Ethiopia Overthrew Its Royal Family - Then Locked Them Away

After Ethiopia's 1974 revolution overthrew Haile Selassie, the monarchy disappeared — but members of the imperial family remained prisoners for years without trial. This documentary follows Princess Tenagnework, Rebecca Asrate Kassa, the Makonnen princes, the Derg, Alem Bekagn prison, the escape of ten young royals, and the releases that finally ended the family's long detention. It also examines Haile Selassie's disputed death, his hidden burial, and what survived after the Solomonic throne itself was gone. A story about what happens when a revolution destroys a throne but still fears the name attached to it. ========= CHAPTERS 00:00 The Royal Family Is Taken First 00:45 A Revolution That Still Needed a King 06:40 Black Saturday: Protection Becomes Fear 11:34 Alem Bekagn: Nearly Fourteen Years Without Trial 22:09 Two Families: Prison, Exile and Escape 29:12 The Two Doors Finally Open 33:47 The Hidden Grave and the Fight Over Memory ========= SOURCES Remarks of Princess Rebecca Asrate Kassa, Congressional Record — U.S. Congress, 1987 Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Revolution, Intelligence Note IN-47 — Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, 1974 Amnesty International Report 1989 — Amnesty International, 1989 Amnesty International Report 1990 — Amnesty International, 1990 Selassie's Kin Escape — The Washington Post, Staff Reports and News Dispatches, 1977 Burying the Martyrs — Mary Anne Weaver, 1992 Ethiopian Court Hears How Emperor Was Killed — Reuters, 1994 ========= ABOUT US Throne Unmade explores what happens after royal power breaks: monarchies abolished, dynasties expelled, heirs stripped of titles, families divided by revolution, and former rulers forced to live after the crown is gone. The channel is made for viewers who enjoy serious long-form history but want more than royal gossip, simple biographies, or lists of names and dates. Each documentary follows the political and human consequences of lost power through contemporary reporting, historical records, testimony, and careful treatment of disputed evidence. The goal is not to romanticize monarchy, but to understand what happens to people, institutions, and national memory after a throne disappears. ========= DISCLAIMER This video is an educational historical documentary based on published archival records, human-rights reports, contemporary journalism, survivor testimony, and later court reporting. Some events, particularly the circumstances surrounding Haile Selassie's death, remain subject to differing accounts. Where evidence is contested, the narration distinguishes official claims, later allegations, survivor testimony, and interpretation. Some visuals may be archival, restored, reconstructed, or illustrative and may not depict the exact moment described. This video does not endorse the Ethiopian monarchy, the Derg, or any political ideology. #HaileSelassie #Ethiopia #EthiopianHistory #EthiopianRevolution #RoyalHistory