Anglo-Libyan War

Libyan political victory* British military withdrawal following international pressure and Libyan surrender
* Baton Rouge Accords
	+ British recognition of Libyan independence
	+ Idris crowned King of Libya
	+ Free Officers Movement dissolved and pardoned
* Resignation of Harold Macmillan as Britain's Prime Minister, end of Britain's role as a superpower

### Territorial Changes

Independence of Libya from the British Empire

## Belligerents

### Aggressor(s)

 Libya
**Supported by:*** Warsaw Pact
	+ Soviet Union
	+ East Germany
	+ Czechoslovakia
* Cuba
* North Vietnam

### Defender(s)

 United Kingdom
**Supported by:*** United States

## Meta

### Timeline

Earth 2

The **Anglo-Libyan War** also known as the **Libyan War of Independence** or simply the **Libyan War** was fought between and the Libyan Arab Republic and the United Kingdom from January to July 1961. Though relatively short, it was an important decolonization war that effectively ended the United Kingdom's status as a superpower as the country was humiliated by much of the United Nations for its attempt to prevent decolonization. Despite a British tactical victory and the surrender of the Free Officers Army under Muammar Gaddafi, pressure from the international community forced Britain to withdraw from Libya, ultimately strengthening Gaddafi's political standing.

Though under British and French military administration prior to the war, since 1951 the Libyan region of Cyrenaica had been under the indirect rule of Emir Idris, a client of the British administration and prominent member of the Senussi order. Though Cyrenaica enjoyed more autonomy than the other Libyan occupation zones, the Emir was despised as a British puppet, and growing anti-imperial sentiment throughout the British Empire in the late 1950s contributed to the opposition to Senussi and British rule. By 1961, the Libya had become unstable enough to ensure the success of a Soviet KGB-backed coup led by Muammar Gaddafi, a young, charismatic military student and leftist. Though Gaddafi, a Muslim, mistrusted the atheist Soviet Union, he welcomed the Eastern Bloc's support in both the coup and the following war. Upon seizing power, Gaddafi triumphantly paraded a captured Idris from Benghazi to Tripoli and proclaimed an Arab Libyan Republic,

Initially refusing to recognize Gaddafi's military government, let alone Libyan indepence, the United Kingdom, with the financial support of the United States, quickly invaded its rebellious colony, gathering an invasion force in Malta and making landings at Tripoli, which was captured in an extended siege. Though the Royal Marines were able to free Idris before he could be removed from the capital, Gaddafi escaped with his army to Benghazi. Though the Libyan Army had already been funded by the Soviet Union, following the fall of Benghazi nearly the entire communist world provided aid in some form to Libya. Volunteer fighters poured in from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. German and Czechoslovak military engineers constructed fortifications in Benghazi and Al Kufra province. Cuba donated nearly a third of its small air force and North Vietnam sent several warships.

The war reached a months-long stalemate after the Libyans, despite foreign support, were unable to recapture Tripoli despite a long siege at the end of January. Noticing the amount of US aid to the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union warned that it would get directly involved if any non-British forces were deployed against the Libyans. Not long after establishing a government, Gaddafi applied Libya to the United Nations, but the motion to admit Libya was defeated by the Western voting bloc at the beginning of July. This proved to be a turning point in the conflict, as the Cuban ambassador to the UN responded to the verdict with a scathing speech decrying British imperialism. Fearing political backlash both at home and abroad should the original plan of maintaining a British presence in Libya have been kept, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan retroactively declared that Britain's aim in Libya was to restore Idris as the ruler of an independent Libya. To this end, British agents were deployed to Libya to organize a more conservative, pro-British political faction to oppose Gaddafi's socialists.

In early July, the British captured Benghazi and placed Gaddafi's compound in Al Kufra province under siege, but were unable to capture it and suffered heavy heat-related casualties. East German Stasi agents later sabotaged the same fortifications their government had constructed allowed Benghazi a few months prior, allowing Gaddafi to launch a final assault on the city. After days of brutal fighting and heavy casualties attempting to retake Benghazi, Gaddafi surrendered to the British on the condition that the entire Free Officers Army would be pardoned. The British, impressed with Gaddafi's cooperation, agreed, and at the invitation of US President John F. Kennedy peace talks were held in Baton Rouge in the middle of the month. The Baton Rouge Accords brought the war to a formal end as the British recognized Libyan independence and Idris was crowned King of Libya under a constitutional monarchy.

Despite his military defeat, Gaddafi was hailed as a national hero in Libya and elected the first Prime Minister, much to the embarrasment of the British. Libya was also shortly thereafter admitted to the United Nations. Though the change was unspoken, the war marked a sharp turn in British colonial policy as the unpopularity of imperial military actions both at home and abroad became increasingly visible to the British government. Within a few months of the conflict's end, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was forced to resign.