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Heihachi Mishima (三島 平八, Mishima Heihachi?) (roughly translates to 'Eighth Peace of the Third Island'
1) HIS BIRTHDAY IS AUGUST 3RD 1976!!! LEO!!! YEAR OF THE DRAGON!!!
Heihachi is the son of Jinpachi Mishima, the father of Kazuya Mishima, the adopted father of Lee Chaolan and the grandfather of Jin Kazama. He fights with the power of Mishima Style Karate and is the founder and the Commander of the Tekken Force Unit. He has hosted all but the second and fifth King of Iron Fist tournaments (which were hosted by Kazuya and Jinpachi, respectively).
2) HE HAS STYLE & A GOOD PAYING JOB!!!
Mishima is the temple town of Mishima Shrine (三嶋大社, Mishima taisha?) and it is through the shrine and Rakujuen, a park central to the image of Mishima, that the city's calm nature can be seen.
Mishima has three sister cities:
3) HE IS A ROSE BOWL CHAMPION HAVING DEFEATED UCLA IN THEIR HOME STADIUM!!! (That'd be in Pasadena!!!)
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Information |
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Fighting style |
Mishima Style Karate |
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Home country |
Japan (though is denied by the Japanese government) |
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Age |
75 (Tekken 4) |
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Height |
5' 10 1/2' (179 cm) |
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Weight |
181 lbs (82 kg) |
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Blood type |
B |
4) ALL OF THIS INFORMATION ABOUT H.I.M. IS TRUE!!!
5) HE TURNS INTO THIS WHEN HE GETS ANGRY!!!
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Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 (mo1 gwai2) (Mandarin Chinese: 魔鬼; pinyin：móguǐ) meaning "ghost", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".
Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture
According to Chinese tradition, mogwai are certain demons, which often inflict harm on humans. They are said to reproduce sexually during mating seasons triggered by the coming of rain. Supposedly, they take care to breed at these times because rain signifies rich and full times ahead.[1]
The term "mo" derives from the Sanskrit "Mara",[citation needed] meaning 'evil beings', which shares a cognate with the Persian "Magi" from which the English word "magic" derives.[2] In Hinduism and Buddhism, Mara determines fates of death and desire that tether people to an unending cycle of reincarnation and suffering. He is the source of evil and purposely leads people to sin, misdeeds and self-destruction.[3] Meanwhile, "gui" does not necessarily mean 'evil' or demonic spirits. Classically, it simply means deceased spirits or souls of the dead. Nevertheless, in modern Chinese, it has evolved to refer usually to the dead spirits or ghosts of non-family members that may take vengeance on living humans who caused them pain when they were still living. It is common for the living to redress their sins by sacrificing money to gui by burning (usually fake) paper banknotes so that gui can have funds to use in their afterlife.[4]
Notably, the modern popular use of mogui as 'demonic' and gui as 'devils' is somewhat a consequence of Western influences as Chinese-language biblical texts translate the Satan in the Book of Job and the Greek term 'diabolos' as mogui.
Samurai
Samurai in armour, 1860s. Photograph by Felice Beato
Samurai in around 1860s
Samurai (侍, Samurai?) is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility," the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai." According to Wilson, an early reference to the word Samurai appears in the Kokinshu, the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the first part of the tenth century. By the end of the 12th century, saburai became synonymous with bushi (武士) almost entirely and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.
Etymology of samurai and related words
Kanji for Samurai
The term samurai originally meant "those who serve in close attendance to nobility", and was written in the Chinese character (or kanji) that had the same meaning. In Japanese, it was originally pronounced in the pre-Heian period as saburau and later as saburai, then samurai in the Edo period. In Japanese literature, there is an early reference to samurai in the Kokinshū (古今集, early 10th century):
Attendant to your nobility
Ask for your master's umbrella
The dews 'neath the trees of Miyagino
Are thicker than rain
(poem 1091)
The word bushi (武士, lit. "warrior or armsman") first appears in an early history of Japan called Shoku Nihongi (続日本記, 797 A.D.). In a portion of the book covering the year 723 A.D., Shoku Nihongi states: "Literary men and Warriors are they whom the nation values". The term bushi is of Chinese origin and adds to the indigenous Japanese words for warrior: tsuwamono and mononofu.
Bushi was the name given to the ancient Japanese soldiers from traditional warrior families. The bushi class was developed mainly in the north of Japan. They formed powerful clans, which in the 12th Century were against the noble families who were grouping themselves to support the imperial family who lived in Kyoto. Samurai was a word used by the Kuge aristocratic class with warriors themselves preferring the word bushi. The term Bushidō, the "way of the warrior," is derived from this term and the mansion of a warrior was called bukeyashiki.
The terms bushi and samurai became synonymous near the end of the 12th century, according to William Scott Wilson in his book Ideals of the Samurai-Writings of Japanese Warriors. Wilson's book thoroughly explores the origins of the word warrior in Japanese history as well as the kanji used to represent the word.
"Breaking down the character bu (武) reveals the radical (止), meaning "to stop," and an abbreviation of the radical (戈 ) "spear." The Shuo Wen, an early Chinese dictionary, gives this definition: "Bu consists of subduing the weapon and therefore stopping the spear." The Tso Chuan, another early Chinese source, goes further:
Bu consists of bun (文): literature or letters, and generally the arts of peace) stopping the :spear. Bu prohibits violence and subdues weapons ... it puts the people at peace, and harmonizes :the masses.
The radical shi (±) on the other hand seems to have originally meant a person who performs some function or who has the ability in some field. Early in Chinese history it came to define the upper class of society, and in the Book of Han this definition is given :
The shi, the farmer, the craftsman, and the tradesman are the four professions of the people. He :who occupies his rank by means of learning is called a shi.
Wilson states that the shi, as the highest of the four classes, brandished the weapons as well as the books. bushi therefore translates as "a man who has the ability to keep the peace, either by literary or military means, but predominantly by the latter".
It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai was replaced with samurai. However, the meaning had changed long before that.
A Samurai katana in koshirae.
During the era of the rule of the samurai, the term yumitori (弓取, "bowman") was also used as an honorary title of an accomplished warrior even though swordsmanship had become more important. (Japanese archery (kyujutsu) is still strongly associated with the war god Hachiman.)
A samurai with no attachment to a clan or daimyo (大名) was called a ronin (浪人). In Japanese, the word ronin means "wave man", a person destined to wander aimlessly forever, like the waves in the sea. The word came to mean a samurai who was no longer in the service of a lord because his lord had died, because the samurai had been banished or simply because the samurai chose to become a ronin.
The pay of samurai was measured in koku of rice (180 liters; enough to feed a man for one year). Samurai in the service of the han are called hanshi.
Samurai armour
Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey
The following terms are related to samurai or the samurai tradition:
- Uruwashii
a cultured warrior symbolized by the kanji for "bun" (literary study) and "bu" (military study or arts)
- Buke (武家)
A martial house or a member of such a house
- Mononofu (もののふ)
An ancient term meaning a warrior.
- Musha (武者)
A shortened form of bugeisha (武芸者), lit. martial art man.
- Shi (士)
A word roughly meaning "gentleman," it is sometimes used for samurai, in particular in words such as bushi (武士, meaning warrior or samurai).
- Tsuwamono (兵)
An old term for a soldier popularized by Matsuo Bashō in his famous haiku. Literally meaning a strong person.
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natsukusa ya
tsuwamono domo ga
yume no ato Matsuo Bashō |
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Summer grasses,
All that remains
Of soldiers' dreams (trans. Lucien Stryk) |
Myth and reality
Most samurai (during the Edo period) were bound by a strict code of honor and were expected to set an example for those below them. A notable part of their code is seppuku (切腹, seppuku?), which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death, where samurai were still beholden to social rules. Whilst there are many romanticised characterisations of samurai behaviour such as the writing of Bushido (武士道, Bushidō?) in 1905, studies of Kobudo and traditional Budo indicate that the samurai were as practical on the battlefield as were any other warrior.
Despite the rampant romanticism of the 20th century, samurai could be disloyal and treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (e.g., Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their immediate superiors, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These loyalties to the higher lords often shifted; for example, the high lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉) were served by loyal samurai, but the feudal lords under them could shift their support to Tokugawa, taking their samurai with them. There were, however, also notable instances where samurai would be disloyal to their lord or daimyo, when loyalty to the emperor was seen to have supremacy.
Marriage
The marriage of samurai was done by having a marriage arranged by someone with the same or higher rank than those being married. While for those samurai in the upper ranks this was a necessity (as most had few opportunities to meet a female), this was a formality for lower ranked samurai. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for a lower ranked samurai marriages with commoners were permitted. In these marriages a dowry was brought by the woman and was used to start their new lives.
A samurai could have a mistress but her background was strictly checked by higher ranked samurai. In many cases, this was treated like a marriage. "Kidnapping" a mistress, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not a crime. When she was a commoner, a messenger would be sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parent's acceptance and many parents gladly accepted. If a samurai's wife gave birth to a son he could be a samurai.
A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A reason for divorce would be if she could not produce a son, but then adoption could be arranged as an alternative to divorce. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the samurai who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces. Some rich merchants had their daughters marry samurai to erase a samurai's debt and advance their positions.
A samurai's wife would be dishonored and allowed to commit jigai (a female's seppuku) if she were cast off.
Culture
As de facto aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole.
Education
In General, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate. Literacy was generally high among the warriors and the common classes as well.
"They are discreet, magnanimous and lovers of virtue and letters, honouring learned men very much"
Shogun
Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate (1192-1199).
Shōgun (将軍, shōgun?) listen (help·info) "Commander of the Armies" is a military rank and historical title in Japan. The Japanese word for "general", it is made up of two kanji words: sho, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning troops or warriors. The modern rank is equivalent to a Generalissimo. As a title, it is the short form of Seii Taishōgun (征夷大将軍 ?), the governing individual at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to Emperor Meiji in 1867.[1]
A shogun's office or administration is known in English as a "shogunate" or in Japanese as a 'bakufu' (幕府 ?), the latter of which literally means "an office in the tent", and originally meant "the house of a general", then suggests a "private government". Bakufu can also mean "tent government" and it was the way the government was run under the Shogun.[2] The tent is symbolic of the field commander but also denoted that such an office was meant to be temporary. The shogun's officials were collectively, the bakufu; and those officials carried out the actual duties of administration while the Imperial court retained only nominal authority.[3]
Shogunate
The term bakufu originally meant the dwelling and household of a shogun, but in time it came to be generally used for the system of government of a feudal military dictatorship, exercised in the name of the shogun; and this is the meaning that has been adopted into English through the term "shogunate."
The shogunate system was originally established under the Kamakura shogunate by Minamoto no Yoritomo. Although theoretically the state, and therefore the Emperor, held ownership of all land of Japan, the system had some feudal elements, with lesser territorial lords pledging their allegiance to greater ones. Samurai were rewarded for their loyalty with land, which was in turn, on the liege lord's permission, handed down and divided among their sons. The hierarchy that held this system of government together was reinforced by close ties of loyalty between samurai and their subordinates.
Each shogunate was dynamic, not static. Power was constantly shifting and authority was often ambiguous. The study of the ebbs and flows in this complex history continues to occupy the attention of scholars. Each shogunate encountered competition. Sources of competition included the emperor and the court aristocracy, the remnants of the imperial governmental systems, the shōen system, the great temples and shrines, the shugo and the jitō, the kokujin and early modern daimyo. Each shogunate reflected the necessity of new ways of balancing the changing requirements of central and regional authorities.
Emperor
An emperor (from the Latin "imperator") is a (male) monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the feminine form. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor (empress consort) or a woman who is a ruling monarch (empress regnant). Emperors are generally recognized to be above kings in honor and rank.
Today the Emperor of Japan is the only remaining emperor on throne in the world.
Serbia
In 1345 the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan proclaimed himself Emperor (Tsar) and was crowned as such at Skopje on Easter 1346 by the newly created Patriarch of Serbia, and by the Patriarch of Bulgaria and the autocephalous Archbishop of Ohrid. His imperial title was recognized by Bulgaria and various other neighbors and trading partners but not by the Byzantine Empire. In its final simplified form, the Serbian imperial title read "Emperor of Serbians and Greeks" (car srbljem i grkom in the modern vernacular). It was only employed by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and his son Stefan Uroš V in Serbia (until his death in 1371), after which it became extinct. A half-brother of Dušan, Simeon Uroš, and then his son Jovan Uroš, claimed the same title, until the latter's abdication in 1373, while ruling as dynasts in Thessaly. The "Greek" component in the Serbian imperial title indicates both rulership over Greeks and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans (represented by the "Greek" Byzantines).
Russia
In 1472, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Palaiologina, married Ivan III, grand prince of Moscow, who began championing the idea of Russia being the successor to the Byzantine Empire. This idea was represented more emphatically in the composition of the monk Filofej addressed their son Vasili III. After ending Muscovy's dependence on its Mongol overlords in 1480, Ivan III began the usage of the titles Tsar (Tsar) and Autocrat (samoderžec' ). His insistence on recognition as such by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire since 1489 resulted in the granting of this recognition in 1514 by Emperor Maximilian I to Vasili III. His son Ivan IV emphatically crowned himself Tsar (Tsar) on 16 January 1547. The word Tsar derives from Latin Caesar,but this title was used in Russia as equivalent to King; the error occurred when medieval Russian clerics referred to the biblical Jewish kings with the same title that was used to designate Roman and Byzantine rulers - Caesar.
On 31 October 1721 Peter I was proclaimed Emperor by the Senate-the title used was Latin "Imperator", which is a westernizing form equivalent to the traditional Slavic title "Tsar". He based his claim partially upon a letter discovered in 1717 written in 1514 from Maximilian I to Vasili III, Sophia's son and Ivan IV's father, in which the Holy Roman Emperor used the term in referring to Vasili. The title has not been used in Russia since the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on 15 March 1917.
Imperial Russia produced four reigning Empresses, all in the eighteenth century.
Africa
Ethiopia
Emperor of Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, the Solomonic dynasty used, beginning in 1270, the title of "[nəgusä nägäst]" which is literally "King of Kings". The use of the king of kings style began a millennium earlier in this region, however, with the title being used by the Kings of Aksum, beginning with Sembrouthes in the 3rd century. Another title used by this dynasty was "Itegue Zetopia".
"Itegue" translates as Empress, and was also used by the only female reigning Empress, Zauditu, along with the official title Negiste Negest (Queen of Kings).
In 1936, the Italian king Victor Emmanuel III claimed the title of Emperor of Ethiopia after Ethiopia was occupied by Italy during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. After the defeat of the Italians by the British in 1941, Haile Selassie was restored to the throne but Victor Emmanuel did not relinquish his claim to the title until 1943.
The Rastafari claimed Selassie as God incarnate before and even more so after the Second World War (see Rastafari movement) which he did not endorse, though he was sympathetic.
East Asian tradition
China
The East Asian tradition is different from the Roman tradition, having arisen separately. What links them together is the use of the Chinese logographs 皇 (huáng) and 帝 (dì) which together or individually are imperial. Due to the cultural influence of China, China's neighbors adopted these titles or had their native titles conform in hanzi.
In 221 BC, Ying Zheng, who was king of Qin at the time, proclaimed himself shi huangdi (始皇帝), which translates as "first emperor". Huangdi is composed of huang ("august one", 皇) and di ("sage-king", 帝), and referred to legendary/mythological sage-emperors living several millennia earlier, of which three were huang and five were di. Thus Zheng became Qin Shi Huang, abolishing the system where the huang/di titles were reserved to dead and/or mythological rulers. Although not as popular, the title 王 wang (king or prince) was still used by many monarchs and dynasties in China up to the Taipings in the 19th century. 王 is pronounced vuong in Vietnamese, ō in Japanese, and wang in Korean.
The imperial title continued in China until the Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1912. The title was briefly revived from December 12, 1915 to March 22, 1916 by President Yuan Shikai and again in early July, 1917 when General Zhang Xun attempted to restore last Qing emperor Puyi to the throne. Puyi retained the title and attributes of a foreign emperor, as a personal status, until 1924. After the Japanese occupied Manchuria in 1931, they proclaimed it to be the Empire of Manchukuo, and Puyi became emperor of Manchukuo. This Empire ceased to be when it was occupied by Soviet troops in 1945.
In general, an emperor would have one empress (Huanghou, 皇后) at one time, although posthumous entitlement to empress for a concubine was not uncommon. The earliest known usage of huanghou was in the Han Dynasty. The emperor would generally select the empress from his harem. In subsequent dynasties, when the distinction between wife and concubine became more accentuated, the crown prince would have chosen an empress-designate before his reign. Imperial China produced only one reigning empress, Wu Zetian, and she used the same Chinese title as an emperor (Huangdi, 皇帝). Wu Zetian then reigned for about 15 years.
[Japan
Emperor of Japan
In some countries in the Ancient Japan, the earliest titles for the sovereign were either ヤマト大王/大君 (yamato ōkimi, Grand King of Yamato), 倭王/倭国王 (waō/wakokuō, King of Wa, used externally), or 治天下大王 (amenoshita shiroshimesu ōkimi, Grand King who rules all under heaven, used internally). As early as the 7th century the word 天皇 (which can be read either as sumera no mikoto, divine order, or as tennō, Heavenly Emperor, the latter being derived from a Tang Chinese term referring to the Pole star around which all other stars revolve) began to be used. The earliest attested use of this term is on a wooden slat, or mokkan, that was unearthed in Asuka-mura, Nara Prefecture in 1998 and dated back to the reign of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō. The reading 'Tennō' has become the standard title for the sovereign of Japan up to and including the present age. The term 帝 (mikado, Emperor) is also found in literary sources.
Japanese monarchs placed themselves from 607 on equal footing with Chinese emperors in titulary terms, but rarely was the Chinese-style "Son of Heaven" term used. In the Japanese language, the word tennō is restricted to Japan's own monarch; kōtei (皇帝) is used for foreign emperors. Historically, retired emperors have kept power over a child-emperor as de facto Regent. For a fairly long time, a shōgun (formally the imperial generalissimo, but made hereditary) or regent wielded actual political power. In fact, through much of Japanese history, the emperor has been little more than a figurehead.
After World War II, all claims of divinity were dropped (see Ningen-sengen). Parliamentary government has wielded the power, reducing the office of emperor again to a mere ceremonial function.[3] By the end of the 20th century, Japan was the only country with an emperor on the throne.
As of the early 21st century, Japan's succession law prohibits a female from ascending the throne. However, with the birth of a daughter as the first child of the current Crown Prince, Naruhito, Japan is considering abandoning that rule. Princess Kiko gave birth to a son on 6 September 2006, although it is still uncertain if the young prince or Aiko will ascend the throne; however many believe the new prince of Japan will. Historically, Japan has had eight reigning empresses who used the genderless title Tennō, rather than the female consort title kōgō (皇后) or chūgū (中宮). There is ongoing discussion of the Japanese Imperial succession controversy. Although current Japanese law prohibits female succession, all Japanese emperors claim to trace their lineage to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess of the Shintō religion.
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor (天皇, tennō?, literally "heavenly sovereign,"[1] formerly often called the Mikado) of Japan is the country's monarch. He is the head of the Japanese Imperial Family. Under Japan's present constitution, the Emperor is the "symbol of the state and the unity of the people," and is a ceremonial figurehead in a constitutional monarchy (see Politics of Japan). The Emperor of Japan is the only current head of state entitled "Emperor".
The current emperor is His Imperial Majesty.
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ, "Power of the Trinity";[1] 23 July 1892 - 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. The heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history.[2][3]
He is the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement, which numbers approximately 600,000. [4] The Rastafari also call Haile Selassie HIM, Jah, Ras Tafari and Jah Rastafari.
His suppressing of rebellions among the nobles (mekwannint), as well as what some perceived to be Ethiopia's failure to modernize adequately,[5] earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians.
At the League of Nations in 1936, the Emperor's protest of the use of chemical weapons against his people foreshadowed not only the worldwide conflict that was to come, but also the advent of the technological "refinement of barbarism"[7] that would come to mark modern warfare. Haile Selassie was a gifted speaker, and some of his speeches have been counted among the most memorable of the twentieth century.[7] His internationalist views led to Ethiopia's becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring.
Name
Haile Selassie I was born Lij Tafari Makonnen (Ge'ez ልጅ፡ ተፈሪ፡ መኮንን; Amharic pronunciation lij teferī mekōnnin). "Lij" translates literally to "child", and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood. He would later become Ras Tafari Mekonnen; "Ras" translates literally to "head"[9] and is the equivalent of "duke",[10] though it is often rendered in translation as "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".[11] 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" (Ge'ez girmāwī ḳadāmāwī 'aṣē ḫāylē śillāsē, mō'ā 'anbassā za'imnaggada yīhūda nigūsa nagast za'ītyōṗṗyā, siyūma 'igzī'a'bihēr). This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage back to Menelik I, who in the Ethiopian tradition was the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.[12]
To Ethiopians Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, and Abba Tekel. The Rastafari employ many of these appellations, also referring to him as HIM, Jah and Jah Rastafari.
Biography
Early life
Haile Selassie I was born Tafari Makonnen from a mixed Oromo, Amhara, and Gurage[13] family on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia. His mother was Woizero ("Lady") Yeshi
Ras Makonnen, father of Haile Selassie I, in 1902
mebet Ali Abajifar. His father was Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar; Ras Makonnen served as a general in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa.[14] He inherited his imperial blood through his paternal grandmother, Princess Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II, and as such asserted direct descent from Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel.[15]
Ras Makonnen arranged for Tafari as well as his first cousin, Ras Imru Haile Selassie to receive instruction in Harar from Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin, an Ethiopian capuchin monk, and from Dr. Vitalien, a surgeon from Guadeloupe. Tafari was named Dejazmach (literally "commander of the gate", roughly equivalent to "count")[16] at the age of 13, on 1 November 1905.[17] Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi, in 1906.[18]
Governorship
Tafari assumed the titular governorship of Selale in 1906, a realm of marginal importance[19] but one that enabled him to continue his studies.[17] In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of Sidamo. It is alleged that during his late teens, Haile Selassie was married to Woizero Altayech, and that from this union, his daughter Romanework Haile Selassie was born.[20][21]
Following the death of his brother Yelma in 1907, the governorate of Harar was left vacant,[19] and its administration was left to Menelik's loyal general, Dejazmach Balcha Safo. Balcha Safo's administration of Harar was ineffective, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief reign of Empress Taitu Bitul, Tafari was made governor of Harar in 1910[18] or 1911.[13]
On 3 August he married Menen Asfaw of Ambassel, niece of heir to the throne Lij Iyasu.
Regency
The extent to which Tafari contributed to the movement that would come to depose Iyasu V is unclear. Iyasu V, or Lij Iyasu, was the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. Iyasu's reputation for scandalous behavior and a disrespectful attitude to the nobles at his grandfather Menelik II's court[22] damaged his reputation, and his flirtation with Islam was considered treasonous among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian leadership of the empire, leading to his being deposed on 27 September 1916.[23]
Contributing to the movement that deposed Iyasu were conservatives such as Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde, Menelik II's longtime war minister. 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,[9][23] and Menelik II's daughter (Iyasu's aunt) was named Empress Zewditu. Tafari was elevated to the rank of Ras and was made heir apparent. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of Regent (Inderase) and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire.
Empress Zewditu ruled from 1916 until her death in April 1930.
As regent, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of cautious modernization initiated by Menelik II. He secured Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery; each emperor since Tewodros II had worked to halt slavery,[24] but the internationally-scorned practice persisted well into Haile Selassie's reign.[25] He toured Europe that same year, inspecting schools, hospitals, factories, and churches. Although patterning many reforms after European models, he remained wary of European pressure. To guard against economic imperialism, he required that all enterprises have at least partial local ownership.[26] Of his modernization campaign, he remarked, "We need European progress only because we are surrounded by it. That is at once a benefit and a misfortune."[27]
Throughout Ras Tafari's travels in Europe, the Levant, and Egypt, he and his entourage were greeted with enthusiasm and fascination. He was accompanied by two other Rases, each of whom was also the son of a general who had contributed to the victorious war against Italy a quarter century earlier.[28] The Ethiopians' "Oriental Dignity"[29] and "rich, picturesque court dress"[30] were sensationalized in the media, a phenomenon the heir may have played to deliberate effect; among his entourage he even included a pride of lions, which he distributed as gifts to President Poincaré of France, George V of the United Kingdom, and the Zoological Garden of Paris.[28] As one historian noted, "Rarely can a tour have inspired so many anecdotes".[28]
In this period, the Crown Prince visited the Armenian monastery of Jerusalem. There, he adopted 40 Armenian orphans (አርባ ልጆች Arba Lijoch, "forty children") who had escaped the Armenian genocide of the Ottoman Empire.[31] The prince arranged for the musical education of the youths, and they came to form the imperial brass band.[32]
King and Emperor
Tafari's authority was challenged in 1928 when veteran General Balcha Safo marched on Addis Ababa. The general paid homage to the Empress, but snubbed Tafari.[33] The gesture empowered Empress Zewditu politically, and she attempted to have Tafari tried for treason, for his benevolent dealings with Italy, which included a 20-year peace accord (see Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928).[17] When popular support, as well as the support of the police,[33] seemed to remain with Tafari, the Empress relented and crowned him Negus (Amharic: "King") in 1928.
The crowning of Tafari was controversial, as he occupied the same territory as the Empress, rather than going off to a regional kingdom of the empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the Emperor (in this case Empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat in Ethiopian history. Conservatives, including Balcha Safo, agitated to redress this perceived insult to the dignity of the crown, leading to the rebellion of Ras Gugsa Wele, husband of the Empress. He marched from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Anchim in March 1930.[34] News of Gugsa Wele's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the Empress died suddenly on 2 April 1930. Although it was long rumored that the Empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband,[35] or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband,[36] it has since been documented that the Empress succumbed to a flu-like fever and complications from diabetes.[37]
Cover of Time magazine, 3 November 1930
With the passing of Zewditu, Tafari himself rose to Emperor and was proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya, "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was crowned on 2 November 1930, at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George. The coronation was by all accounts "a most splendid affair",[38] and it was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were George V's son Prince Henry, Marshal Franchet d'Esperey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing Italy. Emissaries from the United States,[39] Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were also present.[38] British author Evelyn Waugh was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event. One newspaper report suggested that the celebration may have incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000.[40] Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts;[41] in one instance, the Christian Emperor even sent a gold-encased Bible to an American bishop who had not attended the coronation, but who had dedicated a prayer to the Emperor on the day of the coronation.[42]
Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931,[43] providing for a bicameral legislature.[44] The constitution kept power in the hands of the nobility but established democratic standards among the nobility, envisaging a transition to democratic rule: it would prevail "until the people are in a position to elect themselves".[44] The constitution limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Haile Selassie, a point that met with the disapprobation of other dynastic princes, including the princes of Tigrai and even the Emperor's loyal cousin, Ras Kassa Haile Darge.
In 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia following the death of King Abba Jifar II of Jimma.
Conflict with Italy
See also: Abyssinia Crisis and Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Emperor, February 1934.
Ethiopia became the target of Italian imperialist designs in the 1930s. Mussolini's fascist regime was keen to avenge the military defeats Italy had suffered to Ethiopia in the First Italo-Abyssinian War.[45][46] A conquest of Ethiopia could also empower the cause of fascism and embolden its rhetoric of empire.[46] Ethiopia would also provide a bridge between Italy's Eritrean and Italian Somaliland possessions. Ethiopia's position in the League of Nations did not dissuade the Italians from invading in 1935; the "collective security" envisaged by the League proved useless, and a scandal erupted when the Hoare-Laval Pact revealed that Ethiopia's League allies were scheming to appease Italy.[47]
Following the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie joined the Northern front and set up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. He issued his famous mobilization order on 3 October 1935:
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If you withhold from your country Ethiopia the death from cough or head-cold of which you would otherwise die, refusing to resist (in your district, in your patrimony, and in your home) our enemy who is coming from a distant country to attack us, and if you persist in not shedding your blood, you will be rebuked for it by your Creator and will be cursed by your offspring. Hence, without cooling your heart of accustomed valour, there emerges your decision to fight fiercely, mindful of your history that will last far into the future... If on your march you touch any property inside houses or cattle and crops outside, not even grass, straw, and dung excluded, it is like killing your brother who is dying with you... You, countryman, living at the various access routes, set up a market for the army at the places where it is camping and on the day your district-governor will indicate to you, lest the soldiers campaigning for Ethiopia's liberty should experience difficulty. You will not be charged excise duty, until the end of the campaign, for anything you are marketing at the military camps: I have granted you remission... After you have been ordered to go to war, but are then idly missing from the campaign, and when you are seized by the local chief or by an accuser, you will have punishment inflicted upon your inherited land, your property, and your body; to the accuser I shall grant a third of your property . . . . |
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On 19 October 1935 he gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa:
•1. When you set up tents, it is to be in caves and by trees and in a wood, if the place happens to be adjoining to these-and separated in the various platoons. Tents are to be set up at a distance of 30 cubits from each other.
•2. When an aeroplane is sighted, one should leave large open roads and wide meadows and march in valleys and trenches and by zigzag routes, along places which have trees and woods.
•3. When an aeroplane comes to drop bombs, it will not suit it to do so unless it comes down to about 100 metres; hence when it flies low for such action, one should fire a volley with a good and very long gun and then quickly disperse. When three or four bullets have hit it, the aeroplane is bound to fall down. But let only those fire who have been ordered to shoot with a weapon that has been selected for such firing, for if everyone shoots who possesses a gun, there is no advantage in this except to waste bullets and to disclose the men's whereabouts.
•4. Lest the aeroplane, when rising again, should detect the whereabouts of those who are dispersed, it is well to remain cautiously scattered as long as it is still fairly close. In time of war it suits the enemy to aim his guns at adorned shields, ornaments, silver and gold cloaks, silk shirts and all similar things. Whether one possesses a jacket or not, it is best to wear a narrow-sleeved shirt with faded colours. When we return, with God's help, you can wear your gold and silver decorations then. Now it is time to go and fight. We offer you all these words of advice in the hope that no great harm should befall you through lack of caution. At the same time, We are glad to assure you that in time of war We are ready to shed Our blood in your midst for the sake of Ethiopia's freedom..."[48]
Compared to the Ethiopians, the Italians had an advanced, modern military which included a large air force. The Italians would also come to employ chemical weapons extensively throughout the conflict, even targeting Red Cross field hospitals in violation of the Geneva Convention.[49]
Starting in early October 1935, the Italians invaded Ethiopia. On 6 October, Italian honor was avenged when Adwa fell. But, by November, the pace of invasion had slowed appreciably and Haile Selassie's northern armies were able to launch what was known as the "Christmas Offensive." During this offensive, the Italians were forced back in places and put on the defensive. However, by early in 1936, the Italians were ready to continue their offensive. Following the defeat and destruction of the northern Ethiopian armies at the Battle of Amba Aradam, the Second Battle of Tembien, and the Battle of Shire, Haile Selassie took the field with the last Ethiopian army on the northern front. On 31 March 1936, he launched a counterattack against the Italians himself at the Battle of Maychew in southern Tigray. The Emperor's army was defeated and retreated in disarray. As Haile Selassie's army withdrew, the Italians attacked from the air along with rebellious Raya and Azebo tribesmen on the ground, who were armed and paid by the Italians.[50]
When the struggle to resist Italy appeared doomed, Haile Selassie traveled to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela for fasting and prayer.[51]
Haile Selassie made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital.[52] After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interest of preserving the Imperial house, the Emperor's wife Menen Asfaw and the rest of the Imperial family should immediately depart for Djibouti, and from there continue on to Jerusalem. After further debate as to whether Haile Selassie should go to Gore or accompany his family into exile, it was agreed that Haile Selassie should leave Ethiopia with his family and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous and several participants, including the nobleman Blatta Tekle Wolde Hawariat, objected to the idea of an Ethiopian monarch fleeing before an invading force.[53] Haile Selassie appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for Djibouti on 2 May 1936.
Marshal Pietro Badoglio led Italian troops into Addis Ababa on 5 May, and Mussolini declared Ethiopia an Italian province and Victor Emanuel III its new emperor. Haile Selassie boarded a British ship at Djibouti, bound for Palestine. The Imperial family disembarked at Haifa and then went on to Jerusalem, where Haile Selassie and his retinue prepared to make their case at Geneva.
Collective security and The League of Nations, 1936
Mussolini, upon invading Ethiopia, had promptly declared his own "Italian Empire"; because the League of Nations afforded Haile Selassie the opportunity to address the assembly, Italy even withdrew its League delegation, on May 12, 1936.[54] 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.[55] Haile Selassie waited calmly for the hall to be cleared, and responded "majestically"[56] 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.
It was at the time when the operations for the encircling of Makale were taking place that the Italian command, fearing a rout, followed the procedure which it is now my duty to denounce to the world. Special sprayers were installed on board aircraft so that they could vaporize, over vast areas of territory, a fine, death-dealing rain. Groups of nine, fifteen, eighteen aircraft followed one another so that the fog issuing from them formed a continuous sheet. It was thus that, as from the end of January 1936, soldiers, women, children, cattle, rivers, lakes, and pastures were drenched continually with this deadly rain. In order to kill off systematically all living creatures, in order to more surely poison waters and pastures, the Italian command made its aircraft pass over and over again. That was its chief method of warfare.[57]
Noting that his own "small people of 12 million inhabitants, without arms, without resources" could never withstand an attack by a large power such as Italy, with its 42 million people and "unlimited quantities of the most death-dealing weapons", he contended that all small states were threatened by the aggression, and that all small states were in effect reduced to vassal states in the absence of collective action. He admonished the League that "God and history will remember your judgment."[58]
It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place i