English summary

In 1953, Cambodia became independent after being a French colony. The king, Norodom Sihanouk, ruled the state until 1970. First as king and then as prime minister.

In 1970 Sihanouk was overthrown by a military coup and the monarchy was repealed.

After five years of civil war, the guerrilla movement "Khmer rouge" gained power. They were then seen as a liberty movement, as true patriots, and the people put trust in them.

But the khmer rouges were not what they seemed to be. Pretty soon they started to rearrange the Cambodian society. They wanted to create a self-supporting farming community. Whole cities were evacuated and people were forced out to the rural areas, later called "The killing fields", and put to work. 1 million to 1,5 million people were executed. The leaders of the khmer rouges, and responsible for the murders, are Pol Pot and Khieu Samphan who were influenced by Mao Tse Tung and Karl Marx.

In 1979, the Vietnamesians routed the khmer rouges and obtained power over Cambodia.

Although the truth about the khmer rouges was revealed, USA and China still stuck by them only because they didn't agree with Vietnam. Cambodia became a piece in the bigger nations gamble for power.

Again the country was ravaged by civil war. In 1991 the UN made a peace treaty. A coalition government was initialised.

In 1993 a free election was held. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of king Norodom Sihanouk, became prime minister, a post he shared with Hun Sen.

In early 1997 Hun Sen led a coup against Ranariddh and declared himself as the leader of Cambodia.

Now, Ranariddh has allied to the khmer rouges, struggling to regain power over Cambodia.

No one knows what will happen next. One can only hope that the Cambodians some day finally will have peace.