The History of Cambodia
1953-1968
Cambodia won its independence from France on November 9, 1953, officially ending
eight decades of colonial control. Twenty-two-year-old King Norodom Sihanouk
returned from exile to lead the new country. After
stepping down from the throne to become prime minister
in 1955, Sihanouk insisted that Cambodia remain neutral
and avoid foreign influences. As the Cold War heated up
in Southeast Asia, the Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations feared that Cambodia might fall to
communism and wanted to use it as a buffer against
North Vietnam. Speaking about the strategic importance
of Southeast Asia in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower
warned, “You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock
over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is
the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” Sihanouk accepted temporary
assistance from the United States, but he also resented its interference in
Cambodian affairs.
As the American military presence in Southeast Asia escalated, however, Sihanouk
decided to distance himself completely from the United States. In March 1965, U.S.
Marines landed in South Vietnam, beginning a new phase of the war. Sihanouk had
rejected American military aid two years earlier, and now he broke off all diplomatic
relations with the United States. His relationship with communist North Vietnam
became increasingly cozy. By 1967, the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong
were operating along Cambodia’s border with South Vietnam, with Sihanouk’s
approval. The United States and South Vietnam responded with cross-border
operations, which Sihanouk publicly protested.
As Cambodia was drawn into the bloody conflict next door, Sihanouk’s dream of
Cambodian neutrality quickly faded. For now, Cambodia would not be the next
“domino” to topple over. But it had become a new battlefield – some called it a
sideshow – in the American war in Vietnam.
During this period, many Cambodians revered Sihanouk as a god-king and respected
him for keeping the country relatively peaceful. But there was growing opposition to
his government’s corruption and intolerance of dissent. In 1960, a small group of
leftist intellectuals, including Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot) and Nuon Chea,
formed the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The small, highly secretive organization
operated in the capital, Phnom Penh, until 1963, when its leaders fled to the
countryside and launched an armed insurgency. At the time, the communist guerillas
posed little threat to Sihanouk and became known simply by the dismissive moniker
he gave them: the Red Khmer, or Khmer Rouge.
1969-1974
On March 18, 1969, American B-52s began carpet-bombing eastern Cambodia.
“Operation Breakfast” was the first course in a four-year bombing campaign that
drew Cambodia headlong into the Vietnam War. The Nixon Administration kept the
bombings secret from Congress for several months, insisting they were directed
against legitimate Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge targets. However, the raids exacted
an enormous cost from the Cambodian people: the US dropped 540,000 tons of
bombs , killing anywhere from 150,000 to 500,000 civilians.
Shortly after the bombing began, Sihanouk restored diplomatic relations with the US,
expressing concern over the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. But his change
of heart came too late. In March 1970, while Sihanouk was traveling abroad, he was
deposed by a pro-American general, Lon Nol. The Nixon Administration, which
viewed Sihanouk as an untrustworthy partner in the fight against communism ,
increased military support to the new regime.
In April 1970, without Lon Nol’s knowledge, American and South Vietnamese forces
crossed into Cambodia. There was already widespread domestic opposition to the
war in Vietnam; news of the “secret invasion” of Cambodia sparked massive protests
across the US, culminating in the deaths of six students shot by National Guardsmen
at Kent State University and Jackson State University. Nixon withdrew American
troops from Cambodia shortly afterwards. But the US bombing continued until
August 1973.
Meanwhile, with assistance from North Vietnam and China, the guerrillas of the
Khmer Rouge had grown into a formidable force. By 1974, they were beating the
government on the battlefield and preparing for a final assault on Phnom Penh. And
they had gained an unlikely new ally: Norodom Sihanouk, living in exile, who now
hailed them as patriots fighting against an American puppet government.
Sihanouk’s support boosted the Khmer Rouge’s popularity among rural Cambodians.
But some observers have argued that the devastating American bombing also helped
fuel the Khmer Rouge’s growth. Former New York Times correspondent Sydney
Schanberg said the Khmer Rouge “… would point… at the bombs falling from B-52s
as something they had to oppose if they were going to have freedom. And it became
a recruiting tool until they grew to a fierce, indefatigable guerrilla army.” Former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has dismissed the idea that the US bears any
responsibility for the rise of the Khmer Rouge. As he argued in his memoir, “It was
Hanoi-animated by an insatiable drive to dominate Indochina- that organized the
Khmer Rouge long before any American bombs fell on Cambodian soil.”
1975-1979
On April 17, 1975, less than two weeks before the fall of Saigon, the Khmer Rouge
seized Phnom Penh and immediately began to drive the city’s 2 million residents into
the countryside. This was the first stage in its brutal attempt to transform Cambodia
into a primitive communal utopia. In reality, the Khmer Rouge turned the country
into an enormous forced labor camp. Money, property, books and religion were
outlawed. Cambodia’s economy, already severely damaged by years of bombing and
civil war, ground to a halt. All decisions in the newly renamed Democratic
Kampuchea came from a shadowy and unquestionable leadership known simply as
angkar,or “the organization.”
In less than four years, between 1.7 million and 2.5 million people died, out of a
population of 8 million. Many succumbed to starvation or exhaustion. Tens of
thousands were tortured and executed in places like Phnom Penh’s infamous Tuol
Sleng prison.
The Khmer Rouge completely closed Cambodia to the outside world. But reports of
atrocities trickled out of the country, sparking a debate in the United States and the
West. News of mass killings and starvation seemed to vindicate those who had
predicted a bloodbath once the Khmer Rouge came to power. However, some
antiwar activists questioned the accuracy of these reports, claiming that they were
exaggerations meant to discredit the new Communist regime.
In the face of mounting evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, the U.S. government
stayed quiet. After the debacle of the Vietnam War, few American politicians were
willing to get reinvolved in Southeast Asia, and the government was not eager to
examine its complex role in Cambodia’s collapse. Not until April 1978 did President
Jimmy Carter declare the Khmer Rouge “the worst violator of human rights in the
world.”
By then, the Khmer Rouge had less than a year left in power. Ironically, its downfall
was brought on by a conflict with its former ally, Vietnam. A border dispute between
Democratic Kampuchea and communist Vietnam flared into full-scale war, and in
January 1979, Vietnamese forces rolled into Phnom Penh.
1992-2002
U.N. peacekeepers arrived in Phnom Penh in March 1992 to supervise the revival of
Cambodia’s constitutional monarchy. The following year, elections were held and a
new constitution was ratified. Once again, Norodom Sihanouk assumed the throne,
while Hun Sen shared the office of prime minister with Sihanouk’s son, Prince
Norodom Ranariddh. However, Cambodia’s troubles were far from over. Its economy
was in ruins, tens of thousands of people remained displaced and the countryside
was littered with as many as 8 million land mines. And Sen, who would oust
Ranariddh in a bloody 1997 coup, was criticized for his autocratic style and human
rights abuses.
Having distanced itself from the Khmer Rouge, America’s relations with Cambodia
improved significantly in the 1990s. Congress granted Cambodia most-favorednation trading status and restored aid to the government. In 1994, President Bill
Clinton signed the Cambodian Genocide Justice Act, which advocated bringing the
perpetrators of the Khmer Rouge’s crimes to trial and provided $400,000 to research
and collect information about the genocide. Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders
continued to live freely in Cambodia and Thailand, though they became increasingly
isolated. In 1996, almost half of the remaining Khmer Rouge forces surrendered to
the government and received amnesty. As pressure to arrest Pol Pot mounted, the
Khmer Rouge declared that it had sentenced him to life imprisonment for his crimes.
In April 1998, the enigmatic mastermind of the killing fields died of heart failure,
disappointing those who wished to see him brought before an internationally
recognized tribunal.
To date, two Khmer Rouge leaders, including the former head of Tuol Sleng prison,
have been arrested and charged with genocide. However, they cannot be tried until
Cambodia and the United Nations settle an ongoing dispute over how to set up
genocide tribunals. Some observers have criticized Prime Minister Hun Sen’s
hesitation to aggressively pursue the Khmer Rouge leadership. In 1999, he accepted
Nuon Chea’s surrender and apology, and he has suggested that Cambodia “dig a
hole and bury the past.” Recently, Sen – a former Khmer Rouge soldier himself – has
said he supports tribunals but wants to minimize outside interference in establishing
them.
Cambodia is still trying to recover from one of the 20th century’s most horrific crimes
against humanity. How it will recover from this trauma remains subject to debate,
both inside Cambodia and abroad. Some say Cambodians must move on and focus
on rebuilding their country. Others say Cambodia will suffer from a “culture of
impunity” until its former leaders are held accountable for their actions. And others
insist that any examination of the Khmer Rouge years must also address Cambodia’s
troubled recent history and the United States’ controversial role in it.
Frontline World. Cambodia: Pol Pot’s Shadow. PBS, October 2002.