Libya (meaning the land of North Africa outside of Egypt ), Libya, the former paradise of North Africa, the "North African United States" in the mouth of the international media.
In the past impression, Libya relied on its rich oil resources and was the richest country . The economy is prosperous, the people are happy, and the military is strong. The most terrible thing is the welfare system that is paid for by the state from birth to death.
Libya in the 1980s
However, "there is no such thing as a feast that never ends". Today's Libya has transformed into a place of continuous war, violence, ownerlessness, turmoil, and a place where the people are hung up on right and wrong. Today's Libya is called "North African Somalia". An eight-year civil war (since 2011) has completely devastated the country.
Libyan Army
So, how did Libya degrade? Behind this, I have to mention one person, Gaddazo - Gaddafi . He is so famous that I think few people who are familiar with history and international events will turn a deaf ear to this name. After all, he once publicly pointed at Britain and the United States at the United Nations General Assembly and said nothing about Russia and China. No respect. If you want to gain a foothold in a world surrounded by powerful countries, you must have a backer, and Libya is really "backed up."
Libya
It can be said that it has truly offended all the "Five Permanent Members" who have the most say in the world.
In 2009, Gaddafi spoke at the United Nations General Assembly. He spoke for more than an hour.
Libya - The foot wrap of the Mediterranean , a small follower of the great empire.
Libya's geographical location is quite good. It is located around the Mediterranean Sea and is close to Egypt. Close to the edge is the place of commerce and trade between Asia, Africa and Europe. In ancient times, commercial activities began early due to the barren land.
Geographical location of Libya
Civilization here appeared very early. The Greeks were the first to discover this place and rule Libya. When Alexander the Great rose, he sent a general Ptolemy here to establish an overseas province. It's a pity that this kid has rebellious . After Alexander died, he established the Governor's Palace in Egypt, and later simply turned Libya and Egypt into his own empire. This was the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Later, the Phoenicians from the east coast of the Mediterranean (today's Syria and Lebanon) crossed the ocean and arrived in North Africa.
The Phoenicians
The Phoenicians were good at doing business. They were called the "carriage drivers of the Mediterranean." After they landed in Libya, they established commercial sites on the seaside, which were early cities. Later, three cities were too close together and were merged into one city, that is - Tripoli ( the capital of Libya ).
Tripoli, red circle position
Libya's geographical location is too awkward. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. After that, Carthage, Roman Empire, Arab Empire, and Ottoman Empire were all ruled. It has long been a subsidiary of the great civilization. Many cultures are stirring here. Greek writing, Roman law, and Arabic religion all took root here.
In other words, Libya has been a small follower of many big empires and has received a lot of cultural influence.
Ottoman Empire, during the rule of
Ottoman Governor before 1878, the people of Libya were fierce and violent. At the same time, due to its proximity to the Mediterranean trade area, the Governor thought it was better to be a robber. Therefore, with the support of the governor, many Libyans took desperate risks and started piracy (no wonder it is called North African Somalia). This is very similar to the United Kingdom before it became prosperous. After all, they also came from a "pirate country".
But pirates have been doing it for a long time, and they have to pay it back. Since then, Libya has been ravaged by all major powers. Even the US military has been intolerable and has crossed the ocean to show disdain.
In 1911, Italy defeated the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans ceded the governorate of Libya. Italians began to colonize Libya in large numbers, accounting for about 20% of the local population. The name Libya was also given by Italians.
The Italians occupied Libya
The Italian colonists were not merciful to the Libyans. More than 50,000 Libyans died and more than 100,000 were deported to other countries. The apartheid policy has also been implemented in Libya. But when it came to World War II, our Italy found that it had insufficient military resources, so it thought of Libya. (Exactly the same as when France thought of Algeria .)
Mussolini inspected Libya
As a result, the Libyans also joined the Italian war and established two infantry divisions with a total of more than 40,000 troops.
Italy's Libyan Paratrooper Division was known as one of Italy's most elite troops during World War II...
After the end of World War II, Libya was divided between the British and French brothers. Americans didn't care. The Soviets were too far away. In 1950, Idris, the leader of the Libyan anti-fascist movement who had been living abroad for a long time, was supported by the West as the King of Libya (a secular king, a non-Islamic leader). This guy of is the first king and the last one.
Idris
In 1969, when the king was visiting a doctor in Turkey, guess what? There was a coup, and you and I both know the person behind the coup - Gaddafi.
The young Gaddafi
From being a fan to taking over the baton, Gaddazo had his own way
In 1969, Gaddafi led the "Officers Liberalization Movement" and overthrew the rule of the Idris family. It was said to be an overthrow, but in fact it was just an occupation of the capital, Tripoli.
Here we talk about a common problem in African countries - the tribe is larger than the country. (For details, you can read my article about France)
As we all know, only China in the world has a mature local management system, that is, county system . Most Western countries use the governor-general system. is probably similar to our ancient restraint system , which also uses local chieftains to manage places. In addition to paying taxes to the central government , everything else is up to you. It is basically a country within a country.
Libyan nomads
And how did the toast control it? Then tie it up. One layer after another, so basically, does not have a strong political entity, but a national political system composed of a group of tribes. here we have to praise our Qin Shihuang.
The main source of taxation in ancient Libya was commercial trade and tariffs. Just look at the map and you will understand. 's main political power and social resources are in coastal areas. Whoever controls the capital has politics.
Blue is the coastal map, and the rest are desert areas
So the political logic of Libya is that by controlling the capital and coastal areas, a central government can be established, while other areas have neither agriculture nor animal husbandry, so they are left to the rule of tribal chiefs.
Libyan tribal areas
After modern times, changes occurred in the Arab world. With the awakening of soldiers and intellectuals, one demanded the overthrow of imperialism and the establishment of a national government, while the other demanded the implementation of an Islamic theocratic system. Gaddafi is an officer, and his idol is Nasser , the founder of the "Free Officers Movement" and the founding president of Egypt, known as the Arab Lion.
Gaddafi and Nasser
In the 1950s and 1960s, Libya discovered huge amounts of oil resources in the desert, and its economy began to take off. But the tribes were unwilling to surrender, so the central government began to make peace with the tribes. Resources came from the inland, but after all, exports had to go through the seaport.
Oil was discovered in Libya
And Gaddafi did have a trick. He successfully used these resources to play around with Britain, the United States and France.
In 1942, Gaddafi was born into a tribal family. He had admired Nasser since he was a boy. After graduating from military school, he imitated Nasser and wanted to revolution.And the revolution in Libya was too simple... Gaddafi just brought a group of soldiers without bullets into the capital, and forced the royal family to abdicate without any blood.
At that time, he was not even a general, but just a lieutenant.
Gaddafi occupied the capital
He knew very well that by occupying the capital, he could occupy the country, and by occupying the media and government, he could occupy the capital. In just one week, the royal family announced their abdication, and Gaddafi announced the establishment of the Libyan Arab Republic.
It can be seen that Libyan politics is extremely fragile.
As soon as he came to power, Gaddafi surprised people. He found his idol and said that he would join Egypt as a whole. Nasser was already seriously ill and ignored Gaddafi. Gaddafi's political logic is really like a joke...
Gaddafi met with Nasser
After Nasser passed away, Gaddafi almost cried until he fainted. He regarded himself as Nasser's successor. established the political ideal of "uniting the greater Arab region to fight against Britain and the United States".
And what did Gaddafi do? oil. He immediately ordered Libyan oil production to be reduced and restricted exports. Other oil-producing countries immediately followed suit. Will this cause Western capitalist countries to hemorrhage? In addition, he also merged and even annexed domestic oil companies. foreign-invested enterprises. This has allowed Libya's economy to begin to grow by leaps and bounds.
Changes in Libya’s GDP
As soon as he had money, Kadzo began to “play”. He did not pay attention to political and social reforms, but focused on the so-called people’s livelihood and welfare. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is not conducive to the country’s century-old construction cause. Just look at what China does.
In order to draw a line between politics and the West, Gaddafi chose to have good relations with the Soviet Union. Close US military bases and cut off diplomacy with the United States. In 1973, Gaddafi completely announced the elimination of all the evil consequences of imperialism in Libya.
This shows that Gaddafi’s politics are naive and too radical, and should be slowed down.
In 1977, he even directly announced the establishment of the so-called "Socialist People's Republic of Libya", announcing the abolition of all levels of government and direct rule by everyone. It is clear that it is neither capitalist nor socialist, which is too radical.
is actually a dictatorial strongman country.
The hero was defeated and went from heaven to hell
Libya is rich, that’s right.
After the Cold War , the Soviet Union collapsed and the Arab countries were also in decline. The West is back in power. At this time, Gaddafi launched a "Greater Africanism" and wanted to unite African countries.
But in fact, whether Gaddafi is abroad or at home, he has no way to solve any problems. For example, domestically, Gaddafi has never dealt with the issue of tribal politics, and domestic opposition has emerged one after another.
Gaddafi and voters
All Gaddafi's power was only entrenched in the capital. For social conflicts, he only chose to buy them with high welfare. Libya's literacy rate is as high as 83%, its people's welfare is the best in the Arab world, and the status of women is also the best in the Muslim world. The medical conditions are comparable to those of Britain, France and other countries, and the most common diseases in the desert have been eliminated.
City residents have achieved housing and meat for everyone.
Libyan women
But outside the city, there are vast tribes outside. Gaddafi could only suppress it bloodyly. Militarily, he could only win over various warlord forces and promote generals loyal to him in the army. But Libya has no modern national defense and no superpower to back it up. It only has money.
is truly so poor that all he has left is money.
The Libyan army
Gaddafi is crazy, but Libya's internal affairs are in a mess and its diplomacy is also in chaos. Not only is the West eyeing it, but all surrounding countries are potential threats. He even wants China to sell him nuclear bombs, but that thing cannot be sold. Because of this, he became at odds with China. He had no choice but to do it himself.
Libya map
However, Libyan society is deformed, the economy is highly dependent on oil, and the place is divided into tribes. does not have the ability to concentrate on doing big things.Therefore, although Gaddafi is very crazy, he does not have the courage to challenge. The most typical example is the Lockerbie air crash in 1988. Britain and the United States became angry and jointly sanctioned Libya's oil trade, causing a large number of tribal rebellions. After 9/11, Libya was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, and Saddam was defeated in 2003.
Gaddafi was scared. In order to calm the fire between the United Kingdom and the United States, each plane crash victim was directly compensated 10 million U.S. dollars... a total of 2.7 billion U.S. dollars.
Lockerbie air disaster
After the West suddenly stated that " Alipay received US$2.7 billion," it began a short honeymoon period with Libya. Gaddafi also took advantage of the trend to promote privatization reforms. But the good times did not last long. In 2008, international oil prices plummeted. Libya can no longer survive.
Oil prices plummeted
The landlords also had no surplus food. Soon, the time came.
The Arab Spring broke out, and starting in 2011, Libya entered a period of civil war. Soon, due to the oil price issue, Gaddafi, a generational tycoon who had angered the Five Permanent Members, passed away, leaving only a story of his past.
Libyan opposition
What is a great power?
Gaddafi will never think about why he failed to save Libya until his death. The 27-year-old young man at that time would not have imagined how he would gradually become a person lost in power. After Gaddafi died, Libya did not feel any regret, but it just lost a co-leader.
Libya
It is said that Qin lost its deer, and everyone in the world chased it away.
Former US President Obama said: Gaddafi's death will give the Libyan people a democratic and tolerant choice.
Now it seems that it should be very ironic.
Obama
Nowadays, Libya is a warlord fighting for control of oil, and there are also a large number of terrorists mixed in. There are currently four political forces in Libya. The capital is a pan-Islamic government. There are a large number of tribes and warlords in the area. Many terrorists have entered the country taking advantage of the chaos, as well as separatist forces.
The current situation in Libya
After fighting in the east, we fight in the west, endlessly. No one can stay out of it.
And what is a big country? In 2011, Libya evacuated its citizens, and a big country did it.
Evacuation from Libya
Its name is China.
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