Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi ( ;^[variations] (June 1942Some sources, such as a BBC Obituary Muammar Gaddafi, give the date as 7 June. Other sources say June 1942; others say "Spring of 1942" (Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, 2004) or "September 1942" (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 1998) 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi icon or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.

He seized power in a bloodless

Nonviolent revolution

A nonviolent revolution is a revolution using mostly campaigns of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian...

 military coup in 1969 and served as the country's head of state until 1977, when he stepped down from his official executive role as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya, and claimed subsequently to be merely a symbolic figurehead.