While King Idris was abroad receiving medical treatment in Turkey, a group of young military officers led by Captain Muammar Gaddafi seized control of Tripoli and Benghazi in a nearly bloodless coup. Gaddafi, then just 27, declared the Libyan Arab Republic and would go on to rule the oil-rich nation for the next 42 years, until his violent overthrow in the 2011 Arab Spring.
While King Idris was abroad receiving medical treatment in Turkey, a group of young military officers led by Captain Muammar Gaddafi seized control of Tripoli and Benghazi in a nearly bloodless coup. Gaddafi, then just 27, declared the Libyan Arab Republic and would go on to rule the oil-rich nation for the next 42 years, until his violent overthrow in the 2011 Arab Spring.