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-
- @
- By the time he
- became emperor
- in 1930, Haile
- Selassie had been
- regent for 14
- years, and a
- provincial
- governor since
- his early teens.
- Ethiopia, then
- generally known
- as Abyssinia, was
- one of the few
- independent
- African states
- and numerous
- foreign
- dignitaries paid
- their respects at
- the coronation
- #
- Haile Selassie was
- a highly educated
- and sophisticated
- ruler, but his
- coronation made
- him the absolute
- monarch of a
- country which
- was essentially
- feudal. Tension
- between ancient
- tradition and
- modernisation
- was to mark his
- entire reign
- #
- Abyssinia's
- independence
- was fragile,
- achieved only a
- few years earlier
- by Haile Selassie's
- predecessor
- Menelek. Italy
- was eager to re-
- establish a
- colonial base in
- Africa; in 1935
- Mussolini
- launched an
- all-out attack.
- In spite of the
- Italians' techno-
- logical advantage,
- the Ethiopians
- fought back
- bravely
- #
- Haile Selassie
- displayed great
- courage in the
- fight against the
- Italians,
- personally
- leading his troops
- into battle. But by
- 1936 the
- situation had
- become hopeless
- and Haile Selassie
- fled into exile
- #
- One of the
- vanquished
- emperor's first
- steps in 1936 was
- to petition the
- League of Nations
- (which, at his
- own behest,
- Ethiopia had
- joined in 1924)
- to defend his
- country from
- Italian
- aggression.
- Though no action
- was taken, his
- dignified
- performance won
- him many
- admirers
- overseas
- #
- Haile Selassie
- spent his years of
- exile in England,
- but in 1941 he
- returned to
- Ethiopia at the
- head of a partisan
- force. With
- British backing,
- he successfully
- drove out the
- Italian occupiers.
- His restoration as
- emperor was one
- of the high points
- of Haile Selassie's
- life
- @
- After the war
- Haile Selassie
- built schools,
- hospitals and
- roads. But his
- imperial style
- was fast
- becoming an
- anachronism. He
- realised this and
- in 1957 oversaw
- Ethiopia's first
- parliamentary
- elections. But
- power remained
- in his own hands,
- and popular
- frustration
- culminated in an
- attempted coup
- in 1960
- #
- The coup attempt
- failed because the
- army remained
- loyal to the
- emperor and
- because he still
- possessed
- immense prestige
- as the country's
- spiritual and
- temporal leader.
- But it also
- showed that
- many Ethiopians
- were impatient
- with their
- conservative
- ruler and his
- outmoded system
- of government
- #
- Haile Selassie
- came to a sad and
- somewhat
- mysterious end.
- He remained the
- titular head of
- state, but was
- virtually under
- house arrest.
- Allegations of
- corruption had by
- this time
- undermined his
- authority. The
- Ethiopian
- monarchy
- effectively died
- with him
- #
- For all the
- reforming zeal of
- his youth, the
- emperor always
- maintained that
- change could only
- be introduced
- when the people
- were ready for it.
- Ethiopia
- remained a
- largely agrarian
- and backward-
- looking society
- #
- Haile Selassie's
- titles included the
- 'Lion of Judah'
- and the 'Elect of
- God'. He became
- the inspiration
- for a Caribbean
- Christian sect, the
- Rastafarians, who
- regarded him as a
- black Messiah
- who would lead
- them back to the
- promised land in
- Africa. They
- adopted his first
- given name, Ras
- Tafari
- #
- The link between
- an African
- monarch and a
- millenarian
- Christian
- movement in
- Jamaica would
- probably have
- remained obscure
- but for the
- enormous
- popularity of
- reggae music.
- Rastafarian
- themes in reggae
- music, such as the
- emotive idea of a
- return to Africa,
- spoke to black
- people
- everywhere
- @
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