Quick questions on Khmer Rouge in Cambodia 1975-1979: HSC Modern History Indochina

Prince Norodom Sihanouk had ruled Cambodia since 1941 (as king to 1955, then as Head of State). His neutralist foreign policy balanced the US, the PRC, and the DRV. The DRV used eastern Cambodia as sanctuary and supply route along the Trail; Sihanouk tolerated this in return for PRC support and territorial guarantees.

Nixon's Operation Menu, the secret B-52 bombing of PAVN sanctuaries in eastern Cambodia (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, Snack), ran from 18 March 1969 to 26 May 1970. Around 110,000 tonnes were dropped in the secret phase; Operation Freedom Deal (1970 to 1973) added around 430,000 tonnes openly. Total US tonnage on Cambodia 1965 to 1973: around 2.76 million tonnes (more than the Allies dropped in all of WWII).

The Khmer Republic, dependent on US air support and aid, fought a losing five-year war. The US Cambodian incursion of April to June 1970 pushed PAVN deeper into Cambodia, paradoxically extending Khmer Rouge sanctuary. PAVN forces fought alongside the Khmer Rouge until 1972, then withdrew to focus on the south.

The Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on the morning of 17 April 1975. The population poured into the streets in initial relief. Within hours the regime began the evacuation, claiming a US bombing was imminent. Hospitals were emptied; patients were pushed into the street in beds.

The regime, formally Democratic Kampuchea from 5 January 1976, was hyper-secretive. Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) became Prime Minister in April 1976 but his identity as party leader was concealed; the regime referred to "Angkar" (the Organisation).

Mass graves were excavated across Cambodia from 1979 onwards. Choeung Ek, 15 kilometres south of Phnom Penh, held around 17,000 bodies (largely S-21 victims). Around 20,000 mass grave sites have been documented.

Democratic Kampuchea retained the Cambodian seat at the United Nations through 1979 because of Chinese and US support against the Vietnamese-backed regime that replaced it. The PRC supplied around $1 billion in aid to Democratic Kampuchea. The US prioritised opposition to Vietnamese-Soviet influence.

Ben Kiernan (The Pol Pot Regime, 1996; How Pol Pot Came to Power, 1985) is the standard.

The US bombing, the Lon Nol coup, and the Khmer Rouge takeover are all part of the dot point.

17 April 1975, thirteen days before Saigon.

His leadership was concealed by Angkar; the regime was hyper-secretive.