56 Years Ago: The 1970 Coup That Doomed Cambodia

56 years ago (March 18), Cambodia witnessed one of the most pivotal events in its modern history—the 1970 coup d'état that saw General Lon Nol replace Prince Norodom Sihanouk at the head of the state and the birth of the Khmer Republic.

Lon Nol

Born on November 13, 1913, in Prey Veng province to a family of civil servants, Lon Nol attended primary school in Phnom Penh before going to Chasseloup-Laubat high school in Saigon for secondary studies. Prince Norodom Sihanouk was a classmate at the time.

After graduating in 1934, Lon Nol entered the civil service, which allowed him to hold increasingly important positions, including governor of Kratié province at the time of the expulsion of the Japanese at the end of World War II.

In 1949, Lon Nol was director of administration in Phnom Penh, a post he held until joining the army, where he began climbing the ranks by being appointed lieutenant colonel in charge of an infantry battalion.

In 1955, he became military chief of staff in Phnom Penh, then Minister of Defense. In 1966, Prince Sihanouk appointed Lon Nol as Prime Minister, which led him to travel across the country and build local networks.

Coup

After being seriously injured in a car accident in 1967, Lon Nol resigned, and the Prince recalled him in 1969 as Cambodia faced an economic crisis and endemic corruption.

A few months later, while Sihanouk was in Moscow for medical treatment, Lon Nol ordered the closure of airports and borders and convened parliament to overthrow the Prince.

This staunch anti-communist then led what was called the Khmer Republic, carrying out the strengthening of the Cambodian army, which grew from 37,000 to over 150,000 men.

American aid would finance this expansion while American planes resumed bombing Vietcong bases inside Cambodia and ground troops, aided by South Vietnamese forces, entered the country to eradicate the movement.

But the massive influx of foreign aid came with corruption, and funds intended to feed Cambodian troops were diverted. Rural Cambodians were disappointed by starving soldiers who looted their villages, and from 1970 to 1975, the Khmer Rouge grew from a few thousand guerrillas to a force of about 30,000 men waging a civil war against the government.

On April 1, 1975, two weeks before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, Lon Nol boarded a helicopter to flee the country with his family to Thailand before settling in the United States.

He lived quietly in Hawaii before moving to Fullerton, California, where he died in 1985.

Opinion

Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres, former principal private secretary and official biographer of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, believes the coup was the turning point that changed Cambodia forever and for the worse.

"At the time, Cambodia was a peaceful and developing country, but after that, it was involved in the Vietnam War, and then many Cambodians died following the establishment of a murderous regime," he says.

Jeldres is among those who hold Lon Nol responsible for the chaos and instability that struck Cambodia and its people at the time.

"From my research, Lon Nol was preparing the coup; he had closed the border with North Vietnam several weeks before the coup."

According to Jeldres, the Americans and South Vietnamese thought that by "getting rid" of Prince Sihanouk, they would win the war in Vietnam.

"But Lon Nol didn't understand that. He thought the Americans were coming to help him, and it was Cambodia that suffered the most."

Jeldres adds that the lesson Cambodians should draw from the 1970 coup is that they must keep their policies neutral and stay united.

"The Father King always maintained that the most important thing for a country is to work together and stay united; he did his best to keep the Kingdom out of the Vietnam War, but he failed, mainly due to foreign interference."

Soksreinith Ten