Selassie 1935.jpg|thumb|253x253px|Haile Selassie pictured in 1935, during the same period where [[Rastafari]]an worship emerged ]]Selassie is worshipped as God [[incarnate]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/beliefs/beliefs_1.shtml|title=Rastafarian beliefs|publisher=BBC|date=9 October 2009|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=14 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014070700/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/beliefs/beliefs_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=27 July 2017 |title=Ethiopia to give ID cards to Rastafarians long stateless |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-2899e019355d45f889f382a1185bdc58#:~:text=ADDIS%20ABABA%2C%20Ethiopia%20%28AP%29%20%E2%80%94%20Ethiopia%20will%20issue,enter%20without%20visas%20and%20live%20without%20residence%20permits. |work=Associated Press News |access-date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164446/https://apnews.com/general-news-2899e019355d45f889f382a1185bdc58#:~:text=ADDIS%20ABABA%2C%20Ethiopia%20%28AP%29%20%E2%80%94%20Ethiopia%20will%20issue,enter%20without%20visas%20and%20live%20without%20residence%20permits. |url-status=live}}</ref> among some followers of the [[Rastafari movement]] (taken from Selassie's pre-imperial name ''Ras''{{snd}}meaning ''Head'', a title equivalent to Duke{{snd}}Tafari Makonnen), which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s. He is viewed as the messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the [[African diaspora]] to freedom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/rasta/rasessay.html|title=The African Diaspora, Ethiopianism, and Rastafari|publisher=Smithsonian education|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=22 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822091117/http://smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/rasta/rasessay.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His official titles are ''Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah'' and ''King of Kings of Ethiopia, Lord of Lords and Elect of God'', and his lineage is thought to be from Solomon and Sheba.<ref>Vadala, Alexander Atillio (2011). "Elite Distinction and Regime Change: The Ethiopian Case". ''Comparative Sociology''. '''10''' (4): 641. {{doi|10.1163/156913311X590664}}.</ref> These notions are perceived by Rastafari as confirmation of the return of the messiah in the [[Book of Revelation]]. Rastafari faith in the [[divinity]] of Selassie{{sfn|Clarke|1986|p=67}}{{sfnm|1a1=Clarke|1y=1986|1pp=15–16, 66|2a1=Barnett|2y=2006|2p=876|3a1=Bedasse|3y=2010|3p=966|4a1=Edmonds|4y=2012|4pp=32–33}} began after news reports of his coronation reached Jamaica,<ref name="Dread">[[Joseph Owens (Jesuit)|Owens, Joseph]] (1974), ''Dread, The Rastafarians of Jamaica''. {{ISBN|0-435-98650-3}}.</ref> particularly via the two ''Time'' magazine articles on the coronation before and after the event. Selassie's own perspectives permeate the philosophy of the movement.<ref name="Dread" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/articles/The_Re-evolution_of_Rastafari.html|title=The Re-evolution of Rastafari|publisher=Rastafari speaks|date=20 January 2003|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=10 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810015214/http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/articles/The_Re-evolution_of_Rastafari.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1961, the Jamaican government sent a delegation of both Rastafari and non-Rastafari leaders to Ethiopia to discuss repatriation with the Emperor. He told the Rastafari delegation "Tell the Brethren to be not dismayed, I personally will give my assistance in the matter of repatriation."<ref>{{cite book|last=Barrett|first=Leonard E.|title=The Rastafarians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swdaI6DfDkEC&pg=PA118|year=1988|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-1039-6|page=118}}</ref>

Selassie visited Jamaica on 21 April 1966, and approximately one hundred thousand Rastafari went to [[Palisadoes Airport]] in [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]] to greet him.<ref name="Dread" /> [[Spliffs]]<ref>Christopher John Farley, ''Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley'', p. 145.</ref> and [[Chalice (pipe)|chalices]]<ref>[[David Katz (author)|David Katz]], ''People Funny Boy'' ([[Lee "Scratch" Perry|Lee Perry]] biography), p. 41.</ref> were openly<ref>[[#CITEREFMurrell|Murrell]], p. 64.</ref> smoked, causing "a haze of [[ganja]] smoke" to drift through the air.<ref>David Howard, ''Kingston: A Cultural and Literary History'', p. 176.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0022.html|title=The State Visit of Emperor Haile Selassie I|publisher=Jamaica-gleaner.com|access-date=12 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209091215/http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0022.html|archive-date=9 December 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://www.anguillian.com/article/articleview/2358/1/133/ "Commemorating The Royal Visit by Ijahnya Christian"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002043840/http://www.anguillian.com/article/articleview/2358/1/133/ |date=2 October 2011 }}, ''The Anguillian Newspaper'', 22 April 2005.</ref> Selassie arrived at the airport but was unable to come down the airplane's steps, as the crowd rushed the tarmac. He returned into the plane. The Jamaican authorities were obliged to request Ras [[Mortimer Planno]], a well-known Rasta leader, to climb the steps, enter the plane, and negotiate the Emperor's descent.<ref>[[#CITEREFPrice|White]], pp. 15, 210, 211.</ref><ref>Bogues, Anthony (2003), ''Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals''. Psychology Press. {{ISBN|0-415-94325-6}}, p. 189.</ref> This day is held by scholars to be a turning point for the movement,<ref>Bradley, Lloyd (2001), ''This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music''. Grove Press. {{ISBN|0-8021-3828-4}}, pp. 192–193.</ref><ref name="Edmonds86">Edmonds, Ennis Barrington (2002), ''Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-803060-6}}. p. 86.</ref><ref name="Habekost">Habekost, Christian (1993), ''Verbal Riddim: The Politics and Aesthetics of African-Caribbean Dub Poetry''. Rodopi. {{ISBN|90-5183-549-3}}, p. 83.</ref> and it is commemorated by Rastafari as [[Grounation Day]]. From then on, the Jamaican authorities were asked to ensure that Rastafari representatives were present at all state functions attended by the Emperor,<ref name="Edmonds86" /><ref name="Habekost" /> and Rastafari elders also ensured that they obtained a private audience with the Emperor,<ref name="Edmonds86" /> where he told them that they should not emigrate to Ethiopia until they had first liberated the people of Jamaica. This dictum came to be known as "[[Liberty|liberation]] before [[repatriation]]".<ref>{{Harvnb|White||pp=211}}</ref>

[[File:Pope with Emperor.png|thumb|Selassie as the [[Defender of the Faith|defender of the faith]] of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] with [[Pope Paul VI]] at the [[Holy See]], 10 November 1970]]

Selassie defied expectations of the Jamaican authorities<ref name=ReggaeRoutes243>{{cite book|author1=O'Brien Chang, Kevin|author2=Chen, Wayne|title=Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music|url=https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-56639-629-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan/page/n254 243]}}</ref> and never rebuked the Rastafari for their belief in him as God. Instead, he presented the movement's faithful elders with gold medallions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/328181536343408.php |title=African Crossroads – Spiritual Kinsmen|access-date=1 January 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115000944/http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/328181536343408.php|archive-date=15 January 2008}} Dr. Ikael Tafari, ''[[The Daily Nation (Barbados)|The Daily Nation]]'', 24 December 2007.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFPrice|White]], p. 211.</ref> During [[People's National Party|PNP]] leader (later Jamaican prime minister) [[Michael Manley]]'s visit to Ethiopia in October 1969, the Emperor recalled his 1966 reception with amazement, and stated that he felt that he had to be respectful of their beliefs.<ref>Funk, Jerry (2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=k2nAaYYgPoEC&pg=PA149 ''Life Is an Excellent Adventure'']. Trafford Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4122-1500-5}}, p. 149.</ref> This was the visit when Manley received the Rod of Correction or Rod of Joshua as a present from the Emperor, thought to have helped him to win the 1972 election in Jamaica.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Burke|first=Michael|date=1 March 2017|title=PNP strategies in the 1972 campaign|work=[[Jamaica Observer]]|url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/pnp-strategies-in-the-1972-campaign/|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230033449/https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/pnp-strategies-in-the-1972-campaign/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Norris|first=Gregory|date=13 October 2014|title=Rod of Correction|work=[[Addis Standard]]|url=https://addisstandard.com/rod-of-correction/|access-date=30 December 2023|archive-date=30 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230033450/https://addisstandard.com/rod-of-correction/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rita Marley converted to the Rastafari faith after seeing Selassie on his Jamaican trip. She claimed that she saw a ''[[stigmata]]'' print on the palm of Selassie's hand as he waved to the crowd.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marley, Rita|title=No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley|url=https://archive.org/details/nowomannocrymyli00marle|url-access=registration|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/nowomannocrymyli00marle/page/43 43]|publisher=Hyperion|isbn=978-0-7868-6867-4}}</ref> Rastafari became much better known throughout much of the world due to the popularity of Bob Marley.<ref>{{cite web|date=21 October 2009|title=Rastafari: Bob Marley|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/people/bobmarley.shtml#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20few%20major%20faces%20of%20minority,impact%20on%20the%20religious%20movement%20as%20a%20whole.|access-date=12 September 2010|publisher=BBC|archive-date=28 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028101151/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/people/bobmarley.shtml#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20few%20major%20faces%20of%20minority,impact%20on%20the%20religious%20movement%20as%20a%20whole.|url-status=live}}</ref> Marley's posthumously released song "[[Iron Lion Zion]]" may refer to Selassie.<ref>{{Cite news|date=9 December 2022|title=The rasta to Zion|work=The Navhind Times|url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2022/09/11/magazines/panorama/the-rasta-to-zion/|publisher=[[The Navhind Times]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164447/https://www.navhindtimes.in/2022/09/11/magazines/panorama/the-rasta-to-zion/|url-status=live|last1=Times|first1=Navhind}}</ref>

=== Selassie's position ===

In a 1967 interview with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]'s Bill McNeil, Selassie denied his alleged divinity.<ref name="Spencer">{{cite book|last=Spencer|first=William David|title=Dread Jesus|date=1998|publisher=SPCK Publishing|isbn=978-0-281-05101-4|page=44}}</ref> For many Rastafari, the CBC interview is not interpreted as a denial. According to Robert Earl Hood, Selassie neither denied nor affirmed his divinity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hood|first=Robert Earl|title=Must God Remain Greek?: Afro Cultures and God-talk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ceFU75KyYQC&pg=PA93+|date=1990|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-2449-1|page=93}}</ref><ref name="ReggaeRoutes2432">{{cite book|author1=O'Brien Chang, Kevin|url=https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan|title=Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music|author2=Chen, Wayne|publisher=Temple University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-1-56639-629-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/reggaeroutesstor00chan/page/n254 243]|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Touch the Happy Isles p. 286">{{cite book|last1=Crewe|first1=Quentin|title=Touch the Happy Isles: A Journey through the Caribbean|date=1987|publisher=Michael Joseph Ltd.|isbn=0-7181-2822-2|location=London|page=286}}</ref>{{listen
| filename     = Haile Selassie 1967 Interview.ogg
| title        = CBC Interview
| description  = Selassie visited Canada in 1967 for an official state visit, CBC news interviewed him and asked him a variety of questions including his position on Rastafarianism
| pos          = right
| format       = [[ogg]]
}}

After his return to Ethiopia, Selassie dispatched Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Mandefro to the [[Caribbean]]. According to Yesehaq, this was to help draw Rastafari and other West Indians to the Ethiopian church.<ref>{{cite web|title=Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Interview|via=YouTube|date=27 December 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXiPllReCBI|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/WXiPllReCBI|archive-date=28 October 2021|access-date=2 January 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011201952.html|title=Ethiopians in D.C. Region Mourn Archbishop's Death|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=13 January 2006}}</ref> Some sources suggest that certain islanders and their leaders were resenting the services of their former colonial churches, and vocalised their interest of establishing the Ethiopian church in the Caribbean.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Subin|first=Anne Della|title=Occupy Godhead|url=https://www.bidoun.org/articles/occupy-godhead#:~:text=For%20his%20part%2C%20Haile%20Selassie,them%20find%20the%20True%20God.|work=[[Bidoun]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=24 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324164446/https://www.bidoun.org/articles/occupy-godhead#:~:text=For%20his%20part%2C%20Haile%20Selassie,them%20find%20the%20True%20God.|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1969, Manley visited the Emperor at his palace in [[Addis Ababa]] before his election as prime minister of Jamaica in 1972. Selassie spoke about his 1966 visit to Jamaica and told Manley that, though he was confused by the Rastafarians' beliefs, he respected them.<ref name="Jerry Funk">{{cite book|last1=Funk|first1=Jerry|title=Life Is an Excellent Adventure: An Irreverent Personal Odyssey|date=2003|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|location=Victoria, Canada|isbn=1-4120-0848-4|pages=148–150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R4FqDsPH5_oC&pg=PA148|access-date=14 March 2022|archive-date=6 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706031348/https://books.google.com/books?id=R4FqDsPH5_oC&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1948, Selassie donated 500 hectares of land at [[Shashamane]], {{convert|250|km|mi}} south of Addis Ababa, to the [[Ethiopian World Federation|Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated]] for the use of people of African descent who supported Ethiopia during the war.<ref name="PrunierFicquet2015">{{cite book|author1=Gérard Prunier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnxeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT148|title=Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia: Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi|author2=Éloi Ficquet|year=2015|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-84904-618-3|page=148}}</ref> Numerous Rastafari families settled there and still live as a community to this day.<ref>{{cite web|last=Page|first=Thomas|date=13 November 2015|title=Meet the Rastafarians who returned to the Promised Land|url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/africa/ethiopia-rasta-town-shashamene/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816230538/https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/africa/ethiopia-rasta-town-shashamene/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Freston|first=Tom|date=14 February 2014|title=The Promised Land|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/02/shashemane-ethiopia-rastafarian-utopia|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|access-date=24 March 2024|archive-date=27 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327115323/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2014/02/shashemane-ethiopia-rastafarian-utopia|url-status=live}}</ref> This was controversial among the locals, as the Rastas settled on traditionally Oromo land.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Price|first1=Charles|title=Review: Erin C. Macleod Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=223|doi=10.1086/683071|jstor=10.1086/683071|s2cid=162427664|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683071|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315013937/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/683071|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Summers|first1=Chris|title=The Rastafarians' flawed African 'promised land'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28059303|publisher=BBC News|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411160940/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28059303|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gomes|first1=Shelene|title=Counter-Narratives of Belonging: Rastafari in the Promised Land|journal=The Global South|year=2018|volume=12|issue=1|publisher=Indiana University Press|page=115|doi=10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|jstor=10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|s2cid=164637705|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|access-date=15 March 2022|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315013939/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/globalsouth.12.1.07|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Residences and finance ==

[[File:Palace in Ethiopia.png|thumb|211x211px|The [[National Palace, Addis Ababa|Jubilee Palace]] served as the residence of Selassie since 1955]]

In 1974, Ethiopian media during the revolution claimed the Emperor had a net worth of 11 billion dollars.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mohr|first=Charles|date=1 December 1974|title=Ethiopians claim Selassie Fortune|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/01/archives/ethiopians-claim-selassie-fortune-moving-of-women-comirmed-his-own.html|url-status=live|work=The New York Times|access-date=4 May 2024|archive-date=23 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223173418/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/01/archives/ethiopians-claim-selassie-fortune-moving-of-women-comirmed-his-own.html}}</ref> However, records indicate that Selassie's entire net worth was just £22,000.00 as late as 1959.<ref name="KING OF KINGS p. 209">{{harvnb|Asserate|p=209}}</ref> He was also accused by the Derg to have hoarded millions in [[Banking in Switzerland|Swiss banks]], claiming Selassie illegally acquired the money from exploiting the Ethiopian people.<ref>{{Cite news|date=8 September 1974|title=Selassie Is Accused of Hoarding Millions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/08/archives/selassie-is-accused-of-hoarding-millions.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220223115/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/08/archives/selassie-is-accused-of-hoarding-millions.html|archive-date=20 February 2022|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The Jubilee Palace, built in 1955, served as the official residence of the head of state of Ethiopian Empire from 1955 to 1974. The Palace sits on {{convert|11450|m2}} in the center of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia since 1889.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 July 2020|title=AFD provides assistance for the National Palace renovation|url=https://www.capitalethiopia.com/capital/afd-provides-assistance-for-the-national-palace-renovation/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506105918/https://www.capitalethiopia.com/capital/afd-provides-assistance-for-the-national-palace-renovation/|archive-date=6 May 2022|access-date=4 May 2024|website=Capital Ethiopia}}</ref> The Palace's estimated initial construction cost and its value today are undisclosed, but due to its size, location and historical importance, its value would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Fortune|first=Addis|title=New Headquarters for National Palace Administration|url=https://addisfortune.net/articles/new-headquarters-for-national-palace-administration/|access-date=22 October 2022|website=addisfortune.net|date=30 November 2015|language=en|archive-date=24 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224085602/https://addisfortune.net/articles/new-headquarters-for-national-palace-administration/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Selassie owned a large fleet of cars including ones gifted to him during overseas visits, which may be worth millions of dollars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=የኢትዮጵያ ልክ ከግቢ እስከ ሀገር Jubilee Palace @ArtsTvWorld|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de8QMsqRQ88|publisher=ARTS TV|publication-date=15 August 2020|via=YouTube}}</ref> In addition, a battle took place over a decade regarding his [[Patek Philippe|Patek Phillipe watch]], which was initially offered in a [[Christie's]] auction with an estimated value of over $1 million.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Miller|first=Hugo|date=19 May 2016|title=The $1 Million Patek, an Ethiopian Emperor and a Prosecutor|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-19/the-1-million-patek-haile-selassie-and-the-swiss-prosecutor|url-access=subscription|work=[[Bloomberg L.P]]|access-date=19 February 2024|archive-date=11 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011205553/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-19/the-1-million-patek-haile-selassie-and-the-swiss-prosecutor|url-status=live}}</ref> However, after the feud ended, the watch was withdrawn from the auction.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Heil|first=Emily|date=12 November 2015|title=Haile Selassie's wristwatch pulled from auction block|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2015/11/12/haile-selassies-wristwatch-pulled-from-auction-block/|url-access=registration|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=19 February 2024|archive-date=20 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920125115/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2015/11/12/haile-selassies-wristwatch-pulled-from-auction-block/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Mulier|first=Thomas|date=10 November 2015|title=Ethiopian Emperor's Patek Philippe Pulled From Christie's Sale|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/ethiopian-emperor-s-patek-philippe-pulled-from-christie-s-sale-igt6wd7r|url-access=registration|work=[[Bloomberg L.P]]|access-date=19 February 2024|archive-date=30 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930023902/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/ethiopian-emperor-s-patek-philippe-pulled-from-christie-s-sale-igt6wd7r|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Personal life ==

=== Visual, performing, and literary arts ===

{{Further|Ethiopian art}}

In his private life, Selassie advocated the growth of Ethiopian art. He believed that arts could 'rebuild' the country. He was interested in a modern outlook towards traditional Ethiopian arts, including those of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He addressed [[Afewerk Tekle]], an Ethiopian laureate, when he left for Europe to gain skills to improve Ethiopian art. Later, Tekle created multiple artworks putting Ethiopian life on display.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|title=Oxford Reference|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780195382075|language=en|chapter=Afewerk, Tekle|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-0072?rskey=tT9iJU&result=69}}</ref> Selassie created an art program which enrolled multiple artists, including [[Agegnehu Engida]]. He gave a scholarship to [[Ale Felege Selam]]. Selassie travelled regularly to Bishoftu to see displays of paintings by Ethiopian artists such as [[Lemma Guya]]. Selassie was impressed by Guya's paintings of Ethiopian military aircraft. Guya later joined the Airforce but continued to paint with Selassie's support.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Lemma Guya {{!}} Jimma University Official Website|url=https://www.ju.edu.et/?q=lemma-guya|access-date=28 October 2020|website=ju.edu.et|archive-date=31 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531200108/https://ju.edu.et/?q=lemma-guya|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite journal|last1=Wondimu|first1=Elias|last2=Cortez|first2=Mayra|last3=Lawrence|first3=Simone|date=2016|title=Ale Felege Selam (1924–2016)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26554858|journal=International Journal of Ethiopian Studies|volume=10|issue=1 & 2|pages=163–164|jstor=26554858|access-date=1 June 2024|archive-date=20 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120054308/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26554858|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite journal|last1=Nagy|first1=Rebecca Martin|date=2007|title=Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20447829|journal=African Arts|volume=40|issue=2|pages=70–85|doi=10.1162/afar.2007.40.2.70|jstor=20447829|s2cid=57562278|archive-date=20 November 2023|access-date=1 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120070331/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20447829|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Abebe Bikila - Star of Ethiopia.jpg|thumb|230x230px|Awarding [[Abebe Bikila]] the [[Order of the Star of Ethiopia]], 1960, [[1960 Summer Olympics|after winning the Olympic Gold Medal]] ]]
Selassie commissioned the opening of Ethiopia's first [[Hager Fikir Theatre|Hager Fikir Theater House]] in 1935 and the [[Ethiopian National Theatre|National Theatre in Addis Ababa]] in 1955.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sira|first=Zerihun|date=6 July 2019|title=Ethiopian Theater: A Brief Introduction|url=https://thetheatretimes.com/ethiopian-theater-a-brief-introduction/|work=The Theater Times}}</ref>

Selassie wrote an [[autobiography]], "[[My Life and Ethiopia's Progress]]", covering his years as ruler. He began the first volume while in exile during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He allegedly wrote the second volume towards the end of the war, though it is widely believed that officials assembled the materials and constructed the book.<ref>Strang, G. Bruce (2013), "Select Biography", in Strang, G. Bruce (ed.), ''Collision of Empires: Italy's Invasion of Ethiopia and its International Impact'', Abingdon, UK: [[Routledge]], pp. 341–374, {{ISBN|978-1-4094-3009-4}}.</ref><ref>An English translation of Vol. 1 by [[Edward Ullendorff]] was published in 1976, {{ISBN|0-19-713589-7}}.</ref><ref>[https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/reviews/32703/mcclellan-marcus-my-life-and-ethiopias-progress-haile-sellassie-i-king Review by Charles W. McClellan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601192138/https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/reviews/32703/mcclellan-marcus-my-life-and-ethiopias-progress-haile-sellassie-i-king |date=1 June 2024 }} of "My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: Haile Sellassie I, King of Ethiopia". H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. September 1995. Retrieved 28 February 2015</ref>

=== Sports ===

{{Further|Sport in Ethiopia}}

During his reign, Selassie expanded international Ethiopian sports, including the [[Ethiopian Football Federation]] and [[Ethiopia men's national basketball team|Ethiopian national basketball team]]. He awarded Ethiopia the [[AFCON]] award when it won its first title.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kushkush|first=Isma'il|date=15 January 2021|title=Afcon 2021: Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and the origins of the Nations Cup|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/59953105|publisher=BBC News|archive-date=29 December 2023|access-date=1 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229115844/https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/59953105|url-status=live}}</ref> He supported Ethiopia in the 1960 Olympics and gave Olympian [[Abebe Bikila]] with multiple national awards such as the [[Order of the Star of Ethiopia|Star of Ethiopia]] and the [[Order of Menelik II]]. He supported other Ethiopian athletes, such as [[Mamo Wolde]], by writing personal letters to them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Abebe Bikila|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abebe-Bikila|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=2 June 2024|access-date=1 June 2024|archive-date=15 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240415123820/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abebe-Bikila|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Theodore|date=4 April 1965|title=Ethiopia Marathon Star Here for Fair|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E1D7153CE733A25756C1A9629C946491D6CF|url-access=subscription|access-date=26 January 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
[[File:Haile Selassie I with Orthodox Church Bishop.jpg|left|thumb|186x186px|With [[Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church|Pope]] [[Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria|Cyril VI]] of [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Alexandria]]]]
Selassie was an adherent of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]. He was raised following Ethiopia's traditional Christian background. He was born Tafari Makonnen; after his coronation, he adopted his baptismal name as his official and legal name. He participated in the 1966 [[Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization#Berlin Congress on World Evangelism|Berlin Congress for World Evangelism]] organised by evangelist [[Billy Graham]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=10 October 2017|title=The World Congress on Evangelism 1966 in Berlin: US Evangelicalism, Cultural Dominance, and Global Challenges|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/world-congress-on-evangelism-1966-in-berlin-us-evangelicalism-cultural-dominance-and-global-challenges/25673BDCEA9B8C12634F1B1B3DDA5909|journal=[[Journal of American Studies]]|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|volume=51|issue=4|pages=1171–1196|doi=10.1017/S0021875816001432|last1=Balbier|first1=UTA A.|archive-date=7 August 2024|access-date=7 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807070927/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/world-congress-on-evangelism-1966-in-berlin-us-evangelicalism-cultural-dominance-and-global-challenges/25673BDCEA9B8C12634F1B1B3DDA5909|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=28 October 1966|title=Thirty Years Later: Haile Selassie in Berlin|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1966/october-28/thirty-years-later-haile-selassie-in-berlin.html|work=[[Christianity Today]]|archive-date=7 August 2024|access-date=7 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807070927/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1966/october-28/thirty-years-later-haile-selassie-in-berlin.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

He tried to unify the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox community]] extending into [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Egypt]], [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenia]], and [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syria]]. Despite this, he did not try to stop the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] from having its own Patriarch when it was granted [[autocephaly]] by the Egyptian [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Church]]. He adhered to the intracontinental and overseas relations between the Orthodox churches, and believed that it would be reasonable to try to move unification forward.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 July 2014|title=Addis Ababa Conference Portal powered by OCP inaugurated at all UAE National Ethiopian Youth Conference: Ethiopian Orthodox Prelates Honored by OCP Society|url=http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2014/06/addis-ababa-conference-portal-powered-by-ocp-inaugurated-at-all-uae-national-ethiopian-youth-conference-ethiopian-orthodox-prelates-honored-by-ocp-society/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903083409/http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2014/06/addis-ababa-conference-portal-powered-by-ocp-inaugurated-at-all-uae-national-ethiopian-youth-conference-ethiopian-orthodox-prelates-honored-by-ocp-society/|archive-date=3 September 2014|website=theorthodoxchurch.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/AddisAbabaConfReport|title=The Oriental Orthodox Churches: Addis Ababa Conference 1965|publisher=Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church|year=1965}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Paulau|first1=Stanislau|url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/54656/9789004505254.pdf|title=Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity in a Global Context: Entanglements and Disconnections|last2=Tamcke|first2=Martin|date=2022|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-50434-9|series=Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity|location=Leiden, Netherlands}}</ref>
He maintained a good relationship with [[Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria]], Patriarch of the Coptic Church in Egypt. Pope Cyril was awarded the Star of Solomon by Selassie for his role in nominating [[Abuna Basilios]] as the first Ethiopian Patriarch of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Tewahedo Church]]. Christianity played an official role in the [[1955 Constitution of Ethiopia|Constitutional Monarchy]], but to a limited degree compared to his predecessors. Under Selassie's reign in 1942, [[Sharia#Court procedures|Islamic courts]] were allowed to have judicial power concerning Muslim matters. He also recognized concerns from the Muslim community and gave audiences to its respective leaders.<ref name=":05">{{Cite web|last=Abdo|first=Mohammed|title=Legal Pluralism Vs. Human Rights Issues: Sharia Courts and Human Rights Concerns in the Light of the Federal /constitution of Ethiopia|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/3160168/file/5874552.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Religion of Ethiopia|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ethiopia/Settlement-patterns|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>

=== Family ===

{{Further|Crown Council of Ethiopia}}[[File:Ethiopian_Royal_Family.jpg|thumb|225x225px|His son [[Amha Selassie|Prince Asfaw Wossen]] and other members of the Royal Family of Ethiopia]]

Selassie, being the head of the Royal Family, legally had precedent over all matters within his household. He contrasted with the [[Solomonic dynasty]] and gave more political powers, dukedoms, and government offices to members of his immediate family, including his grandson [[Iskinder Desta|Rear Admiral Iskinder Desta]]. An individual source according to Paulos Milkias, a professor at Montreal, Canada, claimed that Desta threatened his grandfather with death at gunpoint unless he changed the successional line (although this was never definitively confirmed). Selassie only wanted to give him an apolitical position as a commissioned officer in the Ethiopian military, and Iskinder was made deputy commander of the [[Imperial Ethiopian Navy]] in 1958.<ref name="Paulos">{{cite book|last1=Milkias|first1=Paulos|title=Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia|date=2006|publisher=Cambria Press|isbn=1-934043-20-6}}</ref><ref name="HD">{{cite book|last1=Shinn|first1=David H.|title=Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia|last2=Ofcansky|first2=Thomas P.|date=2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-8108-4910-0|chapter=Iskander Desta (1934–1974)}}</ref>

In 1963, [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] is said to have helped Haile Selassie to put his grandson in the elite [[Gordonstoun|Gordonstoun school]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Marc|first=Horne|date=30 December 2023|title=Prince Philip 'pulled strings' to get Haile Selassie's grandson into Gordonstoun|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-philip-pulled-strings-to-get-haile-selassies-grandson-into-gordonstoun-3vnp0d37x|work=[[The Sunday Times]]}}</ref> Selassie was able to put his other grandchildren into top schools throughout the U.S. and Europe, such as [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=1 October 1963|title=Return Visit, The Visit of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I to the United States, 1 October 1963|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/usg-01-s|website=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
=== Public opinion and media depiction ===
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Koninklijke familie in Ethiopië koningin Juliana en Haile Selassie op kinderafd, Bestanddeelnr 922-0498.jpg
| caption1          = Haile Selassie I visiting a children's hospital in 1969, with Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands]], on her state visit to Ethiopia
| image2            = Emperor Haile Selassie I saluting the Soviet, American, British and French ships present at the annual Ethiopian Navy Day.jpg
| caption2          = Emperor Haile Selassie I [[saluting]] Soviet, American, British and French Ships present at the annual Ethiopian Navy Day celebrations
| total_width       =
| width2            = 181
| direction         = vertical
}}

During the early years of his reign, especially in the 1930s and 1940s when Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia, media coverage of Selassie was predominantly positive. He was portrayed as a hero resisting fascist forces and a symbol of hope for Africa, aligning with the Allies during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Reston|first=James|date=13 July 1940|title=British Recognize Ethiopia as Ally; Promise to Release Country From Italian Domination if the War Is Won; Back Haile Selissie Rule Army Heads in East Africa Seek to Coordinate Efforts of Tribal Chiefs for Attack Reversal of 1938 Position 200,000 Ethiopian Fighters Ready|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/07/13/archives/british-recognize-ethiopia-as-ally-promise-to-release-country-from.html}}</ref> In 1935, during the invasion, he was even named ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's "Man of the Year".<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=1935|title=Person of the Year|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> [[British Pathé]] reported that Selassie's return was "As an Emperor returns and triumphs to his people."<ref>{{Cite news|date=1941|title=The Emperor returns to Addis Ababa|work=British Pathe|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/136286/}}</ref> During one of his interviews with ''[[Meet the Press]]'' during a 1963 state visit to the U.S., a time when the [[Civil Rights movement]] was in full swing, Selassie condemned [[Racism|race-based]] oppression and advocated for [[Pan-African]] unity.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Selassie|last2=Cousins|last3=Daniel|last4=Frederick|last5=Freudenheim|last6=Spivak|first1=Haile|first2=Norman|first3=Clifton|first4=Pauline|first5=Milton|first6=Lawrence|date=1972|title=Meet the Press : Sunday, October 6, 1963 with guest His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia|url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/meet-the-press-sunday-october-6-1963-with-guest-his-imperial-majesty-haile-selassie-i-emperor-of-ethiopia/oclc/60342669|website=[[WorldCat]]}}</ref> However, media responses were mixed. [[NBC News]] ridiculed the visit months later, prompting ''[[The New York Times]]'' to defend the Ethiopian Emperor, questioning NBC's intent and criticizing its insensitivity. The paper remarked that "NBC News cannot afford to be a handmaiden of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]]" and asked what "civilized purpose" was served by ridiculing the visit, to the probable embarrassment of Ethiopian diplomats in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite news|date=4 March 1964|title=TV: A Question of Taste; N.B.C. Documentary Comes Close to Ridiculing Selassie's 1963 State Visit|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/04/archives/tv-a-question-of-taste-nbc-documentary-comes-close-to-ridiculing.html|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vestal|first=Theodore M.|date=2009|title=The Lion of Judah at Camelot: U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Ethiopia as Reflected in the Second State Visit of Emperor Haile Selassie to the United States|volume=4|issue=1/2|pages=135–152|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27828908|journal=International Journal of Ethiopian Studies|jstor=27828908}}</ref>

During the 1950s, when the [[Silver Jubilee]] of the Emperor's reign was celebrated, he adopted the [[1955 Constitution of Ethiopia|1955 Constitution]] which legally gave more democratic rights to the public, and legally restricted the monarch's power. Following the end of World War II, Selassie sought to limit the influence of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]. During the 1950s, he was widely regarded as a modernizing and capable leader in Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Arnold|first=Percy|date=August 1965|title=Haile Selassie I: the Conquering Lion by Leonard Mosley London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/haile-selassie-i-the-conquering-lion-by-leonard-mosley-london-weidenfeld-nicolson-1964-pp-iv-279-36s/9266620775A8FF0BB364A78B9DCC364F|journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|volume=3|issue=2|pages=314–315|doi=10.1017/S0022278X0002382X|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=David|first=Talbot|title=Haile Selassie I: Silver Jubilee|publisher=W.P. van Stockum|year=1955|isbn=978-0-9793619-3-7|location=Ethiopia|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keller|first=Edmond J.|date=2010|title=Constitutionalism, Citizenship and Political Transitions in Ethiopia: Historic and Contemporary Process|url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/keller/papers/SelectedPub/Constitutionalism_2010.pdf|journal=UCLA World Press|pages=66–67|archive-date=3 February 2024|access-date=29 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203161303/https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/keller/papers/SelectedPub/Constitutionalism_2010.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1970s, due to [[1973 oil crisis|economic turmoil]] and a famine, Selassie's reputation suffered. Mass protests broke out against his reign. It was widely believed he should abdicate due to his [[old age]] and failed land reform policy. These factors ultimately led to his removal from power.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bellucci|first=Stefano|date=18 September 2022|title=The 1974 Ethiopian Revolution at 40: Social, Economic, and Political Legacies|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/622235/pdf|journal=Northeast African Studies|volume=16|issue=1|pages=1–13|doi=10.14321/nortafristud.16.1.0001|s2cid=148384238|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Selassie's legacy remains a topic of debate. He played a leading role in founding [[Addis Ababa University]] and the [[Organisation of African Unity]], the latter of which would later become the [[African Union]]. He was also a prominent anti-colonial leader.<ref>Pearce, Jeff, (18 July 2017). ''Prevail : the inspiring story of Ethiopia's victory over Mussolini's invasion, 1935–1941''. {{ISBN|978-1-5107-1865-4}}. {{OCLC|954669620}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=15 May 2020|title=The last emperor of Ethiopia: Haile Selassie's legacy remains divisive|url=https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20200515-revisited-the-last-emperor-of-ethiopia-haile-selassie-s-legacy-remains-divisive|website=[[France 24]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2019|title=Commemorating Haile Selassie's Pan-African Legacy|work=[[Ethiopian News Agency]]|url=https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/en_6148}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=15 June 2018|title=Haile Selassie – Ethiopia's 'Lion of Judah'|url=https://www.dw.com/en/haile-selassie-ethiopias-lion-of-judah/a-44009647|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615192031/https://www.dw.com/en/haile-selassie-ethiopias-lion-of-judah/a-44009647|archive-date=15 June 2018|work=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine listed him among the most important figures in political history, placing him in the "Top 25 Political Icons" of all time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Top 25 Political Icons|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2046285,00.html|website=[[Time Magazine]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=7 February 2011|title=Mahatma Gandhi tops TIME's list of top 25 political icons|url=https://www.ndtv.com/photos/news/mahatma-gandhi-tops-times-list-of-top-25-political-icons-9100#photo-116126|work=[[NDTV]]}}</ref>[[File:1961EthiopianBirr.JPG|thumb|Old [[Ethiopian birr|Ethiopian Birr]] depicting Haile Selassie over bank notes rarely circulating in Ethiopia|left]]In 1997, Selassie was mentioned in the [[Ween]] song ''[[Mutilated Lips]]''. In 2001, Ethiopian pop star [[Teddy Afro]] released a song titled "Haile Selassie", depicting its namesake in a nationalistic light.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Eyre|first=Banning|date=7 June 2007|title=Teddy Afro, the New Reggae God of Ethiopia|url=https://www.npr.org/2007/06/07/10819101/teddy-afro-the-new-reggae-god-of-ethiopia|publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Gardner|first=Tom|date=13 July 2017|title=Teddy Afro, Ethiopia's biggest pop star: 'Because of our government, our country is divided'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/13/teddy-afro-ethiopias-biggest-pop-star-because-of-our-government-our-country-is-divided|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Selassie appears as a leader of Ethiopia in ''[[Civilization V: Gods and Kings]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thegamer.com/sid-meier-civilization-v-best-leaders-ranked/|title=Civilization V: The 13 Best Civ 5 Leaders, Ranked|last=Johns|first=Hodey|date=9 April 2021|access-date=1 December 2024|publisher=The Gamer}}</ref>

In 2021, a false headline had circulated of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] and [[Prince Philip]] bowing down to Selassie and his wife during the Queen's state visit to Ethiopia at [[Jubilee Palace (Ethiopia)|Jubilee Palace]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swenson |first=Ali |date=20 September 2022 |title=Queen Elizabeth II not pictured bowing to Ethiopian emperor |url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-queen-elizabeth-not-bowing-ethiopia-179342106838 |work=[[Associated Press]] |agency=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=24 March 2021 |title=Photo does not show Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip bowing to Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-selassie-elizabethii/fact-check-photo-does-not-show-queen-elizabeth-ii-and-prince-philip-bowing-to-ethiopian-emperor-haile-selassie-and-empress-menen-asfaw-idUSL1N2LM26S/ |work=[[Reuters]] |agency=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Neguede |first=Amanuel |date=24 February 2021 |title=British monarch's first visit to Ethiopia came 10 years after this photo was taken |url=https://factcheck.afp.com/british-monarchs-first-visit-ethiopia-came-10-years-after-photo-was-taken |work=[[Agence France-Presse]] |agency=}}</ref> A documentary titled ''Grandpa Was an Emperor'' was released by Selassie's granddaughter in 2021, showcasing the life of the Ethiopian royal family.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Documentary puts focus on close relatives of Ethiopia's last emperor |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b63mc9 |work=[[BBC News]] |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Friel|first=Mikhaila|date=3 June 2023|title=Yeshi Kassa, the great-granddaughter of Ethiopia's last emperor, said the late Queen Elizabeth privately supported her new documentary about the horrors her family faced in prison and exile|work=[[Business Insider]]|url=https://www.insider.com/yeshi-kassa-grandpa-was-an-emperor-documentary-queen-elizabeth-2023-6}}</ref> In the 2024 biopic ''[[Bob Marley: One Love]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|date=13 March 2024|title=In 'Bob Marley: One Love' film, what's his faith? And why is marijuana deemed holy to the Rastafari?|url=https://apnews.com/article/bob-marley-one-love-movie-rastafari-faith-2a46a81116b42906e8b282cde31ee900#:~:text=Rastafari%20followers%20believe%20the%20use%20of%20marijuana%20is,place%20it%20in%20fires%20as%20a%20burnt%20offering.|work=Associated Press News}}</ref> Selassie is depicted in Rastafarian religious lore.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hoffman|first=Jordan|date=14 February 2024|title=5 Essential Bob Marley Facts That Didn't Make It into One Love|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/bob-marley-one-love-stories-not-in-movie|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Giorgis|first=Hannah|date=17 February 2024|title=The Missing Piece of the Bob Marley Biopic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/02/bob-marley-one-love-review/677500/|url-access=subscription|work=[[The Atlantic]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217132142/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/02/bob-marley-one-love-review/677500/|archive-date=17 February 2024|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=O'Sullivan|first=Michael|date=12 February 2024|title=Bob Marley biopic turns a complicated subject into the Messiah|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2024/02/12/bob-marley-one-love-movie-review/|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> There is a part where Selassie, whilst riding a horse, takes alongside him a young [[Bob Marley]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Abdulbaki|first=Mae|date=15 February 2024|title=Bob Marley: One Love Ending Explained|url=https://screenrant.com/bob-marley-one-love-ending-explained/ |work=[[Screen Rant]]}}</ref>

Selassie has been depicted by photographers, artists, and sculptors such as [[Edward Bainbridge Copnall|Edward Copnall]], [[Beulah Woodard]], [[Jacob Epstein]], [[William H. Johnson (artist)|William H. Johnson]], [[Yevonde Middleton]] and [[Alvin Gittins]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw143535/Haile-Selassie-I-Emperor-of-Ethiopia?LinkID=mp06547&sText=madame+yevonde&OConly=true&displayNo=60&wPage=4&rNo=269|website=[[National Portrait Gallery, London]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Portrait Of Haile Selassie I, Emperor Of Ethiopia (1892–1975) Wearing The Order Of The Garter By Edward Bainbridge Copnall 1907–1973|url=https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/142519/portrait-of-haile-selassie-i-emperor-of-ethiopia-1892-1975-wearing-the-order-of-the-garter-by-edward-bainbridge-copnall-19071973/|website=Selling Antiques}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mask of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie by artists Beulah Woodward, Los Angeles|date=September 1935|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz00254wdq/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Haile Selassie|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/haile-selassie-32430|website=[[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/228352|title=Haile Selassie (1892–1975) &#124; Harvard Art Museums|website=harvardartmuseums.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Utah Stories|date=21 September 2011|title=Joseph Smith Portrait by Alvin Gittins|url=https://utahstories.com/2011/09/utah-art-masters-and-their-influence/gittins-joseph-smith_h_opt/|access-date=26 August 2023|website=utahstories.com}}</ref>

=== Memorials ===

Multiple memorials were built for Selassie, mainly in Ethiopia. One of these memorials was unveiled in 2019 at the African Union's Headquarters in Addis Ababa. This memorial was made to honor his long efforts of Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism during his rule.<ref>{{Cite news|date=10 February 2019|title=Haile Selassie: Why the African Union put up a statue|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47172020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211020701/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47172020|archive-date=11 February 2019|publisher=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Plaut|first=Martin|date=25 February 2019|title=Emperor Haile Selassie's AU statue joins a growing list of Africa's troubled memorials|url=https://qz.com/africa/1558426/ethiopias-haile-selassie-african-union-statue-sparks-outrage|website=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]]}}</ref> A wax statue of Haile Selassie can be found in Addis Ababa's [[Unity Park]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jeffrey|first=James|date=18 October 2019|title=Ethiopia opens its secretive Imperial Palace for first time|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/imperial-palace-ethiopia/index.html|publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=10 February 2019|title=African Union Unveiles a Statue of Former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I|url=https://au.int/fr/node/35812|work=[[African Union]]}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Collins|first1=Sam P.K. Collins|date=20 February 2019|title=Pan-Africanists Laud New Haile Selassie Statue|url=https://www.washingtoninformer.com/pan-africanists-laud-new-haile-selassie-statue/|work=[[Washington Informer]]}}</ref> A high school in Kingston, Jamaica is named after Haile Selassie.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Scourfield|first=Stephen|date=8 May 2014|title=The legacy of Haile Selassie|work=[[The West Australian]]|url=https://thewest.com.au/travel/africa/the-legacy-of-haile-selassie-ng-ya-370491}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=28 April 2016|title=50th Anniversary Founders Day Celebration Haile Selassie High School (Jamaica)|work=Rita Marley Foundation|url=https://ritamarleyfoundation.org/2016/04/50th-anniversary-founders-day-celebration-haile-selassie-high-school-jamaica/}}</ref> In 2020, a [[Bust of Haile Selassie|bust statue]] built in 1957 was destroyed by [[Hachalu Hundessa riots|protestors]] as a response to the assassination of Oromo singer [[Hachalu Hundessa]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1 July 2020|title=Haile Selassie: Statue of former Ethiopian leader destroyed in London park|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53259409}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Braddick|first=Imogen|date=2 July 2020|title=Statue of former Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie destroyed 'by group of 100 people' in Wimbledon park|work=[[Evening Standard]]|location=London|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/statue-haile-selassie-wimbledon-park-smashed-a4486356.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2 July 2020|title=London Police Probe Destruction of Haile Selassie Statue|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] via [[Barrons]]|url=https://www.barrons.com/news/london-police-probe-destruction-of-haile-selassie-statue-01593683405}}</ref> One of the three major expressways in [[Nairobi]], Kenya is named after Haile Selassie.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lenser|first=Loise|date=20 January 2024|title=Nairobi Expressway Launches New Exit at Haile Selassie|url=https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/96673-nairobi-expressway-launches-new-haile-selassie-exit-plaza|work=Boxraft Limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Mbuthia|first=Bashir|date=20 January 2024|title=Transport CS Murkomen To Launch Nairobi Expressway Haile Selassie Exit Plaza|url=https://citizen.digital/news/transport-cs-murkomen-to-launch-nairobi-expressway-haile-selassie-exit-plaza-n335149|work=[[Citizen TV]]}}</ref>

<gallery widths="170" heights="170">
File:Emperor Haile Selassie I cropped image.png|Haile Selassie I's statue located at the AU Conference HQ, [[Addis Ababa]]
File:Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon, The statue of Emperor Haile Selassie.jpg|Former standing statue of the Emperor in [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]], England
File:Haile Selassie by Jacob Epstein 06.jpg|A plaster figure of Selassie by [[Jacob Epstein]] in 1936, [[The New Art Gallery Walsall]], England
File:Haile Selassie I Blue Plaque Great Malvern.jpg|A blue plaque, unveiled in 2011 in [[Great Malvern]], England
</gallery>

==Titles, styles, arms, honours==
{{Infobox manner of address
| name         = Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
| image        = [[File:Imperial Coat of Arms of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie).svg|80px]]
| reference    = {{ubl|[[Imperial Majesty|His Imperial Majesty]]|{{langx|am|ግርማዊ}}; ''girmāwī''}}
| spoken       = {{ubl|Your Imperial Majesty|{{langx|am|ጃንሆይ}}; ''djānhoi''|lit. ''"O [esteemed] royal"''}}
| alternative  = {{ubl|Our Lord (familiar)|{{langx|am|ጌቶቹ}}; ''getochu''|lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.)}}
}}
{{main|List of titles and honours of Haile Selassie}}
* 23 July 1892 – 1 November 1905: ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij|Lij]]'' Tafari Makonnen<ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.20" /><ref name="Vestal p.19">{{cite book|last1=Vestal|first1=Theodore M.|title=The Lion of Judah in the New World: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans' Attitudes Toward Africa|date=2011|publisher=Praeger|location=United States|isbn=978-0-313-38620-6|page=19}}</ref>
* 1 November 1905 – 11 February 1917: ''[[Dejazmach]]'' Tafari Makonnen<ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.20" /><ref name="Steffanson 2" />
* 11 February 1917 – 7 October 1928: ''Balemulu Silt'an [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Enderase|Enderase]] [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Leul or Leoul|Le'ul]]-''[[Rastafari|''Ras'' Tafari]] Makonnen<ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) pp.48-50" /><ref name="KING OF KINGS p. 325" /><ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.155">{{cite book|last1=Selassie|first1=Haile I|title=My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff|date=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-19-713589-7|page=155}}</ref>
* 7 October 1928 – 2 November 1930: ''[[Negus]]'' Tafari Makonnen<ref name="Autobiography Vol. I (Hardcover) p.172">{{cite book|last1=Selassie|first1=Haile I|title=My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I, translated from Amharic by Edward Ullendorff|date=1976|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Great Britain|isbn=0-19-713589-7|page=172}}</ref>
* 2 November 1930 – 12 September 1974: By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ''His Imperial Majesty'' Haile Selassie I, [[King of Kings]], Lord of Lords, Elect of God.<ref name="Steffanson 2"/><ref name="KING OF KINGS p. 325"/><ref name="Charles F. Rey"/><ref name="Boston Daily Globe">{{cite news|last1=McPartlin|first1=Joan|date=29 May 1954|title=Boston to Welcome Ruler of Ethiopia|publisher=Boston Daily Globe}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Magu|first1=Stephen M.|title=Towards Pan-Africanism Africa's Cooperation Through Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Ubuntu and Communitarianism|date=2023|publisher=Springer Nature Singapore|location=Singapore|page=272|isbn=978-981-19-8944-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lazEAAAQBAJ|access-date=23 August 2024}}</ref>

===National orders===
* [[File:ETH Order of the Star of Ethiopia - Grand Cross BAR.png|60px]] Chief Commander of the [[Order of the Star of Ethiopia]] (1909)<ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|page=903}}</ref>
* [[File:ETH Order of Solomon BAR.png|60px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of Solomon]] (1930)<ref>Religious, Traditional & Ceremonial. [http://www.ethiopiancrown.org ''The Official Website of The Crown Council of Ethiopia'']. The Crown Council of Ethiopia. Retrieved 13 August 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|page=891}}</ref>
* [[File:ETH Order of Solomon BAR.png|60px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Seal of Solomon]]<ref>Religious, Traditional & Ceremonial. [http://www.ethiopiancrown.org ''The Official Website of The Crown Council of Ethiopia'']. The Crown Council of Ethiopia. Retrieved 2 January 2021.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|page=893}}</ref>
* [[File:Order of The Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia) ribbon.gif|60px]] Grand Cordon with Collar of the [[Order of the Queen of Sheba]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|pages=895–897}}</ref>
* [[File:Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia) - ribbon bar.gif|60px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia)|Order of the Holy Trinity]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|page=899}}</ref>
* [[File:ETH Order of Menelik II - Grand Cross BAR.png|60px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Menelik II]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=ከበደ|first1=በሪሁን|title=የአፄ ኃይለሥላሴ ታሪክ|date=21 September 1993|publisher=አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት|location=Addis Ababa|page=901}}</ref>
* [[File:ETH Order of the Star of Ethiopia - Member BAR.png|60px]] Order of Fidelity<ref>{{cite journal|title=Mr. and Mrs.|journal=Jet Magazine|date=20 May 1954|volume=VI|issue=2|page=23|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xL8DAAAAMBAJ|access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref>

{{Infobox saint
|name=Haile Selassie I
|image=File:Haile Selassie Portrait.jpg
|imagesize=100px
|titles=[[Emperor of Ethiopia|Emperor]]
|venerated_in={{plainlist|
[[Oriental Orthodoxy]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I 1918–1967|date=2000|publisher=One Drop Books|location=New York|isbn=1-890358-01-0|pages=639–641}}</ref>}}
* [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]
* [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]
* [[Coptic Orthodox Church]]
* [[Indian Orthodox Church]]
* [[Syriac Orthodox Church]]|honorific_prefix=[[Defender of the Faith]]
|resting_place=[[Addis Ababa]]
}}

=== As sovereign ===
{{Multiple image
| direction         = horizontal
| total_width       = 450
| image1            = Ethiopian imperial standard of Haile Selassie I (obverse).svg
| caption1          = Imperial Royal Standard for Haile Selassie I obverse
| image2            = Ethiopian imperial standard of Haile Selassie I (reverse).svg
| caption2          = Imperial Royal Standard for Haile Selassie I reverse
| align             = center
}}

=== Foreign Coat of Arms ===
{{multiple image
| align             = center
| total_width       = 400
| perrow            = 
| image1            = Coat of Arms of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (Order of Charles III).svg
| caption1          = Coat of arms in Spain under the order of Charles III of Spain
| image2            = Garter-encircled Arms of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia.png
| caption2          = Coat of arms as Emperor in the United Kingdom under the Order of Garter
| image3            = Coat of Arms of Haile Selassie (Order of the Seaphim).svg
| caption3          = Coat of arms as Emperor in Sweden under the [[Order of the Seraphim]]
| footer            = 
}}

==Military ranks==

Selassie held the following ranks:
* [[Field Marshal]], [[Army of the Ethiopian Empire|Imperial Ethiopian Army]]<ref>Copley, Gregory R. ''Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World''. Published by Defense & Foreign Affairs, part of the International Strategic Studies Association, 1998. {{ISBN|1-892998-00-9}}. p.119</ref><ref name="Consolidated Laws Vol. I p. 261">{{cite book|last1=Ewing|first1=William H.|last2=Abdi|first2=Beyene|title=Consolidated Laws of Ethiopia Vol. I|date=1972|publisher=The Faculty of Law Haile Sellassie I University|location=Addis Ababa|page=261}}</ref>
* [[Admiral of the Fleet]], [[Ethiopian Navy|Imperial Ethiopian Navy]]<ref name="Consolidated Laws Vol. I p. 261" />
* [[Marshal of the air force|Marshal]] of the [[Ethiopian Air Force|Imperial Ethiopian Air Force]]<ref name="Consolidated Laws Vol. I p. 261" />
* Honorary [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]], [[British Army]], 20 January 1965<ref name="The London Gazette, Issue: 43567 Page: 1235">{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43567/page/1235|title=The London Gazette, Iss: 43567, p. 1235. Retrieved op 17 January 2017.}}</ref><ref name="Copley p. 195">{{cite book|last1=Copley|first1=Gregory R.|title=Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand unto God: Imperial Ethiopia's Unique Symbols, Structures and Role in the Modern World|date=1998|publisher=Defense & Foreign Affairs, part of the International Strategic Studies Association|isbn=1-892998-00-9|page=195}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/ethiopia-queen-elizabeth-1965-royal-visit|title=Ethiopia welcomes the Queen: Archive, 2 February 1965|website=The Guardian|date=2 February 2016}}</ref>

== Issue ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background-color:#cccccc"
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|data-sort-value="Romanework"|[[Princess Romanework]]||1909||14 October 1940||Married Dejazmatch [[Beyene Merid]] in the late 1920s, had four children. Dejazmatch Beyene Merid died in 1937.
|-
|data-sort-value="Tenagnework"|[[Princess Tenagnework]]|| 12 January 1912||6 April 2003||Married from 1924 to 1937 (death) to Ras [[Desta Damtew]], had six children. Remarried to [[Andargachew Messai]], who died in 1981, had two children.
|-
|data-sort-value="Amha Selassie"|[[Amha Selassie|Crown Prince Amha Selassie]]|| 27 July 1916|| 17 January 1997||Married [[Wolete Israel Seyoum]] in 1931, had one daughter. Amha and Wolete later divorced. Married [[Medferiashwork Abebe]] in 1945, had four children.
|-
|data-sort-value="Zenebework"|[[Princess Zenebework]]||25 July 1917||24 March 1934||Married Dejazmach [[Haile Selassie Gugsa]], no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Tsehai"|[[Princess Tsehai]]||13 October 1919||17 August 1942||Married Lij [[Abiye Abebe]] in 1941, had a stillborn daughter
|-
|data-sort-value="Makonnen"|[[Prince Makonnen|Prince Makonnen, Duke of Harar]]||16 October 1924||13 May 1957||Married [[Sara Gizaw]], had five children
|-
|data-sort-value="Sahle Selassie"|[[Prince Sahle Selassie]]||27 February 1932||24 April 1962||Married Princess [[Mahisente Habte Mariam]], had one son
|}

== Ancestry ==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
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|1= 1. '''Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia '''
|2= 2. [[Makonnen Wolde Mikael|''Ras'' Mäkonnen Wäldä-Mika'él Wolde Malakot Yamana Krestos]]
|3= 3. [[Yeshimebet Ali|''Woizero'' Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar]]
|4= 4. ''Dejazmach'' Wolde Mikael Wolde Malakot Yamana Krestos
|5= 5. ''Immabet'' Tenagnework Sahle Selassie
|6= 6. ''Dejazmach'' Ali Abba Jifar of [[Oromo People|Woreilu]]
|7= 7. ''Immabet-Hoy'' Walatta Ihata Giyorgis Yimeru
|8= 8. ''Dejazmach'' Wolde Malakot Yamana Krestos
|9= 9. ''Woizero'' Kalama Worq
|10= 10. ''Negus'' (King) [[Sahle Selassie]]
|11= 11. ''Woizero'' Yimegnushal Ayele
|14= 14. ''Ato'' Yimeru of [[Gurage]]
|15= 15. ''Woizero'' Araza-Aregai
}}

==See also==
* [[Black Lions]]
* [[Ethiopian Empire]]
* [[Emperor of Ethiopia|Ethiopian Monarchs]]
* [[List of people who have been considered deities]]
* [[List of unsolved deaths]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|group=nb}}

== References ==

=== Citations ===

{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Abbink |editor-first1=Gerrit Jan |editor-last2=De Bruijn |editor-first2=Mirjam |editor-last3=Van Walraven |editor-first3=Klass |title=Rethinking Resistance: Revolt and Violence in African History |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, NL |series=African Dynamics |volume=II |edition=illus. |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ54bFqJtV8C |isbn=978-90-04-12624-4}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Asserate}}|last=Asserate|first=Asfa-Wossen|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1pd2ktb|title=King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia|date=2015|publisher=Haus Publishing|jstor=j.ctt1pd2ktb|isbn=978-1-910376-64-5|author-link=Asfa-Wossen Asserate|url-access=registration|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book |last=Barker |first=A. J. |title=The Civilising Mission: The Italo-Ethiopian War 1935–6 |year=1968 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-0-304-93201-6}}
* {{Cite book|last=Barker|first=A. J.|title=Rape of Ethiopia, 1936|publisher=Ballantine Books|year=1971|isbn=978-0-345-02462-6|location=New York}}
* {{cite journal|last=Barnett|first=Michael|title=Differences and Similarities Between the Rastafari Movement and the Nation of Islam|journal=Journal of Black Studies|volume=36|number=6|year=2006|pages=873–893|jstor=40034350|doi=10.1177/0021934705279611|s2cid=145012190}}
* {{cite journal|last=Bedasse|first=Monique|title=Rasta Evolution: The Theology of the Twelve Tribes of Israel|journal=Journal of Black Studies|volume=40|number=5|year=2010|pages=960–973|jstor=40648616|doi=10.1177/0021934708320135|s2cid=145344807}}
* {{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Peter B.|title=Black Paradise: The Rastafarian Movement|year=1986|publisher=The Aquarian Press|location=Wellingborough|series=New Religious Movements Series|isbn=978-0-85030-428-2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Coltri}}|last1=Coltri|first1=Marzia A|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299728407|title=Beyond RastafarI: An historical and theological introduction|date=March 2015|publisher=Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften|isbn=978-3-0343-0959-2|url-access=registration|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758326,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524112010/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758326,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 May 2007|title=Distressed Negus|work=Time Magazine|date=15 November 1937|access-date=19 January 2010|ref={{SfnRef | Time | 1937}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Edmonds|first=Ennis B.|title=Rastafari: A Very Short Introduction|year=2012|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-958452-9}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Garvey}}|last=Garvey|first=Marcus|title=Emancipated From Mental Slavery|date=2 May 2019|publisher=The Mhotep Corporation|isbn=978-1-0960-1330-3|author-link=Marcus Garvey|mode=cs2}}
* {{Citation|ref={{harvid|Haile Selassie 1999}}|author=Haile Selassie I|title=My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie I|others=translated from Amharic by [[Edward Ullendorff]]|place=New York|publisher=Frontline Books|year=1999|isbn=978-0-948390-40-1|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Haile Selassie 2000}}|author=Haile Selassie I|title=Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, 1918–1967|publisher=One Drop Books|year=2000|isbn=978-1-5007-1943-2|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Harris & Ullendorff}}|last1=Harris|first1=Brice|title=The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I: 'My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'|last2=Ullendorff|first2=Edward|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=1977|isbn=978-0-948390-40-1|author-link2=Edward Ullendorff|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Jackson}}|last=Jackson|first=John G.|title=Ethiopia and the origin of civilization|date=2020|publisher=BN Publishing|isbn=978-0-592-43884-9|author-link=John G. Jackson (writer)|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book |last=Mack Smith |first=D. |title=Mussolini |year=1983 |orig-year=1981 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-586-08444-1}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Marcus}}|first=Harold G.|last=Marcus|title=A History of Ethiopia|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofethiopi00marc|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press|year=1994|location=London|isbn=978-0-520-22479-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofethiopi00marc/page/316 316]|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Mockler}}|last=Mockler|first=Anthony|title=Haile Selassie's War|year=2003|publisher=Signal Books|isbn=978-1-902669-53-3|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Murrell}}|last1=Murrell|first1=Nathaniel Samuel|last2=Spencer|first2=William David|last3=McFarlane|first3=Adrian Anthony|year=1998|title=Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-56639-584-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chantingdownbaby0000unse|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book |last=Pankhurst |first=R. |title=A Brief Note on the Economic History of Ethiopia from 1800 to 1935 |year=1968 |location=Addis Ababa |publisher=Haile Selassie I University |oclc=434191}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Pearce}}|last=Pearce|first=Jeff|title=Prevail : the inspiring story of ethiopia's victory over Mussolini's invasion, 1935–1941|date=18 July 2017|publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-5107-1865-4|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|River}}|last=River|first=Charles|title=Haile Selassie : the life and legacy of the Ethiopian emperor revered as the Messiah by Rastafarians|date=2019|publisher=Independently published|isbn=978-1-0990-5388-7|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Roberts}}|last=Roberts|first=Andrew Dunlop|author-link=Andrew D. Roberts|title=The Cambridge History of Africa: From 1905 to 1940|volume=7|publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|year=1986|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-22505-2|mode=cs2}}
* {{Citation|ref={{harvid|Safire}}|last=Safire|first=William|year=1997|title=Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History|publisher=W.W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-04005-0|url=https://archive.org/details/lendmeyourearsgr00safi|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Shinn}}|last1=Shinn|first1=David Hamilton|last2=Ofcansky|first2=Thomas P.|year=2004|title=Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6566-2|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book |last=Stapleton |first=Timothy J. |title=A Military History of Africa: The Colonial Period: from the Scramble for Africa to the Algerian Independence War (ca. 1870–1963) |volume=II |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-313-39570-3}}
* {{cite journal|ref={{harvid|Talbot}}|last=Talbot|first=David Abner|title=Haile Selassie I Silver Jubilee|date=2 April 1956|volume=32|issue=2|pages=243–244|url=https://academic.oup.com/ia/article-abstract/32/2/243/2689777|journal=International Affairs|doi=10.2307/2625882|jstor=2625882|mode=cs2|url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|De Waal}}|last=De Waal|first=Alexander|title=Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia|year=1991|publisher=Human Rights Watch|isbn=978-1-56432-038-4|url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/Ethiopia919.pdf|mode=cs2}}
* {{cite book|ref={{harvid|White}}|editor-link=Timothy White (writer)|editor-last=White|editor-first=Timothy|title=Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley|year=2006|publisher=Henry Holt & Co|isbn=978-0-8050-8086-5|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Yahudah}}|last=Yahudah|first=Abba|title=A journey to the roots of Rastafari : the Essene Nazarite link|date=2014|publisher=[[Trafford Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-4907-3316-6|mode=cs2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Yuajah}}|last=Yuajah|first=Empress|title=Jah Rastafari : Rasta prayers & healing scriptures|date=2016|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn=978-1-5333-7905-4|mode=cs2}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Citation|first=Ras|last=Nathaniel|title=50th Anniversary of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I First Visit to the United States|publisher=Trafford Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4120-3702-0}}{{ISBN|0-88229-342-7}}
* ''Haile Selassie's war: the Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935–1941'', 1984, {{ISBN|0-394-54222-3}}
* ''Haile Selassie, western education, and political revolution in Ethiopia'', 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-313-38620-6}}
* ''The Lion of Judah in the New World'', 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-910376-14-0}}
* {{Citation|last=Mosley|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Mosley|title=Haile Selassie: The Conquering Lion. Prentice Hall 1965|lccn=65-11882}}
{{div col end}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q41178|c=Category:Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=Author:Haile Selassie|wikt=no|species=no}}
* [http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/selassie.htm Ethiopian Treasures – Emperor Haile Selassie I]
* [https://ethiopiancrown.org/ Imperial Crown Council of Ethiopia]
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/selassie.htm Speech to the League of Nations, June 1936] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022190043/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/selassie.htm |date=22 October 2015}} (full text)
* [http://www.life.com/gallery/59201/rare-and-unseen-haile-selassie#index/0 Rare and Unseen: Haile Selassie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213230840/http://www.life.com/gallery/59201/rare-and-unseen-haile-selassie#index/0 |date=13 December 2011}} – slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4537151.stm BBC article, memories of his personal servants]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080524042052/http://www.black-king.net/haile%20selassie%20library.htm Haile Selassie I Speaks – Text & Audio]
* [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00091603/00003/allvolumes2 Collection by Martin Rikli in 1935–1936, including photos of Haile Selassie], open access through the [http://ufdc.ufl.edu/permissions University of Florida Digital Collections]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=7kimI1Y0QO0C&pg=PT24 The Emperor's Clothes]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=jX7-0ROBfyIC&pg=PA56 A History of Ethiopia]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/006961}}
* {{IMDb title|27449931|Grandpa Was an Emperor}}

{{Clear}}{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=20 January 2024|Haile Selassie Spoken.wav}}{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Solomonic dynasty|House of Solomon]]|23 July|1892|27 August|1975}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zewditu|Zewditu I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Emperor of Ethiopia]]|years=2 November 1930 – 12 September 1974}}
{{s-non|reason=[[Derg|Monarchy abolished]]}}
{{s-pre|}}
{{s-new|loss|reason=[[Derg|Communist take-over]]}}
{{s-tul|title=[[Emperor of Ethiopia]]|years=12 September 1974 – 27 August 1975}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Amha Selassie|Crown Prince Amha Selassie]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Emperors of Ethiopia}}
{{Prime ministers of Ethiopia}}
{{African Union chairpersons}}
{{Pan-Africanism}}
{{Time Persons of the Year |27–50}}
{{Rastafari}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Monarchy|Ethiopia|Eritrea|Christianity|Somerset|United Kingdom|History|Biography|Politics|Law|England|Africa|Conservatism|Liberalism}}

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