Muammar al-Gaddafi lead a successful coup in 1969 against King Idris of Libya, at the age of 27. A graduate of the University of Libya and the Libyan military academy, Gaddafi plotted with a group of other fellow officers to overthrow King Idris, who was perceived as being overly conservative and indifferent to the movement for greater political unity among the Arab countries. In 1969 Gaddafi had reached the rank of captain, and the revolutionaries were ready to strike. They waited for Idris to leave the country and then toppled his government in a bloodless coup. The Monarchy was abolished, and Idris escaped to Egypt for asylum .
Gaddafi established a fervently anti-Western dictatorship that blended Islamic orthodoxy, revolutionary socialism