Editing Haile Selassie (section)

== Regency ==
The extent to which Tafari Makonnen contributed to the movement that would come to depose [[Lij Iyasu]] has been discussed extensively, particularly in Selassie's own detailed account of the matter. Iyasu was the designated but uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. Iyasu's reputation for scandalous behavior and a disrespectful attitude towards the nobles at the court of his grandfather, Menelik II,<ref>Lentakis, Michael B. (2004), ''Ethiopia: Land of the Lotus Eaters''. Janus Pub. Co. {{ISBN|1-85756-558-4}}, p. 41.</ref> damaged his reputation. Iyasu's flirtation with Islam was considered treasonous among the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christian]] leadership of the empire. On 27 September 1916, Iyasu was deposed.<ref name="so228" />

Contributing to the movement that deposed Iyasu were conservatives such as ''[[Fitawrari]]'' [[Habte Giyorgis]], Menelik II's longtime Minister of War. The movement to depose Iyasu preferred Tafari, as he attracted support from both progressive and conservative factions. Ultimately, Iyasu was deposed on the grounds of conversion to Islam.<ref name= babylon172 /><ref name= so228>{{Harvnb |Shinn | p = 228}}.</ref> In his place, the daughter of Menelik II (the aunt of Iyasu) was named Empress [[Zewditu]], while Tafari was elevated to the rank of ''Ras'' and was made [[heir apparent]] and [[Crown Prince]]. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of [[Plenipotentiary|Regent Plenipotentiary]] (''Balemulu 'Inderase''){{refn|''Bālemulu'' literally means "fully empowered" or "wholly authorised", thus distinguishing it from the general use of ''Enderase'', that being a representative or lieutenant of the Emperor to fiefs or vassals, essentially a [[Governor-General]] or [[Viceroy]], by which term provincial governors in the contemporary Imperial period, during Haile Selassie's reign, were referred.<ref name="Otto Harrassowitz">{{cite book|last1=Leslau|first1=Wolf|title=Concise Amharic Dictionary|date=1976|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|location=Wiesbaden, Germany|isbn=3-447-01729-5|pages=15, 273, 332, 354|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Ǝndärase">{{cite book|last1=Rubinkowska|first1=Hanna|title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica vol. 2|date=2005|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|location=Wiesbaden, Germany|isbn=3-447-05238-4|page=297}}</ref> |group= nb}} and became the ''de facto'' ruler of the [[Ethiopian Empire]] (''Mangista Ityop'p'ya''). Zewditu would govern while Tafari would administer.{{Sfn |Marcus | p = 126}}

While Iyasu had been deposed on 27 September 1916, on 8 October he managed to escape into the [[Ogaden Desert]] and his father, ''Negus'' [[Mikael of Wollo]], had time to come to his aid.<ref name="Marcus, page 127">{{Harvnb |Marcus | p = 127}}.</ref> On 27 October, ''Negus'' Mikael and his army met an army under ''Fitawrari'' Habte Giyorgis loyal to Zewditu and Tafari. During the [[Battle of Segale]], Mikael was defeated and captured. Any chance that Iyasu would regain the throne was ended, and he went into hiding. On 11 January 1921, after avoiding capture for about five years, Iyasu was taken into custody by [[Gugsa Araya Selassie]].<ref>Marcus, ''Haile Sellassie'', pp. 25</ref><ref name="Chronicle-372">Gebre-Igzabiher Elyas, ''Chronicle'', p. 372</ref>

[[File:Fh jullien n18x24 00604 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ras Tafari in 1924 at the [[International Labour Organization]]]]
On 11 February 1917, the coronation for Zewditu took place. She pledged to rule justly through her regent, Tafari. While Tafari was the more visible of the two, Zewditu was not simply an honorary ruler, but she did have some political restraints due to the complicated nature of her position compared to other Ethiopian monarchs, one was that it required that she arbitrate the claims of competing factions. In other words, she had the last word. But unlike other monarchs Tafari carried the burden of daily administration, but, initially because his position was relatively weak, this was often an exercise in futility. His personal army was poorly equipped, his finances were limited, and he had little leverage to withstand the combined influence of the Empress, the Minister of War, or the provincial governors. Nonetheless, her authority weakened while Tafari's power increased, she focused on praying and fasting and much less in her official duties which allowed Tafari to later have greater influence than even the Empress.<ref name="Marcus, page 127" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bahru|first=Zewde|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderne00bahr|title=A History of Modern Ethiopia|title-link=|publisher=James Curry|year=2001|isbn=0-85255-786-8|edition=2nd|location=Oxford|page=135|url-access=registration}}</ref>

During his Regency, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of cautious modernisation initiated by Menelik II. Also, during this time, he survived the [[1918 flu pandemic]], having come down with the illness<ref>Marcus, Harold (1996), ''Haile Selassie I: The formative years, 1892–1936''. Trenton: Red Sea Press. {{ISBN|1-56902-007-8}}, pp. 36ff.</ref> as someone fairly "prone to" the effects of disease throughout his life.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2023|editor-last=Jacobs|editor-first=Sam|editor-link=Samuel Jacobs (journalist)|editor2-last=Rothman|editor2-first=Lily|editor3-last=Benedict|editor3-first=Julie Blume|editor4-last=Cassidy|editor4-first=Catherine|editor4-link=Catherine Cassidy|title=Haile Selassie|magazine=Time Person of the Year: 95 Years of the World's Most Influential People|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|page=11}}</ref> He secured Ethiopia's admission to the [[League of Nations]] in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery; each emperor since [[Tewodros II]] had issued proclamations to halt [[slavery]],<ref>Clarence-Smith, W. G. ''The Economics of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century''. 1989, p. 103.</ref> but without effect: the internationally scorned practice persisted well into Selassie's reign with an estimated 2&nbsp;million slaves in Ethiopia in the early 1930s.<ref>{{Citation|last=Miers|url=http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf|title=Twentieth Century Solutions of the Abolition of Slavery|publisher=Yale|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515192003/http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/cbss/Miers.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2011}}.</ref><ref>Brody, J. Kenneth (2000). ''The Avoidable War''. Transaction Publishers. {{ISBN|0-7658-0498-0}}, p. 209.</ref>

=== Travel abroad ===

[[File:Ras Regent Selassie with King George V of the United Kingdom.jpg|left|thumb|With King [[George V]] at [[Buckingham Palace]], 1924]]

In 1924, Ras Tafari toured Europe and the Middle East visiting [[Jerusalem]], [[Alexandria]], Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, [[Amsterdam]], Stockholm, London, [[Geneva]], Gibraltar and [[Athens]]. With him on his tour was a group that included Ras [[Seyum Mangasha]] of western [[Tigray Province]]; Ras [[Hailu Tekle Haymanot]] of [[Gojjam]] province; Ras [[Mulugeta Yeggazu]] of [[Illubabor Province]]; Ras [[Makonnen Endelkachew]]; and ''[[Blattengeta]]'' [[Heruy Welde Selassie]]. The primary goal of the trip to Europe was for Ethiopia to gain access to the sea. In Paris, Tafari was to find out from the [[French Foreign Ministry]] (''[[Quai d'Orsay]]'') that this goal would not be realised.{{Sfn |Marcus | p = 123}} However, failing this, he and his retinue inspected schools, hospitals, factories, and churches. Although patterning many reforms after European models, Tafari remained wary of European pressure. To guard against [[economic imperialism]], Tafari required that all enterprises have at least partial local ownership.<ref>Gates and Appiah, ''Africana'' (1999), p. 698.</ref> Of his modernisation campaign, he remarked, "We need European progress only because we are surrounded by it. That is at once a benefit and a misfortune."<ref>Rogers, Joel Augustus (1936). ''The Real Facts about Ethiopia'', p. 27.</ref>

Throughout Tafari's travels in Europe, the [[Levant]], and Egypt, he and his entourage were greeted with enthusiasm and fascination. Seyum Mangasha accompanied him and Hailu Tekle Haymanot who, like Tafari, were sons of generals who contributed to the victorious war against Italy a quarter-century earlier at the [[Battle of Adwa]].<ref name=mockler>{{Harvnb |Mockler | pp = 3–4}}.</ref> Another member of his entourage, Mulugeta Yeggazu, actually fought at Adwa as a young man. The "Oriental Dignity" of the Ethiopians<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/17/archives/ethiopian-ruler-wins-plaudits-of-parisians-ras-taffaris-oriental.html |url-access=subscription |title=Ethiopian Ruler Wins Plaudits of Parisians; Ras Taffari's Oriental Dignity Impresses Populace -- Government Extends Royal Honors. |work=The New York Times|date=17 May 1924|page=3|access-date=13 December 2018|archive-date=22 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922134948/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/17/archives/ethiopian-ruler-wins-plaudits-of-parisians-ras-taffaris-oriental.html?sq=ethiopian&scp=29&st=p|url-status=live}}.</ref> and their "rich, picturesque court dress"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/05/archives/ethiopian-royalties-don-shoes-in-cairo-prince-and-eight-field.html |url-access=subscription |title=Ethiopian Royalties Don Shoes in Cairo; Prince and Eight Field Marshals Submit to Tortures in Tribute to Western Civilization. |work=The New York Times|date=5 May 1924|page=3|access-date=13 December 2018|archive-date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923084042/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/05/05/archives/ethiopian-royalties-don-shoes-in-cairo-prince-and-eight-field.html?sq=ethiopian&scp=27&st=p|url-status=live}}</ref> were sensationalised in the media; among his entourage he even included a pride of lions, which he distributed as gifts to President [[Alexandre Millerand]] and Prime Minister [[Raymond Poincaré]] of [[French Third Republic|France]], to King [[George V]] of the United Kingdom, and to the Zoological Garden (''[[Jardin d'Acclimatation|Jardin Zoologique]]'') of Paris, France.<ref name=mockler /> As one historian noted, "Rarely can a tour have inspired so many anecdotes".<ref name=mockler /> In return for two lions, the United Kingdom presented Tafari with the imperial crown of Emperor [[Tewodros II]] for its safe return to Empress Zewditu. The crown had been taken by [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Sir Robert Napier]] during the [[1868 Expedition to Abyssinia]].<ref>[[#{{harvid|Mockler}}|Mockler]], p. 4.</ref>

In this period, the Crown Prince visited the Armenian monastery of [[Jerusalem]]. There, he adopted 40 [[Armenians|Armenian]] orphans (አርባ ልጆች ''[[Arba Lijoch]]'', "forty children"), who had lost their parents during the [[Armenian genocide|Armenian Genocide]]. Tafari arranged for the musical education of the youths, and they came to form the imperial brass band.<ref>Nidel, Richard (2005), ''World Music: The Basics''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-96800-3}}, p. 56.</ref>