Muammar Gaddafi

He married twice in his lifetime. His first wife, Fatiha al-Nuri bore him a son in 1970 before parting ways with him the same year. Subsequently, he married Safia Farkash. The couple was blessed with seven children.

In 2011, after the takeover of Tripoli, he moved to Sirte and proposed to negotiate with the National Transitional Council (NTC) but in vain. He travelled from one residence to the other to escape death.

There is no proper evidence as to what caused or who led to his death as the information available is varied and contradictory. On October 20, 2011, Gaddafi broke out of Sirte's District 2 in a joint civilian-military convoy, hoping to take refuge in the Jarref Valley. As per Official NTC accounts Gaddafi was caught in a cross-fire and died from his bullet wounds. In the aftermath of his death, he was buried at an unidentified location in the desert.

Muammar Gaddafi was born to Abu Meniar and Aisha in an inconsequential tribal family of al-Qadhadhfa. Much of his early years were spent in Sirte, which was a desert region in Western Libya. He had three elder sisters.

Born in an Italy occupied Libya, he witnessed the country gain independence in 1951. Since an early age, he was influenced by the Arab nationalist movement and had grown a fancy for Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, which later was prominent in his revolutionary tactics.

Academically, he achieved his preliminary education from a local elementary school after which the family moved to Sabha for better educational opportunities. However, his involvement in the protest against Syria’s secession from United Arab Republic led to the family relocation to Misrata.

In 1963, he enrolled at the University of Libya in Benghazi to study history but dropped out of the same to join military. He trained himself at the Royal Military Academy.

Reckoning British as imperialists and publically announcing his insurrection against everything English, he commissioned a Central Committee of the Free Officers Movement in 1964.

Graduating from the Academy in 1965, he took up the post of a communications officer in the army's signal corps. He moved to United Kingdom for further military training, attaining which, he returned to Libya

Meanwhile, King Idris’ popularity sharply declined in the country through the latter half of the 1960s. Not only did the level of corruption increase with the exploitation of the oil wealth, but the Idris-led government was seen as a pro-Israeli one.

As such, in 1969, when Idris travelled to Turkey and Greece for summer vacations, Gaddafi’s Free Officers Movement capitalized on the opportunity and launched ‘Operation Jerusalem’ with a motive to overthrow the government.

Meeting little resistance, he abolished the monarchy to form Libyan Arab Republic. He claimed to bring an end to the corrupt practices and establish massive change in the social, economic and political arena of the country.

He formed a 12-member Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) which was Libya’s new ruling body and declared himself as its Chairman. Subsequently, he became the de-facto head of the states as well. He appointed himself as the Colonel and took on the post of Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.