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First mistake: attacking a country called Chad
(thelemmy.club)
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Explanation: In the 1980s, the country of Libya under Muammar Gadaffi invaded the country of Chad in order to enforce Libya's imperialist interests, after supporting the then-ongoing civil war for nearly a decade. Libya, as a fairly wealthy petro-state, had a modern army with state-of-the-art armored vehicles.
The rather rag-tag military of Chad had experience fighting from their recent civil war, but little in the way of modern military equipment, save for a flood of last-minute acquisitions sent by France, Zaire, and the USA (which opposed Libya), including large amounts of anti-tank missiles.
Chad opted for a then-fairly-novel tactic - mounting heavy weapons on civilian pickup trucks, a near-universal tactic amongst irregulars we now call 'Technicals'. Between that, their own determination to not be puppeteered by a foreign invader, and the incompetence of a Libyan military made to impress - but not challenge - the dictator at its head, Chad delivered to Libya a stunning and humiliating defeat in what became known as the Toyota War
I feel as though I should have known about this. Thanks for sharing with background.
Thanks PugJesus as always!