Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. Prior to his coronation, he had been the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia from 1916.
Haile Selassie attempted to modernize the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of Ethiopia's constitution of 1931, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. He led the failed efforts to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and spent the period of Italian occupation in exile in England. In 1941, he returned to lead Ethiopia, after the British Empire defeated the Italian occupiers in the East African campaign. He dissolved the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950, and integrated Eritrea into Ethiopia as one of its province, while fighting to prevent secession.[7]