The Toyota Pickup Truck Is So Dependable, a War Was Named After It

Tachanka comes from the Ukrainian тачанка. Said wagons became popular during the Great War, especially on the Eastern Front. Prior to the end of most destructive war the world had ever seen to that time, tachankas were used in the Russian Civil War sparked by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin.

Be that as it may, the 1910s also saw the democratization of automobiles in the United States, kickstarted by the Ford Model T. Advancements in mass production helped the Ford Motor Company drop the starting price of the Tin Lizzie from $825 or $28,170 adjusted for inflation to $260 or $4,670. Said prices are for the run-of-the-mill Model T Runabout for 1909 and 1925.

We also have to remember that British and German tanks made history in World War I, setting the stage for increasingly mechanized warfare in subsequent conflicts. A pickup truck can easily be converted into a killing machine, but as you're well aware, such pickup trucks need to be sufficiently reliable and sturdy to make a difference in combat zones.

Before going into how the Chadian National Armed Forces received 400 pickup trucks from their French partners to wreak havoc on the Soviet-era tanks operated by the Libyan Armed Forces of Muammar Gaddafi, we should explain a few things. First of all, Toyota War designates the final phase of the Chadian-Libyan War. Said campaigns were fought between early 1978 and the fall of 1987.

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi rose to power in Libya in 1969, but the North African country's involvement with Chad started in 1968 as part of the Chadian Civil War. King Idris of Libya, who was deposed by Gaddafi's coup d'etat in 1969, provided supplies and granted sanctuary to FROLINAT insurgents in his country.

The far more despotic Gaddafi was lured by the prospect of uranium deposits in the Aouzou Strip. It goes without saying that conflicts in the region prevented any further exploration of uranium deposits. Gaddafi's collaboration with the Muslim National Liberation Front of Chad eventually climaxed with a failed coup against Francois Tombalbaye, who proceeded to cut diplomatic relations with Libya on the day of the coup. Chad's president laid claims to the Fezzan region of Libya, therefore prompting Gaddafi to recognize the FROLINAT as the legitimate government of Chad to the detriment of Tombalbaye.

Diplomatic relations would resume in April 1972. Come November 1972, the money-hungry Chadian president had secretly agreed to cede the disputed strip of land to Libya for 40 million British pounds, which meant a helluva lot of money back then.The African countries signed a Treaty of Friendship in December 1972. Six months later, Libyan troops moved into the Aouzou Strip. It should be noted that Chad and Libya never formalized the agreement between Tombalbaye and Gaddafi. This, in turn, goes to show that Tombalbaye was a really corrupt dude.

Tombalbaye would be removed from power in April 1975 by Felix Malloum. That year, the Libyan Armed Forces pushed into the central part of Chad with the help of the FROLINAT rebels. January 1978 saw a greater Libyan involvement, with the Libyans and Chadian politician Goukouni Oueddei assuming control of the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region. Oueddei replaced Felix Malloum as president of Chad in 1979, with Felix Malloum rising to prominence as a high-ranking military officer during Tombalbaye's authoritarian tenure.

FROLINAT captured Faya-Largeau in 1978, but at the battle of Ati, a Chadian task force supported by French marines and legionnaires would expel the rebels over the course of two days. The humongous difference in air superiority and the chilling fear of greater French involvement in the conflict saw the Libyan conscripts refuse to engage the French.

The question is, why did France supply the Chadian troops with 400 pickups trucks modified with MILAN anti-tank missile systems for their final push against the Libyans? One has to remember that Chad became independent from France in 1960, the year Tombalbaye was elected president. Secondly, the French had – and continue to have – many interests in their former African colonies.

The Central African CFA franc, which happens to be Chad's national currency, is controlled by none other than France. 14 African countries use the Central African CFA France and West African CFA franc, and all 14 are required to deposit half of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury. Given the aforementioned, it should come as no surprise that France received plenty of criticism from European politicians for hindering the economic development of said 14 nations.

Chad's Transitional Government of National Unity rebelled against Gaddafi in 1986, signaling the beginning of the Toyota War and the end of the Chadian-Libyan War. The Chadian National Armed Forces were ordered by president Hissene Habre to cross the 16th parallel to assist GUNT forces in the Tibesti Mountains, with GUNT being engaged against the Libyan Armed Forces.

The battle of Fada, which took place in January 1987, is widely considered to be the turning point of the conflict. It marked the first use of French-donated Toyota pickups by the Chadians. With nothing more than Western weaponry and Japanese trucks, the Chadian troops made easy work of the Libyans. No fewer than 784 soldiers, 92 T-55 tanks, and 33 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles had been lost against 18 soldiers and three pickups.

By August 1987, nearly all of the country had been liberated. One by one, Libyan strongholds were rushed by Chad with such effectiveness that Libya was forced to bomb its own supply depots to prevent them from falling into Chadian hands.

During this final phase of the war, the Chadian forces discovered that driving at high speed (think 100 kilometers per hour or 62 miles per hour) over mines would not trigger said mines. The Chadian army became so confident in their highly mobile trucks and Western weaponry that they pushed as far as the Maaten al-Sarra Air Base in Libya.

In September 1987, those mad lads raced across the border into Libya to remove the threat of Libyan airpower, marking the first battle on Libyan soil. Chad suffered 65 killed and 112 wounded versus 1,000 to 1,713 killed and 300 captured. Libya had also lost 70 tanks, 30 armored personnel carriers, 26 to 32 aircraft, and eight radar stations.

A ceasefire was declared on September 11. Western media was already referring to this final phase of the war as the Toyota War, and the name stuck. Gaddafi didn't dare go back on his word, whereas the Aouzou Strip dispute was concluded in February 1994 by the International Court of Justice. A majority of 16 to 1 decided that Chad was the rightful owner of said piece of land. Libya's withdrawal from Chad began in April 1994, whereas Gaddafi was executed by National Transitional Council forces in 2011.

While there may be some resemblance to the raids conducted by the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group in World War II, the Toyota War is best described as being a completely different animal. Thanks to his service in the Chadian army and his brilliant strategy in using Toyota pickup trucks to outmaneuver heavily armored Libyan forces, Commander Hassan Djamous proved that firepower alone doesn’t win an armed conflict.

For his outstanding contribution to the Republic of Chad, the Hassan Djamous International Airport in N’Djamena is named after him. Although we refer to the Hilux and 70-series Land Cruiser as pickup trucks, the Pentagon has a fancier name for pickup trucks modified for warfare. That name is non-standard technical vehicle, or technical for short.

However effective a reliable pickup truck may be with a MILAN anti-tank missile system affixed to the bed, the Hilux and 70-series Land Cruiser don't match the combat effectiveness of a purpose-built military off-road vehicle. Think AM General HMMWV or the much heavier and tougher Oshkosh M-ATV, which entered service in 2009.

Toyota still produces the 70-series Land Cruiser in pickup truck form, a body style that was designated 79 in 1999. From 1951 to 2019, the Land Cruiser clocked over 10 million deliveries. Once sold in the United States as the Pickup, the Hilux had been sold in more than 17.7 million units by 2017. Instead of the Hilux, prospective customers in the United States are presented with the Tacoma.