Rebels Inside Muammar Muhammad Al-Gaddafi Villas, Libya

Early life and military academy
Muammar al-Gaddafi was raised in a bedouin tent in the desert near Sirte. According to most conventional biographies, his family belongs to a small tribe of arabized Berbers, the Qadhadhfa. They are mostly stockherders that live in the Hun Oasis. According to Gaddafi, his grandfather, Abdessalam Bouminyar, fought against the Italian occupation of Libya and died as the "first martyr in Khoms, in the first battle of 1911". Gaddafi attended a Muslim elementary school as a youth, during which time he was profoundly influenced by major events in the Arab world. He was passionate about the success of the Palestinians and was deeply disappointed by their defeat to Israeli forces in 1948. He admired Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and looked to him as hero during his rise to power in 1952. In 1956 Gaddafi took part in anti-Israeli protests during the Suez Crisis. He finished his secondary school studies under a private tutor in Misrata, concentrating on the study of history.
In Libya, as in a number of other Arab countries, admission to a military academy and a career as an army officer only became available to members of the lower economic strata after independence. A military career offered an opportunity for higher education, for upward economic and social mobility, and was for many the only available means of political action. For Gaddafi and many of his fellow officers, who were inspired by Nasser's brand of Arab nationalism, a military career was a revolutionary vocation.