11 Things You Didn’t Know About Libya Under Gaddafi’s ‘Dictatorship’

2. He Took Libya With Almost No Violence

On September 1, 1969, an armed force working under Gaddafi and a cabal of his allies initiated a coup d’etat, storming airports, police stations, and media outlets in both Tripoli and Benghazi. Along the way, Gaddafi’s troops encountered little to no resistance thanks to the reigning monarchy’s lack of popularity. At the end of the day, Gaddafi claimed that a revolution had begun for his people in Libya. Thanks to the largely bloodless transition of power, the One September Revolution was also nicknamed The White Revolution.