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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 crossborder 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
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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.”
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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-favored-nation 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
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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.
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The History of Cambodia
Directions: With a partner, read the informational background on the history of Cambodia. As
you read, answer the following comprehension questions in complete sentences.
1) What role did Norodom Sihanouk play in Cambodia after its independence from France in
1953?
2) Explain why the United States wanted to have some level of involvement in Cambodia in the
1950s.
3) Who did Sihanouk decide to make alliances (take sides) with and what effect did this have on
the relationship between the United States and Cambodia?
4) Who was the Khmer Rouge and why did they oppose Sihanouk?
5) Describe what America did in Cambodia in 1969 and identify who they claimed to be
attacking.
6) What “new regime” did the Nixon administration put in power after they cast aside the
untrustworthy Sihanouk?
7) While the Americans crossed into Cambodia, what forces began to gather power inside of
Cambodia with the desire to overthrow the government of Lon Nol?
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8) What two outside sources do some blame for the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia?
9) Describe what the Khmer Rouge forced the people of Phnom Penh to do on April 17, 1975.
10) Describe what the Cambodian people were forced to do and what was taken from them after
this fateful day.
11) What was the name of the “organization” that was responsible for all these actions?
12) How many people were killed in Cambodia during 1975-1979? How were the majority of
these 1-2 million people killed?
13) Describe what the world did as the 2 million people in Cambodia were killed by the Khmer
Rouge.