Britain and the Libyan Revolution, 1969-72

On 1 September 1969 the Libyan monarchy was overthrown in an audacious coup d’etat engineered by a group of young army officers. The British government was largely taken by surprise by the coup but reacted by trying to chart a course most likely to protect the significant British interests in the country. This resulted in a cautious response, which aimed to establish contacts with the new regime to divine its nature and intentions. The prospect of intervention to restore the monarchy was quickly dismissed because the Wilson government viewed it as politically bankrupt. In terms of the British interests to be protected, continuing access to Libyan oil resources together with the protection of British investments in that industry were paramount. Thereafter, broader trade relations, an attempt to keep Libya out of the orbit of the Soviet Union and the protection of British nationals in Libya were also given some weight. Bilateral relations were subsequently undermined by the legacy issues of the so called “Libyan claims”, encompassing the disputed termination of a British government subsidy under the monarchy, and contested air defence system and Chieftain tank contracts. The nationalisation of BP’s assets in Libya in December 1971, which was primarily the consequence of the claims dispute, alongside Britain’s response to Iranian actions in the Gulf, undermined relations further. Neither formal nor unconventional diplomacy proved effective in resolving these Anglo-Libyan disputes, which only came to appear more intractable as bilateral relations deteriorated further from 1973 onwards.