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A Definitive List of Some of History’s Most Awful People and Events

Khalid Elhassan April 12, 2021 37 min

Jean-Bedel Bokassa in 1970 with Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Romanian Communism Online Photo Collection

A young Colonel Qaddafi, shortly after his seizure of power. Wikimedia

23. Libya’s Terrible Tyrant

Muammar Qaddafi (1942 – 2011), commonly known as Colonel Qaddafi, was born near Sirte in then-Italian Libya into a poor Bedouin family. He joined the Libyan Army, rose to the rank of colonel, and overthrew the country’s monarchy in a 1969 coup. He made himself dictator until his overthrow and death in a popular uprising. While in power, Qaddafi bestowed upon himself the title of “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamihirya” of Libya.

Qaddafi’s fashion over the years was terrible. Boston Corner

US President Ronald Reagan bestowed upon him the title of “The Mad Dog of the Middle East”, shortly before sending American jets to bomb him. Qaddafi’s 42-year reign was marked by dramatic twists and turns. He morphed from advocating socialism to backing Islamic fundamentalism, and from being a key sponsor of international terrorism to an avid cooperator in the Global War on Terror. He was once a committed Arab nationalist but ended up reviling Arabs and turning to African nationalism instead.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.