Gugsa Wale's rebellion of 1930 was a rebellion raised by Ras Gugsa Wale and by supporters of Empress Zewditu to rid her of the Crown Prince and heir apparent, Negus Tafari Makonnen. With Tafari gone, Zewditu would be the sole claimant to succession as the ruler of the Ethiopian Empire (Mangista Ityop'p'ya). As the husband of Empress Zewditu, Gugsa Wale expected to become Emperor. Details In 1916, when Zewditu was crowned Empress, she was forced to separate from her fourth husband, Ras Gugsa Wale. Empress Zewditu was named Regent during the minority of Ras Tafari Makonnen, the heir apparent and Regent Plenipotentiary. As Regent, Zewditu exercised the real power in Ethiopia. Zewditu would govern while Tafari would administer. Early in 1928, the authority of Ras Tafari Makonnen was challenged when Dejazmach Balcha Safo went to Addis Ababa with a sizeable armed force. When Tafari consolidated his hold over the provinces, many of Menilek's appointees refused to abide by the new regulations he imposed. Balcha Safo, Shum of coffee-rich Sidamo Province was particularly troublesome in his refusal to comply. The revenues he remitted to the central government did not reflect the accrued profits and, as a result, Tafari recalled him to Addis Ababa. The old man came in high dudgeon and, insultingly, with a large army. When he arrived in Addis Ababa, the Dejazmach paid homage to Empress Zewditu, but snubbed Ras Tafari. On 18 February, while Balcha Safo and his personal bodyguard were in Addis Ababa, Ras Tafari had Ras Kassa Haile Darge buy off his army and arrange to have him displaced as the Shum of Sidamo Province. Powerless, Balcha Safo surrendered and was imprisoned. In September 1928, a group of palace reactionaries including some of the courtiers of the Empress, made a final bid to get rid of Tafari. The attempted coup d'état was tragic in its origins and comic in its end. When confronted by Tafari and a company of his troops, the ringleaders of the coup took refuge on the palace grounds in Menilek's mausoleum. Tafari and his men surrounded them only to be surrounded themselves by the personal guard of Zewditu. More of Tafari's khaki clad soldiers arrived and, with superiority of arms, decided the outcome in his favor. Background of unhappiness with Ras Tafari On 27 October 1928, thirty-two-year-old Ras Tafari Makonnen, the future Emperor Haile Selassie I, was crowned Negus. He was crowned