Western Intervention in the Libyan Civil War

Libya has long been ruled over by a dictator named Muammar Gaddafi. His reign was that of an authoritarian, silencing all protests and political parties that opposed him. While there was a rebel militia group, it was disorganized and ineffective. The rest of the western world didn’t give Libya’s issue any attention until February in 2011. Peaceful protests against his regime led to Gaddafi retaliating very badly. The situation escalated, citizens took up arms, and the situation turned into a civil war. As the situation spiraled out of control Gaddafi ordered many inhumane attacks against his citizens. To stop Gaddafi reign of terror, the European countries took action. It is due to the involvement of the European countries and the US that human rights were able to be restored in Libya (Shah, Anup. "Crisis in Libya." - Global Issue)..

Libya, and the region around it, has been controlled by authoritarian regimes for a lot of its history. Its leaders had different views on the west; some were pro-west and some were anti-west. The person responsible for the Libyan Civil War was Muammar Gaddafi. 40 years ago, Gaddafi led a coup against the Kingdom of Libya. During his tenure as the king, he was a pariah among the international community. Along with the dislike from foreign countries, Gaddafi also faced rebels and unrest in his country (Shah, Anup. "Crisis in Libya." - Global Issues).

Inspired by the uprisings in both Egypt and Tunisia, activists were protesting against the government in the city of Benghazi, and throwing stones at police. In response, Gaddafi ordered his men to fire rubber bullets at the protestors. Throughout the week more protest occurred, and upwards of 173 people were killed ("Military." Libya Civil War). As the situation escalated, militiamen opened fire on protestors and 500 people could have been killed. Foreigners started being evacuated by the tens of thousands. Most of the foreigners were Turks and Chinese ("Military." Libya Civil War.)...