A country with an ancient culture in the 20th century gained notoriety for its inhuman Khmer Rouge regime, which came as a result of victory in the civil war in Cambodia. This period lasted from 1967 to 1975. Data on the losses of the parties is unknown, but, probably, they are not as large as in the subsequent years of building "peasant communism." The troubles of the country did not end there, in total, the wars on its territory continued for more than 30 years.
Military conflicts of the XX century
In 1953, Cambodia gained independence, according to the Geneva Accords as a result of France's colonial war in the Indochina Peninsula. The country became a kingdom, with a neutral status, led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk. However, there was a big war in neighboring Vietnam, and all neighboring countries eventuallywere embroiled in a conflict collectively known as the Second Indochina War, which included the civil war in Cambodia, which lasted from 1967 to 1975.
The territory of the country was periodically used by participants in the Vietnam War. So when the local communist rebels rebelled against the central government, they were supported by North Vietnam. Naturally, South Vietnam and the United States stood on the other side. After the end of this war, two more conflicts took place in the country.
After several wars between the former allies, the Pol Pot regime and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the invasion of Vietnamese troops into the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea began. The fighting was called the border war in Cambodia 1975-1979. After its end, a new civil war began almost immediately, which lasted 10 years from 1979 to 1989.
Civil War in Cambodia
The reason for the start of the armed struggle for the Communist Party of Cambodia, whose adherents were known throughout the world as the Khmer Rouge, was a peasant uprising that broke out in 1967 in the province of Battambang. It was brutally suppressed. In 1968, the communists made their first military action, then all their weapons were 10 rifles. However, by the end of the year, the civil war in Cambodia was in full swing.
In 1970, Prime Minister Lon Nol, who overthrew the prince, demanded the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from the country. Fearing the loss of the Cambodian Bach, they deployed a full-scaleoffensive against government forces. Under the threat of the fall of Phnom Penh - the capital of Kampuchea - South Vietnam and the United States entered the war. In April 1979, the Khmer Rouge took control of the country's capital, and the civil war in Cambodia ended. A course was proclaimed to build a new society based on Maoist concepts.
Border War
Already towards the end of the civil war, in 1972-1973, North Vietnam stopped the participation of its troops in this conflict due to disagreements with the Khmer Rouge on many political issues. And in 1975, armed clashes began on the border between the countries, which gradually developed into a border war. For several years, the Vietnamese leadership perceived them as part of an internal struggle between different factions in the Cambodian leadership. Khmer combat units repeatedly invaded Vietnam, killing everyone in a row, in Cambodia itself, all ethnic Vietnamese were killed. In response, the Vietnamese troops carried out raids on the territory of the neighbor.
In late 1978, Vietnam launched a large-scale invasion of the country to overthrow the ruling regime. Phnom Penh was taken in January 1979. The war in Cambodia ended with the transfer of power to the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea.
Occupation and civil war again
Having surrendered the capital, the military forces of the Khmer Rouge retreated to the western part to the Cambodian-Thai border, where they were then based for the nextapproximately 20 years. In the civil war in Cambodia (1979-1989), Vietnam took the most active part, which, in order to support the still weak government army, kept a military contingent with a constant strength of 170-180 thousand soldiers.
The Vietnamese quickly captured all the major cities, but the occupying forces had to face the guerrilla tactics that they had recently used against the Americans. The frankly pro-Vietnamese character of Heng Samrin's policy did not contribute to national unity. After the strengthening of the Cambodian army, in September 1989, the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia began, and only military advisers remained in the country. However, hostilities between government forces and the Khmer Rouge continued for about a decade.
