Chenla II: Lon Nol Strikes Out

In February 1971 Lon Nol suffered a stroke and was flown to Hawaii to recover. Many hoped he would not come back. He did, and by December the army under his command had suffered a defeat on Route 6 from which it never recovered.

Time Period Covered: March to December 1971

What was the political fallout from Lon Nol's stroke? How did race and religion become such a key theme of his regime? What led to the worst military defeat of the Cambodian Civil War?

In this episode, Lon Nol returns to Cambodia after recovering from a mild stroke in Hawaii. While many hoped he might step aside, and that the US might provoke a change in leadership, Lon Nol remained in power. His little brother's influence grew, and his obsession with race and religion became even more pronounced. As the Vietnam War played out on Cambodian land, the carnage of American bombs became a regular occurrence. Meanwhile, politics in Phnom Penh leaned toward military dictatorship. By the end of the year, the Khmer Republic had to face its worst military defeat, one it would not recover from.

Check out www.shadowsofutopia.com/episodes/ for maps and diagrams

Sources:

Wilfred Deac The Road to the Killing Fields
Craig Etcheson The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea
Sat Sutsakhan The Khmer Republic at War
Elizabeth Becker When The War Was Over
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History
Henry Kamm Report From a Stricken Land