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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
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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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