The Dictator Who Built His Country on Oil — Then Set the World on Fire

September 1st, 1969. Idris I, King of Libya, is in Turkey for medical treatment.

Overnight, a small group inside the army, the Free Officers Movement—just 70 men—takes over Libya in a military coup. In Benghazi, the leader of the movement, a man just 27 years old, announces on the radio that the country is now under his control.

His name… is Muammar Gaddafi.

At first, Libyans welcome Gaddafi as a savior. The people see the king as corrupt. They accuse him of selling Libya’s resources to Western corporations while they live in poverty.

Gaddafi moves quickly. He nationalizes foreign oil companies. He redirects oil profits into free education, free housing, and universal healthcare. Within a decade, Libya is unrecognizable. Oil revenues are so high that by the late 1970s, Libya, an African country, ranks among the world’s richest countries by GDP per capita—surpassing Germany, Australia, and even the United States.

Power, though... then corrupts the savior.

Gaddafi begins to dream of exporting his revolution beyond Libya. He wants to create a “third power”—a political force capable of challenging American, European, and Israeli dominance in the Middle East and the world at large. First, he tries to unite the Arab world. When that fails, he turns to Africa.

Gradually, Libya’s oil wealth is diverted away from national development— toward militant groups across the globe, paid to destabilize the established order. From the IRA in Britain, to the Black Panthers in the United States, to militias in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia.

For decades, Libya appears on the front page of international headlines. Gaddafi, in extravagant robes and dark sunglasses, surrounded by female bodyguards, traveling in bulletproof tents, meeting world leaders on his own theatrical terms.

No longer praised for improving the lives of his people. Now known only for: ter-or-sm, as-as-ination plots, airline bom-in-s, and support for violent regimes. International condemnation follows. Then sanctions. Then isolation. The Libyan economy begins to collapse.

In 2003, after Saddam Hussein is captured and ha--ed, Gaddafi takes notice. He quits Libya’s nuclear weapons program and tries to rebuild relations with the US and Europe. For a moment— it works.

Until 2011. In Tunisia, a street vendor, harassed by local officials, sets h----f on fire. Protests explode. In Tunisia. Then Egypt. Then Libya. Then across the Arab world. A chain reaction against decades of authoritarian rule.

In Libya, it becomes WAR. Gaddafi— is overthrown. Hu--ed down. And ki--ed by his own citizens.

This…
is the story of Muammar Gaddafi.
Of a revolution that lifted a poor country into wealth.
And of the later revolution…
that tore him apart.

Writer: Vlad Racovita
Editor: Santhi Christina

Tags: Muammar Gaddafi, Gaddafi documentary, Gaddafi rise and fall, Libya, Libyan history, Libyan revolution, Libya oil, Green Book Gaddafi, Jamahiriya, Great Man-Made River, Gaddafi projects, Gaddafi good or bad?, Libya GDP per capita, Libyan economy, Arab Spring Libya, Mohamed Bouazizi, NATO Libya 2011, African Union, Authoritarian regimes Middle East, Dictators, Dictatorship

Song from game Joint Task Force from: Péter Antovszki, TMLC audio studio.

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