What led to Emperor Haile Selassie's Tragic Fall

In the annals of Ethiopian and African history, one name stands out among the rest - Haile Selassie I, the 225th and final emperor of Ethiopia. From 1930 until his overthrow in 1974, he ruled the country and left an indelible mark on its destiny.

This visionary leader brought Ethiopia onto the world stage. He steered the nation into the League of Nations and later the United Nations, while making Addis Ababa the vibrant centre for the Organization of African Unity, today known as the African Union.

Ironically, Haile Selassie initiated the changes that led to his downfall. For instance, the military training program that exposed Ethiopian officers to representative institutions in the United States, and Haile Selassie I University, where students learned to think about political economy.

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Research/Writing Support - Bitwul Dashe

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Sources:

Emperor Haile Selassie — A Jacana pocket biography, by Bereket Habte Selassie, 2014.

The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence. Martin Meredith, 2011

Africa: A Modern History. Guy Arnold, 2018

Haile-Selassie his rise, his fall; Haggai Eerich

HAILE SELASSIE A Life from Beginning to End, Hourly History, 2021.

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Music:

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

French Fuse | Rain Fuse

Kai Engel - Lesicia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Kai Engel - Norctune, CC BY-SA 4.0

#Ethiopia #Selassie #Mengistu

[holo]

Mexico was one of the 5 countries who condemn Italy invasion of Ethiopia. In 1954, Emperor Haile Selassie became the first ever head of state from an African nation to pay an official visit to Mexico.

[Visiontech]

I continue to be STUNNED by the level of simplicity and yet at the same time the POWERFUL educational value of these videos!!!

[littlebrookreader]

Your comment section is wonderful. What an education from people who were there and remember. I am highly grateful for their knowledge. (From Mississippi)

[mtewahade]

This is good film with lots of good points. I am happy that you are able to get your hands on some precious video. As an Ethiopian who was already 18 years old at the time of the revolution in 1978. some of the facts were a little twisted.
1.Haile Selasie was not a brutal medieval king, who was trying to oppress his people.
Western Universities in 1950s, were training young Ethiopians Marxism and how to have contempt for the benevolent king 2 Johantan Dembelbin is a British who was maybe MI6 agent turn journalist who made a devastating film on the famine to ruin the Emperor internal and external image and cause him to die.
The Emperor gave all of us a chance at modern education even though Ethiopia was deprived modernity by Europeans, as we have rejected slavery and colonialism. Everything we had in Ethipoia was hard work of Ethiopian’s alone. The students who were rebelling against the Emperor were good and naive children who were intoxicated with Marxism and Leninism. They all lost their lives. Few of us were lucky to walk away from this mess to rebuild our shattered lives in America and Canada. Emperor Haile Selasse was benevolent king who become a too old and fearful. He was cognitively impaired to make good discussion. But the Ethiopian military that overthrew him were bunch of drunken lunatic who were totally untrained and uneducated. They took Ethiopia to a total mad house and communist lunatics. We are still suffering from that mayhem.

[heniakonas]

Met him in 1968 at a State Dinner. He was a small man but full of dignity. He did not deserve his end at the hands of his fellow Ethiopians.

[DonaldG-qqol]

Great history lesson. In the u.s. of america we're not taught enough about of African history yet Africa is the center of the world and will be the savior of all nations. Thank you for sharing.

[da]

Back in the 1930s when Italy invaded Ethiopia, a lot of black WW1 veterans were trying to go Ethiopia to help fight against Mussolini, but the US wouldn't give them a passport, but they did give passports to Italian men

[thepipedreamer]

Great documentary... now we want to hear Mengistu Haile Mariam and how he ended up living in Harare🇿🇼

[nightdragonx]

Gosh, i just fell in love with this channel over the last five days. I started with your video on (i believe one of the three leaders of Egypt) and ive gone in and out of watching a video or two ever since. Love from an American

[damianmccoy]

I’m so glad I’ve found your channel. I’ve learnt so much already after watching several videos in a row and I look forward to watching more in your back catalogue. It’s opened my eyes to things I new very little about. Thank you!

[rasempress]

H.I.M. Haile Selassie is STILL highly respected and loved by MILLIONS…we Jamaicans n we Rastafarians honour his memory everyday

[lv]

🦁 I once met a very interesting old man who was an officer in the Turkish Navy. He told me about a time when H.I.M came on board his ship and how generous he was. He handed out gold coins to the sailors on the ship. Everyone respected him very much. ❤❤❤

[neftalemfikre]

This is the best recap of history I have ever seen. Thanks .jus amazing

[MegaTang]

Haile Selassie is probably what happens when a 18th century enlightened absolute monarch is brought to the modern era. He did everything right from his POV he was playing the wrong game.

[DEONTEFORD]

I don’t man. While I think this is all very tragic I still think that there is more to his overthrow than what is told to us.

[GaMeOvEr]

Imagine if schools taught the teachings of Selassie and similar leaders? We would have such a mindful generation

[rinzo]

It's either you die young as the hero or live long enough to become the villain.

Emperor Selassie should have stepped down when the ovation was still audible.

[douglaskachiza]

Happy to see the picture of him with great african leaders, among them my great Kenneth Kaunda❤🎉

[AbyssiniaProductions]

You forgot to mention the most obvious and important fact of them all; Ethiopia has descended into absolute chaos since the absolute monarch's death. Make of it what you will but he was one of the if not the greatest emperors in history.

[tsegaberhane]

My elderly parents still remember him when he was a king and always say that he was yhe best leader