Background
Cambodia has a long and illustrious history. The states of Chenla and Funan, which lay within its borders, were among the first sophisticated societies in Southeast Asia and the glories of Angkor and its temples created by the huge Khmer empire remain among the wonders of the world. Yet the empire weakened as a result of constant internal warfare and its ambitious and expensive creation of hospitals, temples and canals. Subsequently, Angkor was conquered by the Siamese and the Vietnamese and the country lost most of its territory. By the time of the arrival of colonial European powers, it had regressed to being an underdeveloped agricultural society that did not have the strength to resist. Consequently, it fell under French control, as did also neighbouring Laos and Vietnam.
The conquest of Southeast Asia by the Japanese and the events of the Second World War revealed to the Cambodians, as they did to very many Asian peoples, that Europeans and Westerners were not invincible and that independence from their control was an attainable goal. The eviction of the French was bloodily achieved in Southeast Asia in the 1950s. However, the unwillingness of the French to provide any kind of appropriate educational system or build modern institutions in their colonies meant that there was little ideological opposition to the twin dogmas of either recidivist nationalism or communism. In Cambodia, nationalism meant slavish devotion to the monarch, while communism meant the Khmer Rouge (Red Khmers) and alliance with the Vietnamese communists who were ideologically compatible but still Vietnamese and so considered to be the enemy by many ordinary Cambodians. From the period of the expulsion of the French to the 1970s, these forces clashed in the polling station and in the field until open warfare was declared. Neither side was able - or perhaps even willing - to establish a workable common ground that could have maintained peace in the country - and even if they had been able, the pressure of external forces would have forced the confrontation in the end.
