Haile Selassie deposed - September 12, 1974

Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was deposed on this day in 1974. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey guys, welcome to This Day in History Class,
where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day.
Today is September twelve, nineteen. The day was September twelfth,

(00:25):
nineteen seventy four. Emperor of Ethiopia Hila Selassie was deposed
by Marxist colonel man Gitsu Hila Mariam. Just under a
year later, Hila Selassie died. Hilo Selassie was born Tafari
mcconan in eight nine two in Harrar, Ethiopia. At this time,

(00:47):
Mentelec the second was Emperor of Ethiopia. Mentele the second
was known for expanding and modernizing Ethiopia, as well as
defeating an Italian military expedition. He made Addis Ababa his
capital and attempted to suppress the slave trade. Hilo Selassie's
father was a chief advisor to Menelik the second. By

(01:09):
the time Hila Selassie was a teenager, his father had
made him commander of a local militia. After his father died,
Hila Selassie was appointed to be governor of a small
province by Menelik the second, a few years later he
was promoted to a larger province than a couple of
years after that, he was made governor of Harar. His

(01:32):
policies were progressive, as he tried to limit the feudal
power of nobility by increasing the power of the central government.
He developed a salaried civil service and created a court
system that gave legal rights to the peasantry. But when
Menelik the second died and his grandson lij Yasu succeeded him,

(01:52):
Lijiyasu was viewed as pro Muslim and unpopular with Ethiopia's
Christian majority. Hilo Selassie was an Amhara, which is an
Ethiopian ethnic group formed mostly of Orthodox Christians. He was
educated in the Tenets of the Coptic Church. He rose
as a prominent voice in the Christian resistance against Lidjyasu,

(02:13):
whom he deposed in nineteen sixteen. Meddle like the second's
daughter Zao Ditto, then became empress and Hila Selassie or
Ross Safari as he was known, was named Prince Regent
and heir to the throne. Saal Dittu was conservative and
focused on religion, while Hila Selassie maintained his progressive stance.

(02:36):
He replaced conservative members on the Council of Ministers with
his pro reformed supporters. Cars, a printing press, telephone service,
and a reformed justice system were introduced. Ethiopia was admitted
to the League of Nations in nineteen twenty three. He
got international attention as he traveled to France, Sweden, England

(02:58):
and other countries. In In nineteen he was named negus
or King under pressure from his supporters, Jamaicans developed Rastafari,
a religion which has adherents who believed that Hila Selassie
was the second coming of Christ. Two years after he
was appointed King, salditud died in Holly Celastee was coordinated

(03:21):
as emperor. At that point he changed his name from
Rastafari to Holly Celastie, which means power of the Trinity.
He enacted Ethiopia's first constitution in nineteen thirty one, creating
a two chamber parliament with a popularly elected lower house
so he could overthrow parliamentary decisions. He continued his efforts

(03:42):
at modernization and centralizing power by strengthening police forces, establishing
provincial schools, and other measures, but after Italy invaded Ethiopia
in nineteen thirty five, Hola Selassie was forced into exile.
When he returned to Ethiopia, he's art it again on
his modernization efforts, with an emphasis on education. At the

(04:05):
same time, the government was becoming more corrupt, and despite
appearances of reform, power still resided in the emperor. In
nineteen sixty, dissidents seized control of Oddis Ababa and called
for a true constitutional monarchy with democracy, economic and agricultural reform,
and a real effort to end poverty. The resistance was

(04:29):
squashed and many of its leaders were executed. Highla Selassie
then began to focus on foreign affairs, advocating for Pan
Africanism and playing a key role in the creation of
the Organization of African Unity. But religious and ethnic conflict
was escalating in Ethiopia, and so was dissatisfaction with economic conditions. Famine, unemployment,

(04:54):
and political ineptitude led military officers to rebel. In nineteen
seventy four, the emperor's cabinet resigned, Hiley Selassie and his
family members were imprisoned, and the officers formed the DIRK,
or the provisional military government of Socialist Ethiopia. They accused
Hiley Celassie of embezzling and causing the famine. Hiley Celastie

(05:17):
remained in prison until his death in nineteen seventy five.
At the time of his death, reports said that he
died from complications after a procedure, but evidence later turned
up that he had been assassinated by military officers. The
Dirt declared Marxism Leninism the state ideology and ruled Ethiopia

(05:37):
until nineteen seven. I'm Eve Steacote and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
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for listening, and I hope to see you again tomorrow

(05:59):
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