Lon Nol
Chau Sen Cocsal (acting) Norodom Kantol | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Cambodia, French Indochina | 13 November 1913
Died | November 17, 1985 St. Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, California, U.S. | (aged 72)
Political party |
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Parents |
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Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | First Kingdom of Cambodia Khmer Republic |
Branch/service | Royal Cambodian Army Khmer National Army |
Years of service | 1952–1975 |
Rank | Marshal |
Commands | Commander-in-Chief of the Khmer National Armed Forces |
Battles/wars | First Indochina War Vietnam War Cambodian Civil War |
Marshal Lon Nol (
Early life
Nol was born in
Employment in the colonial government
Nol found employment with the
After independence, Nol's nationalist
In the administration of Sihanouk, 1955–70
Nol was appointed the Army Chief of Staff in 1955, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces in 1960, as well as serving as Defence Minister. At the time, he was a trusted supporter of Sihanouk, his police being instrumental in the suppression of the small, clandestine
The
Nol was injured in a car crash later in 1967, and temporarily retired from politics. In 1968, however, he returned as Minister of Defence and in 1969 became Prime Minister a second time, appointing the vocally anti-Sihanouk, and pro-US politician Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak as his deputy.
The 1970 coup
Sihanouk later claimed that the 1970 coup against him was the result of an alliance between his longstanding enemy, exiled politician Son Ngoc Thanh and Sirik Matak, with CIA support and planning.[10] Although there are indications that Lon Nol approached the US during 1969 to gauge the likelihood of military support for a coup against Sihanouk,[11] there is no concrete evidence of CIA involvement,[12][13][14] though it remains possible some military intelligence agents may have had partial responsibility.[15] It seems likely that in setting in motion the events leading up to the coup, Lon Nol initially intended to strengthen his position against the North Vietnamese with the ultimate aim of preventing their troops (and those of the Viet Cong) from operating within Cambodian borders, and wished to apply pressure on Sihanouk to achieve this.[16] However, events rapidly developed far beyond the original plan, and with the encouragement of Sirik Matak – who wished to see Sihanouk deposed as Head of State – Lon Nol was ultimately to engineer Sihanouk's removal.
While Sihanouk was abroad during March 1970, there were anti-Vietnamese riots in Phnom Penh. On 12 March, Lon Nol and Sirik Matak closed the port of Sihanoukville, through which weapons were being smuggled to the Viet Cong, to the North Vietnamese and issued an ultimatum: all North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces were to withdraw from Cambodian soil within 72 hours or face military action.[17]
Lon Nol initially refused to countenance Sihanouk being deposed as Head of State; to force his hand, Sirik Matak played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk blamed them for the unrest and threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.[18] However, the Prime Minister remained uncertain as to whether to instigate a vote in the National Assembly. On the night of 17 March, Sirik Matak, accompanied by three army officers, went to the Prime Minister's residence and compelled a weeping Lon Nol to sign the necessary documents at gunpoint.[19]
A vote was taken in the National Assembly on 18 March in which Sihanouk was stripped of his power. General Lon Nol assumed the powers of the Head of State on an emergency basis. On 28 and 29 March there were large-scale popular demonstrations in favour of Sihanouk in several provincial cities, but Lon Nol's forces suppressed them, causing several hundred deaths.
The Khmer Republic and the Civil War
The Khmer Republic (1970–1975) abandoned Sihanouk's neutrality policies, especially with regard to the Vietnamese. Ultimately, the republic proved disastrous both militarily and politically. Lon Nol's health started to decline after he suffered a stroke in February 1971. His rule became increasingly erratic and authoritarian: he appointed himself Marshal (a title previously unknown in Cambodia) in April 1971, and in October suspended the National Assembly, stating he would no longer "vainly play the game of democracy and freedom" in wartime.[21] Backed by his forceful, ambitious younger brother General Lon Non, Nol succeeded in reducing the influence of Sirik Matak, In Tam and the other coup leaders. He also insisted on directing many of the Khmer National Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Nationales Khmères – FANK) operations personally.
In time Lon Nol's regime became completely dependent upon large quantities of American aid that towards the end were not backed by the political and military resolve needed to effectively help the beleaguered republic.[22] By 1975, the government was eventually reduced to holding little more than Phnom Penh and the Preah Vihear Temple in the northern border with Thailand. The FANK was quickly running out of ammunition. Lon Nol was increasingly dependent on the advice of soothsayers and Buddhist mystics: at one point during a Khmer Rouge assault on Phnom Penh, he sprinkled a circular line of consecrated sand in order to defend the city. Finally, on 1 April, he resigned and fled the country into exile, as his name was the first on a list of people the Khmer Rouge had vowed to execute.
Exile and death
The first priority of the Khmer Rouge after conquering Cambodia and overthrowing the Khmer Republic was to immediately execute all the deposed leaders and high officials.[22] Lon Nol was able to escape, first to Indonesia and then to the United States. He spent time in Hawaii before settling in Fullerton, California, in 1979. He lived with his second wife Sovanna Lon (1943-2013) and several of his nine children until his heart condition-related death on 17 November 1985 at St. Jude Medical Center.[23]
Political views
Despite his actions in deposing Sihanouk, Nol was a firm believer in traditional Cambodian hierarchy: after Sihanouk had been removed he prostrated himself at the
Family
His younger brother,
His son, Lon Rith, established the Khmer Republican Party in 2006.
See also
Notes
- Kingdom of Cambodia until the formal declaration of the republican governmenton 9 October 1970.
References
- ^ "Lon Nol Resigns, Blaming Health", The New York Times, April 20, 1971, p1
- ^ a b Rulers.org
- ^ Marks, Paul (2000), p. 92-108
- ^ a b Corfield (1994), p. 1
- ^ a b Kiernan 2004, p. 24
- ^ Summary of world broadcasts: Far East, Part 3, 24 July 1984, p. FE/7703/C/12 He was given a sumptuous welcome and was even offered the opportunity to visit the grave of his grandfather in Fujian Province. It is worth noting that on this occasion, the Chinese leaders voiced support for Lon Nol's.....
- ^ Kiernan 2004, p. 158
- ^ Shawcross 1979, p. 61
- ^ Kiernan 2004, p. 232
- ^ Norodom Sihanouk, My War with the CIA, Pantheon, 1972, p.37
- ^ Kiernan, B. How Pol Pot came to power, Yale UP, p.300
- ^ Wilfred P. Deac, "Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970–1975" (Texas A&M University Press, 1997) pp. 61–2;
- ^ Robert Dallek, "Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power," (Harper Collins, 2007), p. 191;
- ^ Steve Heder "Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model, Volume I: Imitation and Independence, 1930–1975," (White Lotus Press, 2004), p. 156.]
- ^ Clymer, K. J. The United States and Cambodia, Routledge, 2004, p.22
- ^ Shawcross 1979, pp. 118–119
- ^ Sutsakhan, Lt. Gen. S. The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse Washington DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 1987, Part 1, p. 42. Archived 12 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine See also Part 1 Archived 12 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine Part 2 Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback MachinePart 3 Archived 24 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Marlay, R. and Neher, C. Patriots and tyrants, Rowman & Littlefield, 1999, p.165
- ^ Chandler, D. A History of Cambodia, 2000, p.204
- ^ Kiernan 2004, p. 302
- ^ Cady, The History of Postwar Southeast Asia, 1974, p.672
- ^ a b David P. Chandler, A history of Cambodia, Westview Press; Allen & Unwin, Boulder, Sydney, 1992
- ^ McMillan, Penelope (18 November 1985). "Ex-Cambodian President Dies in Fullerton". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
- ^ Shawcross 1979, p. 128
- ^ Kiernan 2004, p. 348
- ^ Becker, E. When the War Was Over, 1986, p.134
- ^ . (2021, June 2). The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://www.postkhmer.com/%E1%9E%87%E1%9E%B8%E1%9E%9C%E1%9E%B7%E1%9E%8F%E1%9E%80%E1%9E%98%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%9F%E1%9E%B6%E1%9E%93%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%8F/2021-06-02-0854-217576.html
Bibliography
- Corfield, Justin J. (1994). Khmers stand up! – A history of the Cambodian government 1970–1975. Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, ISBN 0732605652.
- Kiernan, B. (2004). How Pol Pot came to Power. ISBN 9780300102628.
- Marks, Paul (2000). "China's Cambodia Strategy". ISSN 0031-1723. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
- Shawcross, W. (1979). Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia. Simon & Schuster.