First Libyan Civil WarLibya · 2011“Hear Benghazi in 2011, when protest met bullets and a state built around one man began to crack.”The Arab Spring reached Libya through demonstrations in Benghazi and other eastern cities. Muammar Gaddafi's rule had lasted four decades, and when security forces answered protest with gunfire, anger became revolt.The lesson the elders kept: The fall of a ruler is not the same as the birth of a state. Libya teaches that revolutions inherit the institutions the old order refused to build.