His father is the brother of a member of the party and an ally of Emperor Manilik II. He has no legal male immediate successor. 1906 after the death of Lars makonning, Tafari, who had a basic education and could speak French, was called to the court in Addis Ababa to further study and learn the politics of the Manierik family.
19 13 After the death of Manieric II, Tafari failed to succeed to the throne, and the throne was passed to Li Zan Shu Ya, the grandson of Manieric, a handsome, dissolute and sports-loving young man. After Reggie Shu Ya's niece Vizello Mennan divorced, Tafari married her and gained practical experience in politics as a governor.
Rigi Shu Ya, who had never held a formal coronation ceremony, converted to Islam and was expelled from the Ethiopian church. In the palace coup that happened soon after, Tafari became the presumed heir to the throne and the regent of Zawu Tito, the daughter of Mani Eric who was crowned queen.
When Tafari became a powerful man, he got rid of the queen's husband, put her under his control, and arrested Reggie Shu Ya, who spent the rest of his life in prison. However, the gold fetters worn by Reggie Shu Ya did not prevent him from enjoying all kinds of women that Tafari kept offering him.
Tafari was not equally tolerant of his other noble warlords. One of them said, "He climbs like a mouse, but he has lion's claws." He relied on the army and the death penalty to stop the chaos that was about to spread throughout Ethiopia and let his country pay as little attention to the outside world as possible.
1923, the Kingdom of Tafari was accepted as a member of the League of Nations. He hoped that this would free Ethiopia from the colonial ambitions of other countries.
The following year, after consolidating his power at home, Tafari made an extensive overseas trip. He said: "We need the progress of Europe only because we are surrounded by it."
He left indelible footprints all over Europe with six lions, four zebras and 30 followers. His concept of modernization and Ethiopia's need for reform and development won him friends.
One of the results of this trip was the establishment of Tafari Makonnen School, which used European teachers. When he became emperor, one of his main interests was education. He established primary and secondary schools all over the country and founded Haier Selassie University. Even so, at the end of his rule, only 500,000 of the 3.2 million school-age children went to school.
In the late 1920s, the friction between the Queen and the Regent intensified. 1928, the queen thought she had the upper hand and tried to launch a coup, but she was defeated by the cunning and alert Tafari, and Tafari forced her to crown him as Ethiopian king. Two years later, the Queen died mysteriously, and Tafari was crowned emperor, and named Haier Selassie, which means "Trinity Machine Force".
On the one hand, due to the pressure of this class, on the other hand, due to the upsurge of anti-colonialism in Africa, Haile Selassie promulgated a new constitution in 1955. The Constitution allows his citizens to enjoy equal rights before the law and the right to vote, but he retains his other privileges. One article in the Constitution reads: "The emperor himself is sacred because of his royal blood and the anointing ceremony he performed. His dignity is inviolable and his power is indisputable. Therefore, he enjoys all the honors given by the tradition and the current constitution. Whoever dares to offend the emperor will be hell to pay. "
1960, Haile Selassie went abroad to visit Brazil, and the apparent calm in Ethiopia was broken. The Royal Guard mutinied, and members of the royal family, including Crown Prince Archer Watson, also demanded the deposing of the emperor and accelerated social and economic progress. The emperor returned to Addis Ababa, smashed the coup and publicly hanged the captain of the Royal Guard for treason. The crown prince fell out of favor, but he finally looked up slowly. The attempted coup led the emperor to talk to his subjects more directly in his radio address, telling them what he would do for them like his father.
In the last few years of his rule, he managed to get assistance from different sources without causing contradictions among donors. Italy and Yugoslavia built dams for him, the United States built Addis Ababa airport, and the Soviet Union established an industrial college on the bank of Tana Lake, the source of Niqing River.
The emperor was very keen on state visits and met with many foreign heads of state, such as Tito of Yugoslavia, Queen Elizabeth II, American Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. He visited more than 60 countries, including China, and was received by Mao Zedong at 197 1.