Moammar Gadhafi Timeline

Until his horrific crackdown on protests this month, the Libyan dictator was on track to normalize relations with the western world after decades of isolation.

Circa 1942:
Although his exact birth date is unknown, Moammar Gadhafi was born to a nomadic Bedouin family in the desert region around the western port city of Sirte. He received a religious education as a child.

1961:
Gadhafi, who has become inspired by pan-Arabist Egyptian revolutionary Gamal Abdel Nasser, is expelled from school for his involvement in nationalist politics.

1963:
After enrolling in the Benghazi Military Academy, Gadhafi begins plotting with a small group of fellow students to overthrow the pro-Western Libyan monarchy.

1965:
Upon graduation from the military academy, Gadhafi is sent to train at the British Army Staff College. He returns a year later a commissioned officer in the Signal Corps.

September 1, 1969:
While King Idris I is in Turkey for medical treatment, Gadhafi and a handful of other officers stage a bloodless coup, deposing the king and placing his successor, Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi, under house arrest. The monarchy is abolished and the Libyan Arab Republic proclaimed.

1970:
After a brief power struggle, Gadhafi’s revolutionary faction emerges as the dominant force in post-monarchical Libya and he becomes the head of state. Gadhafi orders the expulsion of 20,000 Italian nationals and confiscates their property, claiming retribution for Italy’s colonial rule over Libya from 1911-1943.

1972:
Pursuing his pan-Arab agenda, Gadhafi fails in an attempt to proclaim a “Federation of Arab Republics” consisting of Libya, Egypt, and Syria. Libya is linked to the Palestinian Black September Movement that kills 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and over the next two decades Gadhafi approves funding for international terrorist groups across the ideological spectrum in an apparent effort to hasten the decline of capitalism and communism.

1973 – 1974:
During the OPEC oil crisis, Gadhafi leads the charge to cut off oil supplies to the U.S., causing an irreversible spike in oil prices.

1976 - 1979:
Gadhafi publishes the three volumes of his Green Book, a treatise describing his Third Universal Theory, an alternative to both communism and capitalism.