Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya for 42 years — one of the longest dictatorships of the 20th century — after seizing power in a bloodless coup against King Idris in 1969. A self-styled pan-Arab revolutionary inspired by Nasser, he expelled US and British bases, nationalised the oil industry, and published his eccentric 'Green Book' in 1975 outlining his 'Third Universal Theory' as an alternative to capitalism and communism. In the 1980s he sponsored international terrorism including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (Pan Am 103, 270 dead) and the 1986 Berlin disco attack that triggered US air strikes on Tripoli. After UN sanctions crippled the economy he made a dramatic pivot in 2003, renouncing WMDs and compensating Lockerbie families, earning rehabilitation and lucrative Western contracts. The 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Benghazi rapidly became a civil war; NATO air strikes enabled rebel forces to take Tripoli in August. Gaddafi was captured hiding in a drainage pipe near Sirte and killed by rebel fighters on 20 October 2011.

• Lived: 1942 CE – 2011 CE
• Nationality: libyan
• Roles: head of state, revolutionary, military officer, ideologue

Related

• The Cold War
• Gaddafi's Coup — Al-Fateh Revolution
• US Bombing of Tripoli — Operation El Dorado Canyon
• Lockerbie Bombing — Pan Am Flight 103
• Libya Renounces WMDs — Gaddafi's Rehabilitation
• Libyan Civil War and NATO Intervention