Introduction
On September 12, 1974, the city of Addis Ababa was unusually quiet—no angry demonstrations, no violent pickets, no overt and aggressive partisan pamphleteering—as was the case during the previous days and weeks when constant turbulence had become a part of the daily life of the millions of residents of this bustling African metropolis. However, a drama virtually unthinkable only a few years before was unfolding at the Jubilee Palace. A small but dignified man was sitting, listening in confusion and shock to the declaration of a group of young educated officers—a group that he had referred to with pride as the fruit of his modernization drive. Upon hearing the pronouncement that he must relinquish his throne, he uttered these few words: “We have served Our country both during the time of peace and during the time of war…. If that is what is wanted, let it be, but you are children and We are afraid that you might destroy her…” This man, who was still employing the royal “We,” was none other than Ras Tafari, crowned Haile Selassie—King of Kings of Ethiopia—an emperor who claimed descent from the 3,000-year-old dynasty of the legendary Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. He had presided over a modernizing feudal kingdom for over half a century,