Haile Selassie I was born Lij Tafari Makonnen; He would later become Ras Tafari Mekonnen; "Lij" means child of noble blood, "Ras" translates literally to "head", "duke", or "prince". In 1928, he was elevated to Negus, "King". Upon his ascension to Emperor in 1930, he took the name Haile Selassie, meaning "Power of the Trinity".

Haile Selassie's full title in office was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God" This title states that he is a descendent of Menelik I, who is purported to be the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (For more information, see the Solomonic dynasty.)

To Ethiopians Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Jah and Jah Rastafari.

Haile Selassie became the Regent and de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire after Iyasu V was deposed in 1916. Upon the death of the Empress of Ethiopia, Zewditu I in 1930, Tafari became Emperor. (there was actually much in-fighting about the throne prior to her death, and Tafari was not very popular with the Empress.)

Tafari worked towards modernization for Ethiopia and to halt slavery. (Slavery persisted well into Haile Selassie's reign.) His promise to eradicate slavery also secured Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923.

Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution in 1931, which provided for a bicameral legislature (two legislative or parliamentary chambers). According to the constitution nobility was still in power, but the documetn promised a transition to democratic rule. The constitution also limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Haile Selassie, thus excluding many other nobles.

Ethiopia became the target of Italian imperialist designs in the 1930s. Italy decided to invade Ethiopia for several reasons, among them the fact that the conquest of Ethiopia would provide a bridge between Italy's other African possessions. Also Mussolini wanted revenge on Ethiopia the military defeats Italy had suffered to Ethiopia in the First Italo-Abyssinian War, and an easy victory in Ethiopia would help Mussolini justify his rhetoric of empire building to his own people and the world.

Despite Ethiopia's position in the League of Nations, Italy was not dissuaded from invading Ethiopia in 1935. In fact, the the League of Nations did little or nothing to help the Ethiopians, and attempted the to appease Italy.

Italy's tactics included the use of aircraft to drop mustard gas on military and civilian targets, incuding Red Cross field hospitals. (The use of mustard gas was in direct conflict with the Geneva Convention, as were the attacks on Red Cross field hospitals.) The results were devastating.

Haile Selassie addressed the League of Nations on May 12, 1936. (Italy withdrew it's own League delegation.)

It was in this context that Haile Selassie walked into the hall of the League of Nations, introduced by the President of the Assembly as "Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Ethiopie" ("His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia"). The introduction caused a great many Italian journalists in the galleries to erupt into jeering, heckling, and whistling. As it turned out, they had earlier been issued whistles by Mussolini's son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano. Haile Selassie waited calmly for the hall to be cleared, and responded "majestically" with a speech often considered among the most stirring of the twentieth century.

Although fluent in French, the working language of the League, Haile Selassie chose to deliver his historic speech in his native Amharic. He asserted that, because his "confidence in the League was absolute", his people were now being slaughtered. He pointed out that the same European states that found in Ethiopia's favor at the League of Nations were refusing Ethiopia credit and war matériel while aiding Italy, which was employing chemical weapons on military and civilian targets alike.

The speech made the Emperor an icon for anti-Fascists around the world, and Time Magazine named him "Man of the Year." He failed, however, to get what he most needed: the League agreed to only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy, and several members even recognized the Italian conquest. Wikipedia

Haile Selassie spent his exile years (1936-1941) in Bath, United Kingdom. During his exile his daughter, Princess Romanework with her children, and she died in captivity in Italy in 1941, and his two sons-in-law were both executed by the Italians.

In 1941, Italy was defeated by a force of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Free France, Free Belgium, and Ethiopian patriots. The standard of the Lion of Judah was raised again. After World War II, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations.

Ethiopia participated in the UN Conflict in Korea (1950-1953), and fought in a number of engagements including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.

In 1954 he visited West Germany, becoming the first head of state to do so after the end of World War II. Many elderly Germans still vividly recall the Emperor's visit, as it signaled their acceptance back into the world, as a peaceful nation. He donated blankets produced by the Debre Birhan Blanket Factory, in Ethiopia, to the war-ravaged German people. Wikipedia

In 1955, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution that kept him in power, but allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body.

His international fame grew. For example, Haile Selassie attended the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle.

A famine that destabilizing Haile Selassie's regime befell northeastern Ethiopia between 1972-74 that is estimated to have killed 40,000 to 80,000 Ethiopians. In 1974 riots broke out because of a sudden economic inflation.

The Emperor responded by announcing on national television a rollback of gasoline prices and a freeze on the cost of basic commodities. This calmed the public, but the promised 33% military wage hike was not substantial enough to pacify the army, which then mutinied, beginning in Asmara and spreading throughout the empire. This mutiny led to the resignation of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte Wold on 27 February 1974. Haile Selassie again went on television to agree to the army's demands for still greater pay, and named Endalkatchew Makonnen as his new Prime Minister. However, despite Endalkatchew's many concessions, discontent continued in March with a four-day general strike that paralyzed the nation.

The Derg, a committee of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men, set up in June to investigate the military's demands, took advantage of the government's disarray to depose Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974. Wikipedia

Hey wait a minute! What's a "Derg?"

The Derg or Dergue was a military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of military officers which ruled the country from 1974 until 1987.

Between 1975 and 1977, the Derg executed and imprisoned tens of thousands of its opponents without trial.

[...] In December 2006, 72 officials of the Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, 14 others have died during the lengthy process and 25, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia. Wikipedia

OK, back to the story:

General Aman Mikael Andom, a Protestant of Eritrean origin, served briefly as provisional head of state pending the return of Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, who was then receiving medical treatment abroad. Haile Selassie was placed under house arrest briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa, while most of his family was detained at the late Duke of Harrar's residence in the north of the capital. The last months of the Emperor's life were spent in imprisonment, in the Grand Palace.

Later, most of the Imperial family was imprisoned in the Addis Ababa prison known as "Alem Bekagn", or "I am finished with the world". On 23 November 1974, 60 former high officials of the Imperial government, known as "the Sixty", were executed without trial. The executed included Haile Selassie's grandson and two former Prime Ministers. These killings, known to Ethiopians as "Bloody Saturday", were condemned by Crown Prince Asfa Wossen; the Derg responded to his rebuke by revoking its acknowledgment of his imperial legitimacy, and announcing the end of the Solomonic dynasty. Wikipedia

On August 28, 1975, Haile Selassie was reported to have died of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate operation by the state media. There continues to be considerable controversy about both his death and his remains.