September 12, 1974: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia Is Deposed

September 12, 1974: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed in a military coup. He had reigned officially since 1930, and unofficially since 1916. Although once a symbol of resistance to European colonialism, he had allowed his country to fall apart into economic chaos. He died under house arrest a year later. The Communist military dictatorship, the Derg, fell in 1991, and a parliamentary democracy has been in place ever since.

In 1936, when troops of Benito Mussolini's Fascist Italy took over his country, Haile Selassie begged the League of Nations for help. He got none, until America and Britain went to war with the Axis. In 1974, the world was very different -- but he still got no help from the Western democracies.

 

Had the monarchy been allowed to continue, the current Emperor would be his grandson, Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, 71, an Eton-educated banker who now lives in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

*

September 12, 1974 was a Thursday. This was also the day that Brian Clough was fired as manager of English soccer team Leeds United after 44 tumultuous days, and the day the Boston Busing Crisis began. I have separate entries for those events.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Wallace -- no relation to the CBS journalist of the same name -- makes his only start of the season, and goes 7 2/3rds innings. allowing just 3 hits, outpitching Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer. Dick Tidrow completes the 4-hit shutout, and Wallace advances to 7-0 on the season. Other than this one season, he was little more than a journeyman pitcher.

Bobby Murcer, Lou Piniella and Elliott Maddox each got 2 hits for the Yankees. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-5 at Shea Stadium. The night before, the Cardinals had beaten the Mets in 25 innings. There may have been some carryover, as Bob Gibson outpitched Jon Matlack, who nonetheless had 2 hits and 2 RBIs in his own cause.

John Milner hit a home run for the Mets, but Reggie Smith went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs for the Cards. Ted Simmons also went 3-for-5, albeit with no RBIs. As for 2 future Mets, Joe Torre went 0-for-5, and Keith Hernandez did not reach base as a pinch-hitter.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Mike Schmidt and Del Unser hit home runs for the Phils. Willie Stargell went 2-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Bill Lee outpitched Jim Perry. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5. This game, and the Yanks' win over the O's, meant that the day ended with the Yankees leading the American League Eastern Division by 2 1/2 games over the Sox, and 3 over the O's. The Sox had led for most of the season, but went into one of their occasional late-season tailspins. Ultimately, the Orioles would win the Division, by 2 games over the Yankees and 7 over the Red Sox.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Atlanta Braves, 9-6 and 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Over the 2 games, Pete Rose went 3-for-8 with a walk, and Johnny Bench went 2-for-7 with 2 home runs, a walk and 6 RBIs. Hank Aaron, having already become baseball's all-time home run leader, went 0-for-5 in the opener, and did not play in the nightcap. Darrell Evans homered for the Braves in both games.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-7 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Tom Veryzer won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was the 1st home run of his career. He would hit 14. Al Kaline, in his last month as an active player, went 1-for-4. Rookie Robin Yount did not get into the game for the Brewers.

* The Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox were tied 2-2 after 6 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when it was called due to rain. It was never made up.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Ken Holtzman outpitched Bert Blyleven. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4. Rod Carew did not play.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield entered the game as a defensive replacement, and did not get to bat.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 11-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Al Downing pitched a 2-hit shutout. The Dodgers got no home runs, but Bill Russell went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs, and Ron Cey went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* And the California Angels and the Kansas City Royals were not scheduled.

June 30, 1936: Emperor Haile Selassie's Plea Falls On Deaf Ears

June 30, 1936: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia speaks before the League of Nations, at the Palais Wilson on the shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Ethiopia was one of the few independent nations in Africa when Italy invaded on October 2, 1935, in fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's bid to create a new Roman Empire. At the end of the year, for his resistance, Time magazine named Haile Selassie its Man of the Year. On May 7, 1936, Italy completed its annexation of the country. Two days later, Mussolini declared the colony of Italian East Africa, also including Eritrea and Somalia.

Like all who had sat on his throne, Haile Selassie claimed to trace his lineage back to the affair between Solomon, one of the Biblical Kings of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba, known in modern Ethiopia as Makeda. But now, the man known to his people as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Elect of God, and Lion of Judah had been overthrown, and had to flee his country.

The League of Nations had been founded after World War I, by President Woodrow Wilson (hence, the name of the its assembly hall), in the hopes of preventing small conflicts, especially to prevent them from becoming bigger conflicts, as the fight between Serbia and the Austrian Empire in July 1914 snowballed into World War I.

But America's U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which had created the League. Thus, America, and the large moral authority it had gained from winning the war, were not in the league. Therefore, the League was considerably weaker than it could have been.

Still, Haile Selassie believed that, if he told the League what the Italians were doing in his country, they would respond, and help. Although fluent in French, the League's working language, the Emperor delivered his speech in his native language, Amharic, translated for the Assembly. He said:

I, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, am here today to claim that justice which is due to my people, and the assistance promised to it eight months ago, when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in violation of international treaties.

There is no precedent for a Head of State himself speaking in this assembly. But there is also no precedent for a people being victim of such injustice and being at present threatened by abandonment to its aggressor. Also, there has never before been an example of any Government proceeding to the systematic extermination of a nation by barbarous means, in violation of the most solemn promises made by the nations of the earth that there should not be used against innocent human beings the terrible poison of harmful gases.

It is to defend a people struggling for its age-old independence that the head of the Ethiopian Empire has come to Geneva to fulfil this supreme duty, after having himself fought at the head of his armies...

Apart from the Kingdom of the Lord there is not on this earth any nation that is superior to any other. Should it happen that a strong Government finds it may with impunity destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment...

On behalf of the Ethiopian people, a member of the League of Nations, I request the Assembly to take all measures proper to ensure respect for the Covenant. I renew my protest against the violations of treaties of which the Ethiopian people has been the victim. I declare in the face of the whole world that the Emperor, the Government and the people of Ethiopia will not bow before force; that they maintain their claims that they will use all means in their power to ensure the triumph of right and the respect of the Covenant...

It is us today. It will be you tomorrow...

I ask the fifty-two nations, who have given the Ethiopian people a promise to help them in their resistance to the aggressor, what are they willing to do for Ethiopia? And the great Powers who have promised the guarantee of collective security to small States on whom weighs the threat that they may one day suffer the fate of Ethiopia, I ask what measures do you intend to take?

Representatives of the World: I have come to Geneva to discharge in your midst the most painful of the duties of the head of a State. What reply shall I have to take back to my people?

The League's reply was pathetic: Only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy. It is often said that the League of Nations effectively collapsed due to its failure to condemn Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. 

He spent his exile in Bath, England. Back in Ethiopia, one of his daughters died in captivity, and his sons-in-law were executed. Another daughter died in childbirth shortly after the restoration.

But the restoration did come. When Britain declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939, it also declared war on Italy, as part of the same Axis. On January 18, 1941, a combined force of Ethiopian, British Empire, Free France and Free Belgium troops invaded. On May 5, the Italians surrendered, and Haile Selassie entered the capital of Addis Ababa, and addressed his people again.

By that point, the League of Nations had only a skeleton staff. For all intents and purposes, it existed only on paper. In 1946, with the United Nations already operating, the League Assembly voted to dissolve the League.

*

June 30, 1936:  was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox, 10-5 and 6-3 at Yankee Stadium. Lou Gehrig went 3-for-6 with a home run in each game, 3 walks and 4 RBIs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-9 with an RBI. For the Sox, Jimmie Foxx 3-for-7 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Bees, 7-6 at National League Park in Boston. This was the 1st season for which the Boston Braves tried to abandon their losing tradition by changing the name of their team and their ballpark, Braves Field. After 5 years, they realized it wasn't working.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 and 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

May 5, 1941: The Liberation of Ethiopia

May 5, 1941: Five years to the day after Italy completed its annexation of the African nation of Ethiopia, the Allies liberate that country. Freedom defeats fascism.

Ethiopia was one of the few independent nations in Africa when Italy invaded on October 2, 1935, in fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's bid to create a new Roman Empire. On May 7, 1936, Italy completed its annexation of the country. Two days later, Mussolini declared the colony of Italian East Africa, also including Eritrea and Somalia.

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopa, like all who had sat on his throne, claimed to trace his lineage back to the affair between Solomon, one of the Biblical Kings of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba, known in modern Ethiopia as Makeda. But now, the man known to his people as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Elect of God, and Lion of Judah had been overthrown, and had to flee his country.

The League of Nations had been founded after World War I, by President Woodrow Wilson (hence, the name of the its assembly hall), in the hopes of preventing another small conflicts, especially to prevent them from becoming bigger conflicts, as the fight between Serbia and the Austrian Empire in July 1914 snowballed into World War I.

But America's U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which had created the League. Thus, America, and the large moral authority it had gained from winning the war, were not in the league. Therefore, the League was considerably weaker than it could have been.

Still, Haile Selassie believed that, if he told the League what the Italians were doing in his country, they would respond, and help. Although fluent in French, the League's working language, the Emperor delivered his speech in his native language, Amharic, translated for the Assembly.

On June 30, 1936, Haile Selassie traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to speak before the League. Among h is remarks:

On behalf of the Ethiopian people, a member of the League of Nations, I request the Assembly to take all measures proper to ensure respect for the Covenant. I renew my protest against the violations of treaties of which the Ethiopian people has been the victim. I declare in the face of the whole world that the Emperor, the Government and the people of Ethiopia will not bow before force; that they maintain their claims that they will use all means in their power to ensure the triumph of right and the respect of the Covenant...

It is us today. It will be you tomorrow...

I ask the fifty-two nations, who have given the Ethiopian people a promise to help them in their resistance to the aggressor, what are they willing to do for Ethiopia? And the great Powers who have promised the guarantee of collective security to small States on whom weighs the threat that they may one day suffer the fate of Ethiopia, I ask what measures do you intend to take?

Representatives of the World: I have come to Geneva to discharge in your midst the most painful of the duties of the head of a State. What reply shall I have to take back to my people?

The League's reply was pathetic: Only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy. It is often said the League of Nations effectively collapsed due to its failure to condemn Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. At the end of the year, Time magazine named Haile Selassie its Man of the Year.

He spent his exile in Bath, England. Back in Ethiopia, one of his daughters died in captivity, and his sons-in-law were executed. Another daughter died in childbirth shortly after the restoration.

In 1937, the Italian massacre of Yekatit 12 took place, in which between 1,400 and 30,000 civilians were killed, and many others imprisoned. This massacre was a reprisal for the attempted assassination of Rodolfo Graziani, Mussolini's Viceroy for Italian East Africa.

The Italians employed the use of asphyxiating chemical weapons in their Ethiopian invasion. They regularly dropped bombs throughout Ethiopia that carried mustard gas (a nasty weapon of World War I, banned thereafter) and debilitated the Ethiopian forces. On the whole, the Italians dropped about 300 tons of mustard gas as well as thousands of other artillery. This use of chemical weapons amounted to egregious war crimes.

But the Italians did make investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their rule. They created the so-called "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua. More than 500 miles of railways were reconstructed, dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private companies were established.

When Britain declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939, it also declared war on Italy, as part of the same Axis. On January 18, 1941, a combined force of Ethiopian, British Empire, Free France and Free Belgium troops invaded. On May 5, the Italians surrendered, and Haile Selassie entered the capital of Addis Ababa, and addressed his people again.

By that point, the League of Nations had only a skeleton staff. In 1946, with the United Nations already operating, the League Assembly dissolved.

Haile Selassie ruled his nation until 1974, when he was deposed by a leftist regime. He died under house arrest the following year.

*

May 5, 1941 was a Monday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Tommy Bridges outpitched Lefty Gomez. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-3. Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk. Ten days later, he began his 56-game hitting streak.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Braves, 5-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Les McCrabb singled home the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. Pete Suder went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs for the A's. Luke Appling went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the South Siders.

* And the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 2-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Rollie Hemsley singled Lou Boudreau home in the bottom of the 9th, to make a winning pitcher out of Bob Feller.