Last modified: 2011-10-15 by ian macdonald
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![]](../images/l/ly_1969.gif)
image by Martin Grieve,
25 September 2011
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On 01 Sep 1969, a swift and bloodless coup toppled the Libyan monarchy and
proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic. The coup passed off with only a handful
of shots being fired. The military junta's first action was to arrest the army
chief of staff and the head of security. King Idris, who had been suffering poor
health, went to Greece. Thousands took to the streets to demonstrate their
support for the revolution. At the time, the coup was widely welcomed as an Arab
nationalist reaction to the humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in the Six Day
War with Israel in 1967 and to what were seen as the pro-Western policies and
corruption of the monarchy.
On 08 Sep the new cabinet was announced. The
commander in chief of the armed forces was named as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, 27.
Colonel Gaddafi took the title of prime minister in January 1970. Initially he
pursued a policy of Arab unity - proposing a series of mergers and
federations with neighbouring countries. n accord with its objectives of
bringing Libya into line with contemporary Arab nationalist thought and action,
it became necessary to create new national symbols to embody the ideals of the
revolution, including Arab unity, anti-colonialism, and socialism.
The
new flag adopted on 07 Nov 1969 consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of
red (top), white, and black in the proportions of 1 : 2. At that time, and in
the event that Libya would formally unite with other Arab nations, it was
assumed that a green star would be added for each on the white stripe, similar
to the flag of the United Arab Republic and other Arab states. This idea never
was to materialise, and Libya would undergo yet another change of national flag
in 1972.
Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), “Flags and Arms
through the World” by Whitney Smith (1980),
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/1/newsid_3911000/3911587.stm
Flag Bulletin Vol XVI:6, 1977
Martin Grieve, 25 September
2011