Roots | Haile Selassie I

Italian invasion

In 1931 the new emperor began to develop a written constitution (a system of basic laws of a country) to symbolize his interest in modernization and intention to increase the power of the government, which had been weakening since the death of Menilek. Haile Selassie’s efforts were cut short, however, when Benito Mussolini’s (1883–1945) Italy invaded the country in 1935. The Italian military used superior weaponry, airplanes, and poison gas to crush the ill-fated resistance led by the emperor. After the invasion, a fascist regime (a country under the control of an all-powerful ruler) occupied the country and marked the first loss of national independence in recorded Ethiopian history. In 1936 Haile Selassie went into exile, meaning he was forced out of the country. While in England he unsuccessfully went to the League of Nations for help.

In early 1941 British forces, aided by the heroic Ethiopian resistance, freed the country from Italian control, enabling Haile Selassie to triumphantly reenter his capital in May. The Italian colonial administration, backed by force and with a vastly improved road network, meant that the emperor returned to find a great deal of his government’s independence had been destroyed, leaving him in certain ways stronger than before he left.
Throughout the next decade he rebuilt the administration, improved the army, passed legislation to regulate the government, church, and financial system, and further extended his control of the provinces (government territories) by crushing uprisings in Gojjam and Tigre. But in general the emperor had gradually grown more cautious, and he allowed few new leaders into his government.

Pan-African leader

In the 1960s the emperor was clearly recognized as a major force in the pan-African movement (a movement dedicated to a united Africa), demonstrating his remarkable capacity for adapting to changing circumstances. It was a great personal triumph for him when, in 1963, the newly founded Organization of African Unity established its headquarters in Addis Ababa. Unlike other African leaders, Haile Selassie, of course, had not had to struggle once in office to prove his legitimate authority to his people. Rather, his control of government for more than forty years had given him enough time to demonstrate his strength.

By 1970 the emperor had slowly withdrawn from many day-to-day workings of the government and had become increasingly involved with foreign affairs. He probably made more state visits than any other head of state, enjoying such trips for their own sake even when they had little practical use. To him foreign relations brought admiration from around the world.

At home Haile Selassie showed more caution than ever in his approach to modernization. Though warm to Western advancements, throughout his long reign he never advanced faster than what was agreed upon among his peers. However, by his fortieth year in power he appeared to be more concerned with adjusting to change than with enacting change himself.

A famine, or devastating shortage of food, in Wello province in 1973 seriously hurt the reputation of Selassie’s leadership. With a strain on the nation, Selassie was forced to abdicate (step down from power) on September 13, 1974. The eighty-year-old emperor Selassie spent his final year of life under house arrest (restricted to one’s house by court order). His death was announced on August 27, 1975. The man who led Ethiopia for sixty years—through some of the nation’s darkest times—did not even have a funeral service. The exact location of his grave has never been revealed.

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