Editing Muammar Gaddafi (section)

===Coup d'état: 1969===
{{Main|1969 Libyan coup d'état}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=People of Libya! In response to your own will, fulfilling your most heartfelt wishes, answering your most incessant demands for change and regeneration, and your longing to strive towards these ends: listening to your incitement to rebel, your armed forces have undertaken the overthrow of the corrupt regime, the stench of which has sickened and horrified us all. At a single blow our gallant army has toppled these idols and has destroyed their images. By a single stroke it has lightened the long dark night in which the Turkish domination was followed first by Italian rule, then by this reactionary and decadent regime which was no more than a hotbed of extortion, faction, treachery and treason.|salign=right |source=—Gaddafi's radio speech after seizing power, 1969{{sfnm|1a1=Bearman|1y=1986|1p=54|2a1=Simons|2y=1996|2pp=178–179}} }}

Idris' government was increasingly unpopular by the latter 1960s; it had exacerbated Libya's traditional regional and tribal divisions by [[unitary state|centralizing]] the country's [[federalism|federal system]] to take advantage of the country's oil wealth.{{sfnm|1a1=Harris|1y=1986|1p=14|2a1=Blundy|2a2=Lycett|2y=1987|2p=52|3a1=Kawczynski|3y=2011|3pp=15–16}} Corruption and entrenched systems of patronage were widespread throughout the oil industry.{{sfnm|1a1=Blundy|1a2=Lycett|1y=1987|1p=51|2a1=Kawczynski|2y=2011|2p=136}} Arab nationalism was increasingly popular, and protests flared up following Egypt's 1967 defeat in the [[Six-Day War]] with Israel; Idris' administration was seen as pro-Israeli due to its alliance with the Western powers.{{sfnm|1a1=Simons|1y=1996|1p=175|2a1=Vandewalle|2y=2006|2p=70|3a1=Kawczynski|3y=2011|3pp=16–17}} Anti-Western riots broke out in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] and Benghazi, while Libyan workers shut down oil terminals in solidarity with Egypt.{{sfnm|1a1=Simons|1y=1996|1p=175|2a1=Vandewalle|2y=2006|2p=70|3a1=Kawczynski|3y=2011|3pp=16–17}} By 1969, the US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) was expecting segments of Libya's armed forces to launch a coup. Although claims have been made that they knew of Gaddafi's [[Free Officers Movement (Libya)|Free Officers Movement]], they have since claimed ignorance, stating that they were instead monitoring [[Abdul Aziz Shalhi]]'s Black Boots revolutionary group.{{sfnm|1a1=Blundy|1a2=Lycett|1y=1987|1p=53|2a1=Kawczynski|2y=2011|2p=19|3a1=St. John|3y=2012|3pp=139–140}} Shalhi, who effectively served as Idris' chief of staff, and his brother Omar were the sons of Idris' former chief advisor Ibrahim Shalhi, who had been murdered by [[Fatimah el-Sharif|Queen Fatima]]'s nephew in the fall of 1954.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=4 July 1955 |title=LIBYA: Family Troubles |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,807255,00.html |access-date=10 February 2023 |issn=0040-781X |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210080151/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,807255,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After their father's assassination, they became the favorites of Idris.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Qaddafi – The Man and His Rise to Power – Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training |url=https://adst.org/2013/08/qaddafi-the-man-and-his-rise-to-power/ |access-date=10 February 2023 |website=adst.org |date=27 August 2013 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210074629/https://adst.org/2013/08/qaddafi-the-man-and-his-rise-to-power/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In mid-1969, Idris travelled abroad to spend the summer in Turkey and Greece amid widespread rumors of an abdication or a British-backed coup by the Shalhi brothers on 5 September.<ref name=":7" /> Gaddafi's Free Officers, recognizing this as their last chance to preempt the Shelhis in overthrowing the monarchy, initiated "Operation Jerusalem".{{sfnm|1a1=Bearman|1y=1986|1p=52|2a1=Kawczynski|2y=2011|2p=18}} If Gaddafi's Free Officers had not preempted the Shelhis, they would have almost certainly been defeated by the combined forces of Abdul Aziz Shelhi, the deputy commander of Libya's army, and the prominent families in [[Cyrenaica]] that supported the Shelhi family.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fathali, `Umar Ibrahim |first1=`Umar Ibrahim |title=Political Development and Social Change in Libya |last2=Palmer |first2=Monte |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |year=1980 |location=Lexington, Massachusetts |pages=40}}</ref> On 1 September, Gaddafi's Free Officers occupied airports, police depots, radio stations, and government offices in Tripoli and Benghazi. Gaddafi took control of the Berka barracks in Benghazi, while [[Umar Muhayshi]] occupied Tripoli barracks and Jalloud seized the city's anti-aircraft batteries. [[Khweldi Hameidi]] took over the Tripoli radio station and was sent to arrest crown prince [[Hasan as-Senussi|Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi]] and force him to relinquish his claim to the throne.{{sfnm|1a1=Harris|1y=1986|1p=14|2a1=Blundy|2a2=Lycett|2y=1987|2pp=57–59|3a1=Simons|3y=1996|3pp=177–178|4a1=Kawczynski|4y=2011|4p=18}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ash |first=Nigel |date=27 July 2015 |title=Qaddafi collaborator Khuwaildi Al-Hamidi dies of heart attack |url=https://www.libyaherald.com/2015/07/qaddafi-collaborator-khuwaildi-al-hamidi-dies-of-heart-attack/ |access-date=10 February 2023 |website=LibyaHerald |language=en-US |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210014017/https://www.libyaherald.com/2015/07/qaddafi-collaborator-khuwaildi-al-hamidi-dies-of-heart-attack/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They met no serious resistance and wielded little violence against the monarchists.{{sfnm|1a1=Simons|1y=1996|1p=178|2a1=Kawczynski|2y=2011|2p=18}}

Once Gaddafi removed the monarchical government, he announced the foundation of the [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libyan Arab Republic]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bearman|1y=1986|1p=55|2a1=Harris|2y=1986|2p=15|3a1=Simons|3y=1996|3p=179}} Addressing the populace by radio, he proclaimed an end to the "reactionary and corrupt" regime, "the stench of which has sickened and horrified us all".{{sfnm|1a1=Bearman|1y=1986|1p=54|2a1=Harris|2y=1986|2p=14|3a1=Blundy|3a2=Lycett|3y=1987|3pp=59–60|4a1=Kawczynski|4y=2011|4p=18}} Due to the coup's bloodless nature, it was initially labelled the "White Revolution", although was later renamed the "One September Revolution" after the date on which it occurred.{{sfn|St. John|2012|p=134}} Gaddafi insisted that the Free Officers' coup represented a revolution, marking the start of widespread change in the socio-economic and political nature of Libya.{{sfnm|1a1=St. John|1y=1983|1p=472|2a1=Bearman|2y=1986|2p=56|3a1=St. John|3y=2012|3p=159}} He proclaimed that the revolution meant "freedom, socialism, and unity", and over the coming years implemented measures to achieve this.{{sfnm|1a1=Bearman|1y=1986|1p=62|2a1=Harris|2y=1986|2p=15|3a1=Blundy|3a2=Lycett|3y=1987|3p=64|4a1=St. John|4y=2012|4p=148}}