TIMELINE - Gaddafi's 42-year rule

A frame from footage provided by the FIDE Press service shows Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi meeting visiting president of the World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (not pictured) before a game of chess in Tripoli, June 12, 2011.

REUTERS - Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Wednesday to fight on to death or victory after jubilant rebels forced him to abandon his Tripoli stronghold.

Here are some major events during his 42-year rule:

1969 - Muammar Gaddafi seizes power on Sept. 1 in a coup against King Idris.

1970 - Libya closes U.S. and British military bases.

1980 - Demonstrators sack U.S. embassy in Tripoli.

1981 - U.S. fighter planes shoot down two Libyan jets over the Gulf of Sirte, which Libya claims as territorial waters.

April 1984 - Shots fired from Libyan embassy in London kill policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, guarding demonstrators protesting against Gaddafi. Britain cuts diplomatic ties. Gaddafi said "we are sorry" for the killing in Oct. 2009.

Jan 1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan orders halt to economic and commercial relations with Libya, freezes Libyan assets in the United States.

-- April - Libya is blamed for bombing a West Berlin disco used by U.S. servicemen, killing three and wounded more than 200.

-- April - U.S. aircraft bomb Tripoli, Benghazi and Gaddafi's home. Libya says more than 40 people are killed, including Gaddafi's adopted baby daughter.

Dec. 1988 - Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

Sept. 1989 - Bomb explodes on a French UTA airliner over Niger, killing 170 people. In 1999, France convicts six Libyans in absentia, but Tripoli denied responsibility.

Nov. 1991 - The United States and Britain accuse Libyans Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima of Lockerbie bombing. Libya denies involvement.

Jan 2001 - Judges unanimously find Abdel Basset al-Megrahi guilty of murder and acquit Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima. Megrahi given mandatory life sentence.

March 2003 - Libya reaches political agreement with the United States and Britain to accept civil responsibility for the bombing. Libya agrees to pay about $2.7 billion in total.

-- Sept - U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to lift sanctions imposed on Libya in 1992 after Libya accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

-- Dec - Libya says to abandon weapons of mass destruction programmes and allow in international weapons inspectors.

Jan 2004 - Lawmakers arrive on the first visit by a U.S. congressional delegation to Libya since Gaddafi came to power.

-- March - British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets Gaddafi.

-- Sept - President George W. Bush ends U.S. trade embargo on Libya but leaves U.S. terrorism-related sanctions in place.

May 2006 - The United States says it will restore full diplomatic ties with Libya.

Aug. 2008 - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signs a deal in Benghazi under which Italy will pay $5 billion in compensation for its colonial misdeeds.

Sept. 2008 - Condoleezza Rice meets Gaddafi in Tripoli in the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state since 1953.

June 2009 - Gaddafi makes a controversial first visit to former colonial power Italy. The next month Gaddafi and U.S. President Barack Obama shake hands during a G8 summit in Italy.

-- August - Megrahi is set free on compassionate grounds and arrives home to a hero's welcome. The next day, Britain condemns the celebrations in Tripoli.

Feb. 17, 2011 - Activists designate Feb. 17 as a day of rage, a day after first riots in Benghazi. Feb. 17 is the anniversary of 2006 clashes there, when security forces killed protesters attacking the Italian consulate.

March 5 - The rebel National Transitional Council meets in Benghazi and declares itself the sole representative for Libya.

June 27 - The ICC issues arrest warrants for Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam on charges of crimes against humanity.

Aug. 21 - Rebels enter Tripoli with little resistance.

Aug. 24 - Gaddafi, in hiding, vows "martyrdom" or victory in his six-month war against the Western alliance and Libyan foes.