Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade-long dictatorial rule over the oil-rich North African nation of Libya came to a grisly end Oct 20,2011, but the months preceding his death were similarly bloody. In early March, uprisings sparked by the Arab Spring unrest in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia exploded into full-fledged civil war, as barely trained militias rose up against Gaddafi's forces. Prompted by a rumored threat of genocide should Gaddafi overrun the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the United Nations adopt a resolution in March that in essence legitimated a foreign intervention. Nato operations formally began at the start of April and steadily rolled back Gaddafi's forces. The war ended on Oct 20, after Gaddafi was seized by rebels and killed, his body placed on display in a meat locker in the port city of Misrata.