CAMBODIAN CAMPAIGN/CAMBODIAN INCURSION

Cambodian Campaign/Cambodian incursion

Introduction

Cambodian Campaign - a general name for a series of military operations conducted by American and South Vietnamese armies in the spring and summer of 1970 was one of the biggest events of the Vietnam War. During the fighting in Cambodia, Allied forces had some success, the value of which, however, remains debatable. At the same time in U.S., operation has been received extremely controversial and caused a mass student protests (Sorley, 2000).

Civil war in Cambodia was the military conflict between the government, supported by the United States and South Vietnam, and the local communist forces that used the support of North Vietnam from 1967 to 1975 years. The outcome of the war was the fall of the central government and the rise to power “Khmer Rouge", proclaimed the course for a total restructuring of Cambodian society based on the Maoist concept. Civil war in Cambodia, along with the fighting in Laos and South Vietnam, is considered part of the Second Indochina War (Shawcross, 2003).

Background

In 1953, Cambodia gained independence from France. According to the Geneva accords in 1954, completed the French colonial war in Indochina, Cambodia was declared a neutral country. Ruler of the kingdom became Prince Norodom Sihanouk, initially enjoyed great popularity among the population. Sihanouk has positioned itself as left-wing politicians. He was convinced that the dominant force in Southeast Asia in the future will be China. In 1965, after a series of border incidents involving armed forces of the United States in South Vietnam, Cambodia broke off diplomatic relations with the United States (Deac, 2007).

In the ensuing in South Vietnam, the civil war, which continue to actively interfered with the U.S., Cambodian territory actively used by the guerrillas NLF and offices in North Vietnam. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson banned American ground forces to operate in Cambodia, as this would violate its formal neutrality. Force NLF and North Vietnam, is not bound by such restrictions, created in the eastern regions a network of base camps and warehouses, which retreated after every serious defeat in South Vietnam, to be safe from enemy action to make up losses and relax. In 1966, Prince Sihanouk signed an agreement with China, which supported North Vietnam in the war; it was an agreement on the presence of North Vietnamese troops in Cambodia and uses the seaport Sihanoukville for the delivery of military material, in violation of the neutrality of the country (Chandler, 2001).

Way to deliver supplies communist forces through Cambodia is known as “trail Sihanouk”, by analogy with the more famous “Ho Chi Minh trail.” At the same time stay of Vietnamese forces in the country led to many problems, one of the most pressing issues was the food. North Vietnamese troops were buying large quantities of Cambodian rice, and offering a price well above the government. This has been a severe blow to Cambodia's rice exports and its economy. In the countryside soldiers were sent, collecting rice under threat of force (Karnow, ...