Stages of the Cambodian Government...

The first Indochina war began in 1946 and lasted until 1954 when Indochina finally became three independent states. Most consider this the time when communism was introduced in Indochina. In the countryside’s of Cambodia, the French found themselves struggling against the Indochina Communist Party. Hundreds of French soldiers were killed. The idea of rebelling against the French and succeeding was very pleasing to many young Cambodians. They happily joined the Indochina Communists in the revolt against the French.

In France many of the young college students were being introduced to the “communist idea.” One of these students became the leader that nearly killed two million Cambodians through his radical communist beliefs. Saloth Sar, most commonly known as Pol Pot, returned to Cambodia from his studies in France in 1953. He joined the communists in the countryside for a couple of months.
Prince Norodom Sihanouk became worried about the communist revolution led be Mao Zedong in China. He was afraid that his teachings were encouraging young students in Cambodia to revolt against the government. The last thing Sihanouk wanted was a revolution in his country. To help prevent this from happening he slowly began to patch-up his relationship with the United States. What he didn’t know was that the Kampuchea Communist Party was being formed. By 1963 Cambodia, the KCP became Cambodia’s secret communist party. Sihanouk’s “talking” with the U.S. made North Vietnam, an ally, lose their trust in him. By 1970 a coup was developed fighting against Sihanouk. This coup was developed by Pol Pot, also the master mind behind KCP, who wanted nothing more than a communist revolution to take place in Cambodia. Sihanouk’s armies could not withstand the sudden combat with the communist rebellion. On March 18th of 1970 Norodom Sihanouk was voted out of office.

General Lon Nol, prime minister and Sisowath Sirik Matak, vice-president were the new leaders of Cambodia. But they found themselves lost, for they knew nothing about running a country. The Khmer Rouge (KCP) in the countryside became more and more powerful. The Cambodian forces couldn’t hold them back much longer. From 1970-1975 Cambodia was once again in war. Lon Nol’s troops fought the Khmer Rouge in the countryside while the U.S. bombed Cambodia. In turn the
Khmer Rouge recruited many young men to join their party. Thousands joined, most of them poor rural dwellers. Everything went downhill from there. Lon Nol was forced to resign from office and put into exile. American efforts to stop the civil war and prevent the communist Khmer Rouge from taking over Cambodia failed.

On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot marched into the capital city of Phnom Penh and declared their victory.

Source:-Seekins, Donald M., Robert K. Headley, Jr., Rinn-Sup Shinn, and Frank Tatu. Cambodia a Country Study. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.

-Chandler, David P. The Land and People of Cambodia. U.S.A.: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991

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