The conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam

The conflict between Kampuchea, or Cambodia, and Vietnam dates back to the late 1970s, though tensions between the two regions date back centuries to earlier wars and incursions on both sides. The present conflict came about in 1978 when Hanoi launched an offensive with twelve to fourteen divisions and three Khmer regiments, a total invasion force of 100,000 people. The Vietnamese units crossed the Cambodian frontier in five spearheads, initially directed into northeastern Cambodia. It is believed that in concentrating its forces in this way, Vietnam may have had several objectives. One may have been to capture as quickly as possible substantial expanses of Cambodian territory which had earlier been a spawning ground for the Khmer Rouge in the late 1960s. An early occupation would also have preempted Khmer Rouge units from withdrawing to an areas where they might have a measure of public support. Attacks on the northeast may also have been intended to confuse the leadership in Kampuchea about where the full offensive would fall. However, the Khmer Rouge was not fooled and erected its main defense line in an arc across the flat, rice-growing plains of southeastern Cambodia, and indeed Vietnam forces did launch a full attack in this direction. Heavy fighting was localized. Vietnamese forces pushed through to the capital at Phnom Penh in January 1979 and continued into western Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge forces regrouped in a different way and rekindled an i

Related Essays

Vietnam - The Real Conflict Real Conflict of Vietnam War .... South Vietnam was a strategic piece of real estate that bordered on Laos and Cambodia and is .... The real conflict had always been between the ideologies of .... (1606 6 )

Effect of Public Opinion on American Vietnam Policy .... and the indeterminable nature of the conflict became manifest .... By a series of steps between 1862 and 1893 .... the French took control of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos .... (4838 19 )

The Khmer Roug t .... situation with Vietnam had been in conflict for decades. .... of Phnom Penh, the antagonisms between the Khmer .... its own downfall."19 By 1977, Cambodia had initiated .... (2158 9 )

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations It has since been joined by Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. .... established during the Cold War to manage conflict between states, in .... (752 3 )

US Involvement in the Vietnam War .... Between 1950 and 1954, the United States picked .... relatively low levels of the conflict in Vietnam .... protests against Nixon's incursion into Cambodia Kimball said .... (2729 11 )

s. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was concerned that the reputation of the Khmer Rouge would lessen the international appeal of the anti-Vietnamese cause it well espoused, and to reduce the political role of the Khmer Rouge, ASEAN urged the formation of a coalition. The tripartite Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) was thus formed in 1982 and included, in addition to the Khmer Rouge, a noncommunist resistance force called the Kampuchean People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) led by a former official of Prince Norodom Sihanouk's government, Son Sann, and Sihanouk's own noncommunist force, the ArmTe Nationale Sihanoukiste (ANS). The Chinese were reluctant to withdraw their support from the Khmer Rouge, believing it to be the only effective anti-Vietnamese fighting force among the three coalition members, but the Chinese were persuaded to support the coalition and to supply arms to all three members. The coalition survived and provided the international community with an acceptable alternative to the Vietnamese-supported Heng Samrin regime in Phnom Penh. The coalition prevented the Vietnamese from securing all of Cambodia. The Chinese had been allied with Vietnam in the long Vietnam War

Category: Foreign - T