Third Indochina War

Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978, removing the pro-China Democratic Kampuchea and installing the pro-Vietnam People's Republic of Kampuchea.

• Causes included Khmer resentment of past Vietnamese exploitation and territorial expansion, a shrinking Cambodia, and Khmer Rouge hostility to Vietnam.
• The wider war pitted Vietnam (backed by the USSR) against Cambodia (backed by China); in 1979 China invaded Vietnam in response.

• Paris-educated students saw Marxism as liberation from France.
• In 1960 they seized positions in the KPRR, which was renamed the Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP).
• In 1963 Pol Pot became general secretary.

1. 11955 - Sihanouk abdicates.
2. 2Sihanouk accepts US aid early on, but later supplies North Vietnam.
3. 31968 - the KCP begins open rebellion against Sihanouk.
4. 41969 - Sihanouk restores US relations and turns a blind eye to the bombing of Vietcong sanctuaries.
5. 5March 1970 - a coup by General Lon Nol while Sihanouk is in Europe; Cambodia declares itself a pro-US republic.
6. 6Sihanouk forms a resistance front with the Khmer Rouge, with Chinese backing (Zhou Enlai).
7. 7Nixon sends US troops into Cambodia; by the end of 1970 there are four North Vietnamese divisions in Cambodia; by 1971 Lon Nol has lost three-quarters of his territory.
8. 8US bombing kills thousands and boosts Khmer Rouge recruitment.
9. 91973 - the US withdrawal and the halt to bombing leaves Lon Nol vulnerable.
10. 101 April 1975 - Lon Nol flees.
11. 1117 April 1975 - the Khmer Rouge enter Phnom Penh and rename the country Democratic Kampuchea; the population is forced to evacuate in a death march.
12. 12Sihanouk resigns in April 1976 and is imprisoned for three years.

• Abolished civil and political rights, private property, money, religion, minority languages, and foreign clothing.
• Forced a collectivised agricultural economy and separated the sexes at work.
• Economic mismanagement caused food and medicine shortages.
• Led by a six-member KCP political bureau under Pol Pot.
• Tuol Sleng Prison (S-21) became a centre of repression.
• An estimated 1.5 to 3 million people died.

• Vietnam expanded south at Khmer expense, imposing administrators, culture, clothing, language, and agricultural changes.
• Cambodian uprisings followed.
• Kampuchea Krom (southern Khmer territory) was lost - ceded to Vietnam by Cambodian kings in the early 17th century for military support.
• In 1862 the Vietnamese court ceded three provinces (Cochinchina) to France.
• In 1863 France declared Cambodia a protectorate.
• In 1949 the State of Vietnam was formed within the French Union, refuting the Cambodian claim.
• The ICP split into three national parties at Ho Chi Minh's urging, partly due to anti-Vietnamese sentiment.
• The Khmer Rouge and Vietnam clashed over whether to cooperate with Sihanouk.

1. 1Early May 1975 - the Khmer Rouge attack Vietnamese-held islands in the Gulf of Thailand; Vietnam recaptures them, taking 300 prisoners.
2. 2June 1975 - Vietnam occupies the Cambodian island of Poulu Wai.
3. 3April 1977 - renewed clashes.
4. 4December 1977 - a Vietnamese counter-offensive into Svay Rieng (the Parrot's Beak), with warplanes, artillery, and 20,000 men, then a withdrawal to 24 miles from the capital - aiming to inflict damage rather than conquer.