I. CAMBODIA AND WORLD HISTORY, 1863-1985

1863	King Norodom I turns Cambodia into a French protectorate.
31 October 1922	Norodom Sihanouk is born.
3 February 1930	The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) is founded by Ho Chi Minh.
1940	Khmer Serei (“Free Khmer”) founded by Son Ngoc Thanh in Cambodia. It is formed of political groups of various factions, all demanding independence.
25 April 1941	Norodom Sihanouk is crowned King of Cambodia.
May 1941	During the Japanese occupation of Indochina, a meeting is held in a small Southern Chinese town uniting delegates of several clandestine organizations and leaders Ho Chi Minh, Pham Van Dong and Vo Nguyen Giap. The Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) is founded.
7 December 1941	Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, causing the United States to enter World War II.
1945	Franklin Roosevelt dies. Harry Truman succeeds him as President of the United States.
12 March 1945	During the Japanese occupation, Sihanouk declares Cambodia’s sovereignty.
2 September 1945	Ho Chi Minh founds the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), otherwise known as North Vietnam.
October 1945	Norodom Sihanouk resists French pressure to restore their protectorate over Cambodia.
March 1946	Ho Chi Minh becomes president of North Vietnam.
19 December 1946	The First Indochina War starts, sparked by Viet Minh insurrection against France.
1949	The first Khmer students arrive in Paris, including Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot. They get progressively closer to Communism. They found a Marxist study circle linked to the French Communist Party. They participate in the Committee for the Independence of Cambodia and the Khmer Student Association.
1 October 1949	Mao Zedong establishes the People’s Republic of China.
8 November 1949	France accords “limited independence” to Cambodia.
January 1950	China and the Soviet Union recognize North Vietnam.
1950-53	The Korean War opposes South Korea (supported by the United States, France and the United Kingdom) and the Communist forces of North Korea (supported by China).
1950-54	American military aid to French forces in Indochina increases. This enables the Americans to get a foothold in South Vietnam, even before France lays down arms.
30 September 1951	The Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party is founded at the urging of the Viet Minh. Some of its leaders come from the Communist Party of Indochina, while around a dozen were trained by the French Communist Party.
Late 1951	Viet Minh units enter Cambodian territory.
June 1952	Norodom Sihanouk starts a royal crusade for independence and becomes increasingly active in the fight against the Viet Minh, who control several Cambodian provinces.
4 November 1952	General Eisenhower is elected President of the United States, with Richard Nixon as his Vice-President.
6 March 1953	Joseph Stalin dies. Nikita Khrushchev succeeds him as the leader of the Soviet Union.
9 November 1953	Cambodia becomes an independent country. Penn Nouth is its Prime Minister.
1953	Several “Marxist” Cambodian students return from Paris, including Saloth Sar.
7 May 1954	The French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu by Vietnamese forces commanded by General Giap.
20 July 1954	The Geneva Accords on South-East Asia are signed. Vietnam is split in two until general elections are held on the reunification of the country. France recognizes North Vietnam. Norodom Sihanouk gets it to recognize the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Cambodia.
8 September 1954	The South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is founded under the auspices of the United States in order to stop Communism from spreading in Asia.
3 March 1955	Norodom Sihanouk abdicates in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
April 1955	Prince Sihanouk founds an inclusive political party, the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People’s Socialist Community), of which he is leader. Sihanouk represents Cambodia at the first conference of non-aligned countries, in Bandung (Indonesia).
14 May 1955	The Warsaw Pact is created.
16 June 1955	General Diem becomes president of South Vietnam. He denounces the Geneva Accords with the support of the United States.
11 September 1955	Legislative elections are held in Cambodia. The Sangkum wins.
26 February 1956	The Soviet Communist Party’s 20th congress is held. Start of deStalinisation.
28 April 1956	The French leave Vietnam. The American presence in South Vietnam becomes more important.
12 January 1957	Norodom Sihanouk declares Cambodia neutral.
1958	The Viet Cong start their armed resistance against General Diem’s regime.
29 May 1958	General De Gaulle is elected President of the Council (Prime Minister) of France.
31 May 1958	China starts its Great Leap Forward, an enormous effort to increase industrial and agricultural production.
3 April 1960	King Norodom Suramarit dies. The throne passes to his wife, Queen Kossomak.
14 June 1960	Norodom Sihanouk is elected head of state in a referendum.
7 November 1960	John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States.
20 December 1960	The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) is founded.
1960	Start of political disagreements between China and the Soviet Union. The USSR stops giving economic and technical aid to China.
1962	Khieu Samphan and Hou Youn, “progressive” militants and future Khmer Rouge leaders, join the Sangkum. They are elected members of Parliament. Norodom Sihanouk names Khieu Samphan Minister of Commerce.
October 1963	Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary and Son Sen, Communists called “Khmer Rouge” by Sihanouk, go underground.
1 November 1963	General Diem is overthrown and assassinated with the help of the CIA.
10 November 1963	Norodom Sihanouk refuses American economic and military aid and expels American diplomats from the country.
22 November 1963	President Kennedy is assassinated.
January 1964	Norodom Sihanouk nationalizes banks and private business.
6 June 1964	France reestablishes diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
15 October 1964	Nikita Khrushchev is deposed and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev (General Secretary of the Communist Party), and Alexei Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers).
3 November 1964	Lyndon B. Johnson is elected President of the United States.
14 February 1965	The first Conference of the Indochinese Peoples is held in Phnom Penh.
20 February 1965	General Thieu and General Nguyen Cao Ky share power in Saigon.
1 May 1965	American forces bombard the region called “Duck’s Beak”, on the border with Cambodia.
3 May 1965	Cambodia and the United States cease all diplomatic relations.
9 December 1965	General De Gaulle is elected President of France.
18 April 1966	The Chinese Cultural Revolution starts.
1 September 1966	A triumphant De Gaulle visits Cambodia. He gives a speech in Phnom Penh.
11 September 1966	Legislative elections are held in Cambodia. Sihanouk does not choose the Sangkum candidates. For the first time, the majority in the National Assembly is on the right.
18 October 1966	General Lon Nol, the Prime Minister, sets up his government.
26 November 1966	Prince Sihanouk creates a leftist “counter-government”. Khieu Samphan, Hu Nim and Hou Youn are in it.
Late 1966	390,000 GIs are stationed in South Vietnam.
Early 1967	American forces start military operations on the South Vietnam-Cambodia border.
2 April 1967	Civil unrest erupts in the province of Battambang. It is encouraged by the Communists in order to resist Lon Nol’s expropriations. This worries Norodom Sihanouk. Lon Nol orders violent repression.
April 1967	The Communist MPs and ministers Hou Youn, Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan go underground.
30 April 1967	Lon Nol resigns. Penn Nouth is elected Prime Minister of a caretaker government on 3 May.
30 June 1967	Phnom Penh starts diplomatic relations with North Vietnam.
30 January 1968	American forces start the Tet Offensive. Tet is the Vietnamese New Year. The Viet Cong start a general offensive against more than a hundred cities in South Vietnam. They occupy several provincial cities, particularly Hue.
3 April 1968	North Vietnam is interested in negotiating with the Americans.
13 June 1968	The Conference on Vietnam starts in Paris.
1 November 1968	President Johnson decides to stop bombarding North Vietnam.
5 November 1968	Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States. He promises a more offensive military strategy.
Early 1969	The Viet Cong start to train the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge have less than a thousand members.
27 April 1969	General De Gaulle resigns as President of France.
22 May 1969	South Vietnam opens its embassy in Phnom Penh.
10 June 1969	The Viet Cong becomes the PRG (Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam).
11 June 1969	Norodom Sihanouk resumes diplomatic relations with the United States, who promise to respect Cambodia’s independence.
15 June 1969	Georges Pompidou is elected President of France.
1 August 1969	Penn Nouth resigns due to ill health. Lon Nol succeeds him on 12 August and immediately leaves for France for health reasons. Prince Sirik Matak stands in for him.
23 August 1969	The return of the GIs is postponed.
3 September 1969	Ho Chi Minh dies. Prince Sihanouk attends the funeral in Hanoi.
3 November 1969	Televised speech by Nixon on the “Vietnamization” of the Vietnam War.
1969	Frontier skirmishes between China and the Soviet Union.
December 1969	The Sangkum Congress is held on Sihanouk’s orders. The Sangkum opposes Sirik Matak’s denationalization project.
7 January 1970	Prince Sihanouk leaves the country for a tour of foreign capitals, starting with Paris.
11 March 1970	The embassies of both South and North Vietnam are looted upon the orders of Lon Nol.
13 March 1970	Norodom Sihanouk leaves Paris to go to Moscow.
18 March 1970	Norodom Sihanouk is deposed by a coup d’état organized by Sirik Matak and Lon Nol. Lon Nol forms a government. Cheng Heng becomes puppet head of state. Sihanouk learns of the coup in Moscow. He leaves for Beijing.
20 March 1970	The United States recognizes Lon Nol’s regime. France does not end diplomatic relations with Phnom Penh.
21 March 1970	Pham Van Dong, the North Vietnamese Prime Minister, secretly travels to Beijing to pledge Hanoi’s support to Sihanouk. Both meet Zhou Enlai.
23 March 1970	Sihanouk gives a speech on the radio from Beijing which is broadcast by both Radio Beijing and Radio Hanoi. In it, he announces the founding of the National United Front of Kampuchea (FUNK). He orders the armed resistance and overthrow of Lon Nol and Sirik Matak’s regime.
24 March 1970	The three Khmer MPs who had gone underground in 1967 make an appearance in Beijing. They are Hou Youn, Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan. They join FUNK and give their unconditional support to Prince Sihanouk.
26-28 March 1970	There is popular unrest in favor of Sihanouk in Kompong Cham. Lon Nol represses the protests. Tens of thousands of protesters make their way to Phnom Penh.
March 1970	Lon Nol orders the massacre of all Vietnamese in Cambodia. He organizes a propaganda campaign against Sihanouk through posters and loudspeaker announcements. Children are arrested. One of them is Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
24-25 April 1970	A Conference of the Peoples of Indochina is held at Norodom Sihanouk’s urging in order to coordinate the fight in three countries (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam).
30 April 1970	President Nixon announces the invasion of Cambodia. American troops enter Cambodia on 1 May from South Vietnam.
5 May 1970	Protests are held in American universities and there is disagreement in the Senate over the invasion of Cambodia. There is a shooting at Kent State University.
5 May 1970	The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea (GRUNK) is founded in Beijing. It is half Sihanoukist (Penn Nouth is Prime Minister, Chea San is Minister of Justice, and Sarin Chack is Foreign Secretary), and half Khmer Rouge (Khieu Samphan is Minister of Defense, Hou Youn is Minister of the Interior, and Hu Nim Minister of Information).
11 May 1970	Senators Cooper and Church propose an amendment in order to stop all American military operations in Cambodia.
20 May 1970	Mao Zedong declares his support for Norodom Sihanouk.
2 July 1970	Queen Kossomak is thrown out of the Khemarin Palace. She is put under house arrest.
5 July 1970	Norodom Sihanouk is condemned to death in absentia by Phnom Penh, and his wife to life in prison.
9 October 1970	Lon Nol declares the Republic founded. Cambodia is now called the Khmer Republic.
10 October 1970	Beijing recognizes GRUNK as the only legitimate Cambodian government.
9 November 1970	General De Gaulle dies.
Early December 1970	Phnom Penh is surrounded by resistance fighters.
January 1971	The Vietnamese advance to Pochentong Airport near Phnom Penh and destroy all military planes.
March 1971	The resistance controls 4/5 of Cambodian territory.
8 May 1971	Lon Nol is promoted Field Marshal. He comes back from two months in Honolulu, where he sought treatment for hemiplegia (paralysis of half the body).
October 1971	The Republican army is defeated at Kompong Thom in Operation Chenla II.
18 October 1971	Lon Nol dissolves the National Assembly and rules by decree.
26 December 1971	American forces resume bombarding North Vietnam.
21-29 February 1972	Nixon visits China. In Vietnam, General Giap denounces Nixon’s “peace overtures”.
March 1972	Saloth Sar now leads the Khmer Rouge High Military Command.
10 March 1972	The head of state, Cheng Heng, is “retired” by Lon Nol, who declares himself President of the Republic. Sirik Matak becomes Prime Minister.
13 March 1972	Sirik Matak is removed from office. Son Ngoc Thanh, who had always been against Sihanouk, is named Prime Minister.
8 May 1972	Nixon orders the blockade of the ports of North Vietnam.
May 1972	Nixon visits Moscow.
7 November 1972	Nixon is reelected.
15 December 1973	American forces stop bombarding North Vietnam.
27 January 1973	Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho sign the Paris Peace Accords, which ends the Vietnam War.
February 1973	The bombardment of Cambodia intensifies. The population of Phnom Penh swells from half a million to 2 million.
February-March 1973	Norodom Sihanouk and his wife visit areas liberated by the Khmer Rouge, accompanied by leaders of the resistance. Near Angkor, Sihanouk meets Pol Pot (alias Saloth Sar) for the first time.
29 March 1973	The last American troops leave Vietnam.
March 1973	Lon Nol’s regime declines. Strikes are more and more common. Lon Nol declares a state of siege.
1973	Prince Sirik Matak openly criticizes Lon Nol’s regime, saying it leaves the way open to Communism. He is put under house arrest.
May 1973	The Watergate scandal erupts.
10 May 1973	The House of Representatives refuses to vote for the bombardment of Cambodia.
3-4 June 1973	Nixon refuses Sihanouk’s offers of negotiation.
15 August 1973	Congress calls for the end of the bombardment of Cambodia.
9 December 1973	Long Boret is named Prime Minister of Cambodia, a position which he will occupy until April 1975.
Early 1974	China occupies the Paracel Islands of Vietnam.
January-February 1974	Phnom Penh sees intense bombardment by the Khmer Rouge.
3 April 1974	John Gunther Dean, the new American ambassador to Cambodia, arrives in Phnom Penh.
May 1974	Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is elected President of France.
June 1974	Students protest in Phnom Penh. The Minister of Education is killed.
9 August 1974	Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Gerald Ford succeeds him as president.
1 January 1975	The Khmer Rouge start their final offensive on Phnom Penh.
25 February 1975	The Americans organize an airlift from Thailand to keep Phnom Penh supplied with rice. A second airlift is organized from Saigon at the end of the month.
6 and 29 March 1975	General Giap takes Hue and then Da Nang.
28 March 1975	Moscow ends diplomatic relations with Lon Nol’s regime.
1 April 1975	Neak Lunong, a river port on the Mekong 50 miles from Phnom Penh, falls to the Khmer Rouge. Lon Nol agrees to leave Phnom Penh for half a million dollars. He goes to California.
12 April 1975	The American embassy closes as the last Americans leave Phnom Penh.
12 April 1975	France recognizes GRUNK.
17 April 1975	The Khmer Rouge enter Phnom Penh. The city is immediately evacuated of its 2.5 million people. Only around 20,000 remain.
19 April 1975	The Khmer Rouge start killing the civilian and military members of Lon Nol’s regime.
20 April 1975	The Khmer Rouge demand that the Cambodians taking refuge in the French embassy be given up to them. Among them is Prince Sirik Matak, who is tortured and killed by the Khmer Rouge.
30 April 1975	Saigon falls and is renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
May 1975	The Vietnamese occupy the Cambodian Wai Islands.
August 1975	Hou Youn is executed by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary wield power while Khieu Samphan is the public face of the government.
2 August 1975	A Vietnamese delegation arrives in Phnom Penh. The Wai Islands are returned to Cambodia.
13 August 1975	Khieu Samphan (Vice Prime Minister of GRUNK) visits China, where he declares all problems have been solved in Cambodia.
9 September 1975	Norodom Sihanouk is “allowed” to visit Phnom Penh for two weeks.
December 1975	There is armed conflict on the Vietnam-Cambodia border in the North-East. The Khmer Rouge accuse the Vietnamese of instigating a coup d’état in Cambodia.
December 1975	Founding of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
December 1975	Norodom Sihanouk and his wife arrive in Phnom Penh after five years away. Their return is strongly encouraged by Zhou Enlai.
1976	The Helsinki Accords confirm the Soviet domination of the Eastern Bloc.
Early 1976	The first Khmer refugee statements are made in France. They reveal Khmer Rouge atrocities. The Khmer Rouge systematically massacre all those they consider “intellectuals”, including people who simply wore glasses or owned a pen.
1976	Pol Pot and Ieng Sary order the arrest of civilian and military members of the Khmer Rouge.
5 January 1976	A new Cambodian state is founded: Democratic Kampuchea (DK).
8 January 1976	Zhou Enlai dies.
2 April 1976	Norodom Sihanouk resigns as head of state against the advice of those close to him, who fear reprisals. He is put under house arrest with his wife and his two youngest sons until 6 January 1979. Khieu Samphan and Pol Pot are named President of the Presidium and head of state, respectively.
7 April 1976	Deng Xiaoping is forced out of power in China.
24 June 1976	The two Vietnams are unified into one Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Hanoi as its capital.
9 September 1976	Mao Zedong dies.
7 October 1976	The Gang of Four is arrested in China.
3 November 1976	Jimmy Carter is elected President of the United States.
10 April 1977	Hu Nim, Minister of Information, is arrested and tortured to death in Tuol Sleng. Tuol Sleng was a high school in Phnom Penh which was transformed into a torture and execution center formally called S21. Tens of thousands of people died there.
23 July 1977	Deng Xiaoping is reinstated.
August 1977	The eleventh Communist Party Congress is held in China. It marks the beginning of deMaoization.
30 September 1977	Pol Pot reveals the existence of the Communist Party of Kampuchea for the first time in a long speech. Until then, it had been referred to as Angkar, meaning “revolutionary organization” in Khmer.
1977	The military conflict between Vietnam and Cambodia intensifies.
16 December 1977	The first Vietnamese attack is pushed back by the Khmer Rouge, who enter Vietnam in January 1978.
31 December 1977	Vietnam and Cambodia end diplomatic relations. Phnom Penh denounces Vietnam’s push for an “Indochinese federation”. The Khmer Rouge continues purging its ranks all year. Several plots are discovered. Vietnam is accused of being involved. In the middle of the year, soldiers and leaders of the South-West Zone, loyal to Pol Pot, control much of the country.
1978	Sporadic border skirmishes take place all year between Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces. The purges within the Khmer Rouge continue.
Summer and Fall 1978	Almost the whole population of the provinces of Svay Rieng and Kompong Cham, east of the Mekong, is deported to the north (Pursat and Battambang). They are accused of plotting with the Vietnamese, and will be in great part massacred by those loyal to Pol Pot before the arrival of the Vietnamese in 1979.
29 June 1978	Vietnam joins Comecon (the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). The Soviets start sending it massive shipments of military equipment.
28 September 1978	The Khmer Rouge, sensing their imminent downfall, invite Sihanouk to dinner. Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary give him some gifts of food. Norodom Sihanouk sees Penn Nouth again.
3 December 1978	Radio Hanoi announces the founding of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (FUNSK), opposed to the Khmer Rouge. Its leader is Heng Samrin, a former Khmer Rouge from the east who deserted.
25 December 1978	The Vietnamese start their general offensive against Cambodia.
January 1979	China organizes the liberation of Norodom Sihanouk, who arrives in Beijing with his wife and two sons. Also with him is Penn Nouth and his wife. They take the last Chinese plane out of Phnom Penh. We learn that during the Khmer Rouge period, the lives of Sihanouk and his closest family members were spared due to Chinese pressure. However, five of his children, fourteen of his grandchildren, and several other family members died between 1975 and 1978.
7 January 1979	Phnom Penh falls to the Vietnamese.
5 September 1979	In Havana, during the conference of non-aligned countries, Pham Van Dong declares the Cambodian situation “irreversible”.
December 1979	Pol Pot’s Communist Party of Kampuchea is formally dissolved. The Khmer Rouge continue to exist, but they are no longer “Communist”.
15 December 1979	Khieu Samphan becomes head of state of the Khmer Rouge government, succeeding Pol Pot, who is too much of a liability both inside and outside of Cambodia.
1979	The USSR, who supports the Vietnamese invasion, uses Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam as a base and communications center.
1979	There is armed conflict on the Vietnam-China border.
1979	Resistance against the Vietnamese invasion starts in Cambodia. There are three factions: the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF) founded by Son Sann, a former minister of Sihanouk’s, and various resistance groups loyal to Norodom Sihanouk (Moulinaka, Khleang Moeung, etc.). However, Norodom Sihanouk will remain abroad until early 1981.
31 March 1981	Norodom Sihanouk founds the Funcinpec Party (from the French acronym for the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia). The Sihanoukist guerrillas join the Sihanoukist National Army (SNA).
4 September 1981	The three political leaders, Norodom Sihanouk (Funcinpec), Son Sann (KPNLF), and Khieu Samphan (Khmer Rouge) sign the Singapore Accords, for common action against Vietnam.
22 June 1982	The Treaty of Kuala Lumpur is signed. It founds a Cambodian government in exile, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), a tripartite and anti-Vietnamese entity. This alliance between Communists and nationalists did not come about without some conflict, but the three parties still had a common goal: the removal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia.
1982-1985	Norodom Sihanouk expresses his wish to leave political office several times. However, he will remain president of the CGDK due to pressure from every quarter, both in Cambodia and abroad.

Timeline by Sophie Moscoso for the original 1985 program.