ABSTRACT
The legitimacy of the Lao monarchy did not crumble from within, but was swept away by forces beyond Laos. The communists came to power in December 1975 not as a result of internal social and cultural changes, but as a result of the country being engulfed by the Vietnam War.The pressure on the tiny Royal Lao Government by larger neighbours and by the superpowers became unbearable, while the Pathet Lao (as the communist front became known) was dependent both ideologically and militarily on its North Vietnamese mentors who brought them to power and sustained them in power during the Cold War.
