Haile Selassie became emperor of Ethiopia in 1918?

[Vinization]

Tafari Makonnen, then Regent of Ethiopia and heir to the throne, briefly contracted the Spanish Flu, but survived and would eventually become emperor in 1930 after the death of empress Zewditu.

WI Zewditu fell ill with the flu and died in 1918, thus putting Haile Selassie on the Ethiopian throne 12 years earlier than OTL? Would he have an easier time modernizing the country, considering that, although he handled most of the daily affairs and was in many ways the real ruler of Ethiopia, Zewditu blocked most of his more ambitious initiatives and even tried to depose him in 1928?​

 

[UCB79]

I think much would depend on whether, ITTL, Mussolini still rose to power in Italy, since he was always
determined to revenge its defeat @ Adwa & conquer Ethiopia.

 

[Vinization]

I think much would depend on whether, ITTL, Mussolini still rose to power in Italy, since he was always
determined to revenge its defeat @ Adwa & conquer Ethiopia.

One of my main objectives with this WI would be to help Ethiopia defeat Italy (it's why 'fascism screw' is one of the tags), and I'm curious to know how much more Haile Selassie could've modernized the country if he became emperor 12 years ahead of schedule. For example, extending the Addis Ababa-Djbouti railway to Jimma (Ethiopia's main coffee growing region) would be a nice start.​

 

[moro]

much of the effort would go in the same direction as in the years following the government: centralization, diminishing the power of the nobility and the clergy, the creation of a small professional military force; in practice these efforts would perhaps have prevented the various betrayals of the local nobility and not much else.