Muammar Gaddafi

Biography

Muammar Gaddafi seized power in Libya in a bloodless coup in 1969 at the age of 27, overthrowing King Idris while he was abroad for medical treatment. For 42 years he ruled through a unique ideology he called the 'Third Universal Theory,' outlined in his Green Book, which rejected both capitalism and communism in favor of a vaguely defined 'direct democracy' of people's committees. In practice it meant absolute personal rule, lavish patronage for loyal tribes, brutal repression of dissent, and the systematic destruction of any institution that could challenge him — including the army, which he deliberately kept weak. He sponsored terrorism worldwide, ordered the Lockerbie bombing, built a chemical weapons program, and became a pariah before a dramatic rehabilitation in 2003 when he surrendered his WMD programs and was welcomed back into the international community.

Key Battles