Page "History of Cambodia" Paragraph 19

Cambodia's situation at the end of the war was chaotic.

The Free French, under General Charles de Gaulle, were determined to recover Indochina, though they offered Cambodia and the other Inchochinese protectorates a carefully circumscribed measure of self-government.

Convinced that they had a " civilizing mission ", they envisioned Indochina's participation in a French Union of former colonies that shared the common experience of French culture.