On 1 September 1969, a group of young army officers led by the 27-year-old Colonel Muammar Gaddafi executed a bloodless coup d'état in Libya, deposing King Idris I, who had ruled the country since its independence in 1951.
The revolution was swift and decisive, with the king, who was abroad for medical treatment, unable to mount any resistance.
The coup marked the beginning of Gaddafi's four-decade-long rule, during which he established the Libyan Arab Republic, setting the stage for significant political and social changes in the country.
Gaddafi's rise to power was driven by his vision of Arab nationalism, anti-imperialism, and the desire to redistribute Libya's oil wealth, which would profoundly shape the nation's trajectory in the years to come.
