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Cambodia
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France grants Cambodia limited self-government within the French Union. Meanwhile, Cambodian Communist guerrilla forces team up with Vietnamese Communists in an attempt to take greater control of Cambodia from the French.
King Sihanouk successfully negotiates for Cambodia's independence from the French.
Read more about
King Sihanouk.
The Geneva Conference of 1954 marks the end of the First Indochina War. It calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia and acknowledges Sihanouk's government as the sole legitimate authority in Cambodia. This decision prevents the Viet Minh from gaining any regional power in Cambodia, as they did in Laos.
Read more about Cambodia's troubled
history.
Sihanouk breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States. He also allows North Vietnamese Communists, who are fighting the United States and the South Vietnamese, to set up bases on Cambodian soil.
President Nixon orders the secret bombing of Cambodia with the intent of wiping out North Vietnamese Communist camps there. This causes great destruction and upheaval in Cambodia.
Read an analysis of the
US bombing of Cambodia.
In need of economic and military aid, Sihanouk renews diplomatic relations with the United States.
Sihanouk is deposed and a pro-Western and anti-Vietnamese government takes over under the leadership of General Lon Nol. Lon Nol begins a campaign to fight the North Vietnamese Communist forces camped in border areas.
Read more on
Lon Nol.
United States and South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia, searching for North Vietnamese Communist soldiers. The destruction of villages and the death of civilians alienate many Cambodians and push them towards the Communist side.
Chinese and North Vietnamese leaders persuade the exiled prince Sihanouk to establish a government in exile, led by the Khmer Rouge Communist army.
Cambodia is subject to massive American aerial bombardment in an attempt to slow Communist attacks on the government in Phnom Penh. Lon Nol's government is blamed for allowing the United States to bomb the country. Farmers who had never concerned themselves with politics now flood to the Communist opposition group, the Khmer Rouge.
After a gruesome civil war, the Khmer Republic collapses and the Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia.
What happened
during the reign of the Khmer Rouge?
The Vietnamese, together with the Cambodian Communist rebels, launch an assault on Cambodia. On January 7, 1979, the invading forces occupy Phnom Penh, which the Khmer Rouge leaders had abandoned the day before.
Vietnam establishes a satellite regime called the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). Only a few foreign governments, such as the Soviet Union and India recognise the PRK. The Soviet Union provides the PRK with funds.
As the Cold War ends, the Soviet Union decreases economic aid to Cambodia. Vietnam withdraws its troops from Cambodia.
Cambodia's warring factions and the United Nations sign an agreement in Paris with the intention of ending the conflict in Cambodia. The agreement provides for the creation of a Supreme National Council (SNC) made up of delegates from the various Cambodian factions. Sihanouk serves as president of the SNC. The United Nations assume the government's administrative functions and works towards democratic elections.
King Sihanouk and Cambodia.
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