Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a military and strategic history of the Cambodian civil war from 1979 to 1991, documenting the ideology, organization, order of battle, tactical doctrine, operational history, and strategy of the four factions in the war, as well as analyzing major campaigns and battles that underpinned the political negotiations from 1987 to 1991. In the 1980s, Cambodia was a poor country and even that is a gross understatement. The Khmer Rouge virtually left everything in ruin; both the physical infrastructure and the fabrics of society itself were severely damaged with the intellectuals being the prime targets for elimination in order to build a new and pure society. Cambodia has seen almost all types of political and military organizations. The book narrates the history of the four factions in the Cambodian civil war.