Cambodia’s past is one of great triumphs and great tragedy. What we know today as Cambodia first took shape under the rule of Jayavarman during the early part of the ninth century. He was the first of a series of kings to rule over the Southeast Asian empire of Angkor. The empire was the region’s epicenter for art, culture, and architecture for over 600 years, and produced the largest religious structure ever constructed, Angkor Wat. Before the empire fell in 1431 to the Thais, the Angkor Empire had constructed over 1000 temples and they still remain the heart and soul of the kingdom.
The period after Angkor is known as the dark ages of Cambodia. Weak kings allowed Vietnam to take back land in the east, and Thailand took over the provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap in the west. It stayed this way until the French came and basically colonized the country in 1864. This allowed the Cambodians to gain back some of the land that they had lost, but ultimately resulted in a loss of independence. The French had de-facto control over Cambodia (except during WWII, when Japan controlled the area) until 1953 when Cambodia declared independence and France, already facing troubles in Vietnam, left the region. 
In 1955 the Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated the throne to turns his focus to politics. That same year he became Cambodia’s head of state and his party won every seat in parliament. Sihanouk’s political moves in the next 15 years would go on to shape Cambodia’s modern history. He had a great distrust of America, which led to Sihanouk allowing the North Vietnamese to use Cambodia in their war against South Vietnam and the US. The Viet Cong took advantage of this and by 1969 they had penetrated deep into Cambodia. This angered many of Cambodia’s military leaders, and while Sihanouk was visiting France in 1970, General Lon Nol and Sihanouk’s cousin, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, ousted the former king as head of state and Lon Nol took over as Cambodia’s leader. Sihanouk moved to Beijing where he would help finance a revolutionary group he nicknamed the Khmer Rouge.
Meanwhile, back in the US, President Nixon had authorized the secret bombing of Cambodia hoping to knock out communist bases. This actually had the effect of knocking the Vietnamese further into Cambodia, and pushed Cambodia further into war. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the countryside to the relative safety of Phnom Penh and other large cities. Lon Nol, who tried to fight against the Viet Cong, slowly started to lose support, and the guerilla communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, was gaining ground all across the country.
By the mid-70’s, the Vietnam War was coming to a close, but the trouble was far from over in Cambodia. On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and forced the Cambodian government to surrender. The people celebrated and treated the Khmer Rouge as liberators, but the feeling of euphoria was short lived. After only a few hours, the Khmer Rouge forced the entire population into the countryside and forced them into slave leader. Their leader, the infamous Pol Pot, went on a campaign to purge the nation of anyone he felt was a threat to the movement. This led to the execution of hundreds of thousands of innocent Khmer people. By the end of the Khmer Rouge, experts believe around 2 million died, making it one of the most brutal regimes of the modern era.
By 1978, the Khmer Rouge had taken back the Mekong Delta from Vietnam. This led to Vietnam staging a full scale invasion of Cambodia in December of that year, and by early 1979 the Vietnamese were in control of the country. In the next decade the Khmer Rouge retreated to the mountains near the Thai border while the government was run by the Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge initiated a series of guerilla attacks against the Vietnamese, who in return laid down thousands of land mines to try and seal off the guerillas. In 1989, the Vietnamese left Cambodia due to economic problems of its own and left Cambodia in the hands of its own people.
The civil war between the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian government would go on through the nineties, but as the decade wore on, the Khmer Rouge would begin to implode from the inside. Leaders started to turn on other leaders, culminating in Pol Pots decision to execute one of his main advisors, along with his entire family. In April of1998, while in Khmer Rouge captivity, Pol Pot died of unknown cause, signaling the end of the Khmer Rouge.
Today, Cambodia is finally free from military conflict, but its problems go on. Its economy is a mess, leading to major problems with poverty, disease and prostitution. The government is a democracy, but its credibility is mired with greed and corruption. Land mines still lurk in the countryside, continuing to take limbs and lives from Cambodia’s youth.
Yet, even with all these problems, the Khmer people continue to smile and have a genuine hope for their future. The children have an intense desire to gain an education so they can help to build a better future for themselves and their families. They believe that with some hard and honest work, Cambodia can be a great nation once again. |
