Khmer National United Front (Revolutionary Front)

The Khmer National United Front, also known as Front Uni National Khmer in French, abbreviated to FUNK, or Khmer Rumdo, was a military insurgency that arose during the troubled era of the Khmer Republic. It was later absorbed into Kampuchea in 1971.

Insurgency
After the Cambodian Army staged a coup against the ruling Sihanouk government, loyalists to the exiled monarchy fled into the Cambodian jungle in the north-eastern corner of the country near the Mekong Delta. The monarchist Khmer Rumdo (Liberation Khmer) joined forces with the pro-Vietnamese Khmer Viet Minh and the so-call "Khmer Rouge"; communist guerrilla fighters branded outlaws by the Sihanouk regime. Calling themselves the Khmer National United Front, the rebels proclaimed the Lon Nol's Khmer Republic illegitimate and ultimately staged a civil war for control in 1966.

Cambodian Civil War
The fighting of the Khmer Civil War led to the Cambodian rebels making significant progress against the Khmer Republic, which was significantly stretched thin due to their involvement in the Vietnam War earlier in 1965.

New allies
During the civil war, the FUNK received military aid from their benefactors in Beijing as well as military advisers from North Vietnam. After the Vietnam War ended in 1970, the Khmer Empire started to target suspected communists or loyalists to the rebels. As such, the FUNK began a campaign aimed at recruiting the targeted villages and towns to their cause.

Fall of Phnom Penh
The FUNK's military capability had expanded by five hundred thousand in early 1971. By May 1971, the insurgents had besieged Phnom Penh. By June 1971, the rebel forces had captured the city ending the ill-fated republic.

Dissolution of the United Front
In 1971 following the capture of Phnom Penh, communist guerrilla fighters from the Khmer Rouge started to round up and execute undesirables, including member of the old Lon Nol regime and the monarchist Khmer Rumdo. By December 1972, communist forces disbanded the Khmer National United Front, established the Angkar and proclaimed Democratic Kampuchea.

Economy
Despite being unrecognised, the Khmer National United Front used the Cambodian Riel as their main currency.

Military
As the Khmer National United Front was an insurgency, they possessed a large military force numbering and estimated 50,000 in 1965. By early 1971, the Khmer National United Front possessed an armed force of up to 600,000. That number doubled by May 1971 to 1,200,000 fighters.

Equipment
The Khmer National United Front was armed with a mix of US, French and Chinese weapons including the US made M1 rifle, French MAT-49 submachine gun and the Chinese Type 63 Rifle.

Government
The Khmer National United Front was led by the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea; which was based in Beijing, China. The monarch of the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea was the exiled Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the prime minister of the Khmer National United Front was Pol Pot.