TIMELINE | Sat. 2 March 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie I Attends Church Service Commemorating The Battle of Adwa
Saturday, March 2, 1974
Commemorating The Battle of Adwa
Emperor Haile Selassie I Attends Church Service
This is historic footage of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I attending a morning church service at which the Battle of Adowa (or Adwa) was commemorated. This military engagement between the army of King Menelik II and an invading force from Italy was defeated in Tigray Province on March 1st 1896.
Reuters reported that the Emperor was guarded by hundreds of fully armed troops from the Imperial Guard.
Source: Reuters News Archive.
Note:
In February 1974, a series of mutinies among Ethiopian Army (Nagelle) and Air Force (Debre Zeit) troops led to extremely tight security around the Emperor. The term “Popular Revolution” was coined to describe this.
The Selassie regime’s failure to implement political and economic reforms provided the backdrop for the turmoil that eventually moved from the military to the general populace. In the northeastern provinces, there was starvation brought on by drought, excessive inflation, and corruption.
The Emperor was then detained and imprisoned when a coup d’etat was carried out against him on September 12, 1974. After seizing power, the Provisional Military Administrative Council, also known as the Derg, made Marxism-Leninism the official philosophy of Ethiopia.
The monarchy was later abolished, but the Emperor’s utterances, life, and faith are eternal.
