Cambodia (Revolutionary Front)

The Khmer Republic was a state in South-East Asia prior to its dissolution at the hands of the FUNK.

Background
Once a former possession of the French, the Khmer Republic was originally part of the Neo-Khmer Empire. As the previous regime led by Norodom Sihanouk was officially considered neutral, Cambodia had become a safe haven of both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. Due to the influx of Vietnamese Communists inside Cambodia, the US began bombing raids on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. The bombing raids only helped drive the Vietnamese deeper into Cambodia.

Coup and founding
In 1965, a band of Cambodian generals, including Lon Nol and his brother, Lon Non, decided to act against the corrupt Sihanouk regime. Rallying support amongst the Cambodian Army, the generals staged a successful coup d'état against Sihanouk's regime. A military tribunal ruled that the Sihanouk regime ought to be exiled from Cambodia. After exiling the monarchy, the generals established a new pro-US republic.

Entrance into the Vietnam War
The new Khmer Republic entered the Vietnam War two months after its founding. Sending two thirds of the Cambodian Army into Vietnam, the Khmer Republic proved themselves some of the more efficient ground troops in the US Coalition behind the Republic of Korea Army. The Khmer Republic's Armed Forces assisted in pushing the North Vietnamese back towards Hanoi and eventually took the city in 1962.

Khmer Insurgency
While the Cambodian Army saw consecutive successes in Vietnam, a long running insurgency was slowly whittled away at the Cambodians' morale at home. The insurgency was made up of loyalists to the exiled monarchy, pro-Vietnamese rebels and communist guerrilla fighters. Calling themselves the Khmer National United Front, the rebels proclaimed the republic illegitimate and ultimately staged a civil war for control in 1966.

Fall of the Republic
After the US' withdrawal from Asia in 1967 and the subsequent Chinese intervention, the Khmer Republic was forced to call back their army in Vietnam to support their homeland from the growing civil war. After the communist victory in Vietnam in 1970, the Cambodian Army launched counter-reprisals against suspected communist sympathisers at home. The Khmer Insurgents started to recruit from the targeted population. By early 1971, the insurgents had surrounded the capital of Phnom Penh. By June 1971, the Insurgents had captured the city ending the ill-fated republic.