Cambodia C. Cullen revised 2013. Khmers settled the region from western India and the Great Ankhor...
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Transcript of Cambodia C. Cullen revised 2013. Khmers settled the region from western India and the Great Ankhor...
Cambodia
C. Cullen revised 2013
Khmers settled the region from western India and the Great Ankhorcivilizations flourished in the 1100’s. Cambodia expanded its borders to take over much of present-day Laos and South Vietnam (Champa).
Angkor Wat Before Restoration
Angkor Wat Today
The next 600 years saw a period of conflict between Cambodia and her neighbours,Siam (Thailand) and Vietnam. In 1841, Vietnam annexed Cambodia, and in 1845,the Siamese ousted the Vietnamese from the country and then took much of Cambodia for itself. In desperation, the Cambodians turned to France for help and became a French protectorate in 1863. French colonial rule would last for the next90 years. The French rulers improved Cambodia’s economy, transportation and education systems but exploited the natural resources
In 1941, Prince Norodom Sihanouk became king of Cambodia. Soon after, Japanoccupied the country during World War 2. In 1945, the Japanese were expelled fromthe country and Cambodia was returned to French control.
In 1953, Cambodia was granted independence from France. It became known asthe Kingdom of Cambodia with Norodom Sihanouk as its ruling monarch. Sihanoukstepped down as king and put his father on the throne and himself assumed the position of prime minister.
Sihanouk faced political opposition from the Communist supporters in Cambodia,some of whom would later form the Khmer Rouge Party. The Communist leader,Pol Pot fled with some of his followers into the jungle to escape capture. The Communists were closely linked to the Viet Cong and and also had the support of the Soviet Union.
Cambodian jungle
Pol Pot
In 1963, Cambodia broke off diplomatic ties with South Vietnam and laterwarned the United Nations their troops would retaliate if the Americans and South Vietnamese didn’t stop sending forces across the Cambodian borderin search of Viet Cong fighters.
Cambodian jungle
Cambodian farmer
In an attempt to destroy potential hideouts and transportation routes for VietCong guerrillas, the Americans dropped herbicides such as Agent Orange to defoliate forests along the Vietnamese /Cambodian border. This created greater resentment amongst the Cambodian citizens in the region and helped bolster support for the communists.
In October, 1968, the Cambodian government admitted that Viet Cong fightershad been using their country for sanctuary. Four months later, President Nixonapproved the secret bombing of Cambodia. Between 1969-1973, the Americansdropped over 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia, killing an estimated 700,000 civilians. Many of the peasants left their farms and fled to the cities. This causeda collapse of the agricultural economy and led to famine.
In March, 1970, Prince Sihanouk was overthrown in a bloodless coup whilehe was away seeking Soviet and Chinese assistance in ridding his country of the Viet Cong. Lon Nol, a military general, took over power and permitted the Americansto bomb border villages suspected of harboring Viet Minh or Khmer Rouge fighters.A strong resistance coalition developed between the Khmer Rouge (who had Chineseweapons, the Viet Cong volunteers (armed by the Soviets) and Sihanouk’s supporters(who gave the resistance movement great appeal from ordinary Cambodians who worshipped their deposed king). Civil war would divide the country for the next severalyears. Sihanouk remained in exile in China.
Lon Nol
Young Khmer Rouge fighters
In April, 1970, Nixon announced that the United States had invaded CambodiaIn an attempt to drive the Viet Cong from the Vietnamese border. He said that the Americans would only attack a 22 mile corridor. Most of the Viet Cong simplymoved into the interior of Cambodia and joined forces with the Khmer Rouge. Theinvading South Vietnamese soldiers looted and destroyed the villages along the border, which helped unite the peasants against the invaders.
Anti-war protests sprung up across America with the news of the Cambodianinvasion. The shooting deaths of four Kent State University students by NationalGuardsmen shocked the country and fueled many more angry protests. Othersstrongly supported America’s foreign policy and marched in support of their overseas forces.
Kent Stateshootings
Anti War mall protest
Between 1970-1975, as the civil war grew more violent in Cambodia, more andmore people fled the countryside. The capital city Phnom Penh grew from 200,000 people to 3,000,000 in a five year period. Many of the new residentswere completely dependent on American relief handouts.
In 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh as Lon Nol’s governmentwas overthrown. Prince Sihanouk returned from Beijing and was elected head of state. There was only food available for ten days in the capital, and the KhmerRouge leader, Pol Pot, ordered the immediate evacuation of the city. All city dwellers were to become farmers and to establish a new farming society. Force was used to get people to comply and oppressive communes were set up.
A desertedPhnomPenh
Evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975
Pol Pot announced that Cambodia was being renamed Democratic Kampuchea with himself as prime minister and Khieu Samphan as head-of-state. Sihanoukresigned in protest of the drastic new policies and was placed under housearrest in Phnom Penh.
Pol Pot, an atheist educated in Paris, announced that all religion was now banned. Wats (temples) were destroyed and monks were executed. Familyties were denounced as children were expected to show allegiance to their country and their leaders rather than their parents. The Khmer Rouge recruitedyoung, strong peasants to enforce their policies and encouraged violence againstanyone who resisted.
The calendar was reset at “Year Zero” and references to the past were denounced.Citizens of Vietnamese or Chinese descent, Lon Nol supporters, monarchists, intellectuals, people who spent time in foreign countries, the upper middle class, evenpeople with glasses were targeted for interrogation, torture, and execution. Everyonewas expected to become a farmer and to adopt the Communist ideals. An estimated2 million (25% of the population) died of violence or starvation during a 3 year period.
The “Killing Fields”
The Notorious S-21 Prison and Torture Site for Khmer Rouge
An estimated 14000 – 17000 Cambodians were sent to S-21. They were photographed upon entry and interrogated and tortured to confess to crimes of treason. Only 7 prisoners made it out alive.
The Khmer Rouge harassed South Vietnamese border towns which led to warwith Vietnam in 1978. The Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh in 1979 and tookcontrol of the country. They established a puppet government run from Hanoi.Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge forces flee to the border region with Thailand and try to regroup. Due to the fighting, the rice crops did not get planted and famineloomed. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the country, most to Thailand.
CambodianRefugees in Thailand
Some of the Kampuchean refugees applied for asylum in Canada. Thailand facedInternational pressure when it expelled 45,000 refugees back to Kampuchea. Manywere killed by land mines as they walked across the border region. Thailand changedits policy but pleaded that it couldn’t handle the influx of mostly poor, uneducated refugees and that other countries needed to do more. The Thai government alsoworried about Khmer Rouge guerrillas using the camps as recruiting and re-armingbases, which could result in Vietnamese reprisals.
Newly arrivedCambodian refugees in Canada
Guerrilla warfare and instability continued to plague Kampuchea for many years.The United Nations refused to recognize the Hanoi-appointed government as legitimate and instead recognized the Khmer Rouge /Sihanouk government-in-exile. In 1989, Vietnamese troops withdrew and the country went back to its originalname of Cambodia. Sihanouk returned from exile in 1991 and later became kingin 1993. One year later, thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrender in governmentamnesty.
The Khmer Rouge continued to terrorize the countryside for many more years, killing Vietnamese, kidnapping foreigners, and holding people for ransom. In 1998,Pol Pot died in the jungle of natural causes before going to trial.
The body of Pol Potwas shown to journalists in a jungleshack to confirm hisdeath
In 2004, Norodom Sihanouk stepped down as king at the age of 81 and was replaced by his son, Prince Norodom Sihamoni. Although genocide trials for senior Khmer Rouge leaders had been approved, no legal proceedings had actually taken place.
