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| 1971, June |
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| Founding of the Arab Socialist Union, which served as the regime's political party. It was the only legal party in the country. | 1 |
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| 1972, Feb |
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| Announcement of plans to unite with Egypt. The proposed federation was officially rejected by Egypt in Aug. 1973. | 2 |
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| 1973, Sept. 1 |
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| Libya seized a majority share of all foreign oil companies operating inside the country and completely nationalized three American firms. | 3 |
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| 1975, Sept. 7 |
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| Official annexation of a belt of territory along the border with Chad. The area contained significant deposits of uranium. | 4 |
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| 1976, Jan |
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| Publication of the first volume of Qadhafi's Green Book, by which he sought to explain the principles that guided his regime. | 5 |
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| 1977, July 21–29 |
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| Skirmishes along the border with Egypt. | 6 |
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| 1981, Aug. 19 |
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| U.S. fighter planes shot down two Libyan jets that fired on them as U.S. ships carried out maneuvers in the Gulf of Sidra. | 7 |
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| 1986, April 15 |
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| U.S. bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi. The raids killed at least 100 people. Among the sites selected by the U.S. military was Qadhafi's personal compound. | 8 |
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| 1987, Aug.–Sept |
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| Launching of a major Libyan offensive against Chadian troops. | 9 |
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| 1990, Aug. 31 |
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| Libya and Chad submitted their border dispute to the International Court of Justice. | 10 |
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| 1991, March 11 |
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| Opening of the Great Man-Made River, a pipeline carrying water from wells deep in the interior to the heavily populated coastal regions. | 11 |
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| 1992, April 15 |
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| The UN imposed economic sanctions against Libya, which had refused to extradite six Libyans wanted in connection with two airline bombings (Pan Am flight 103 and UTA flight 772). | 12 |
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