Page "History of Cambodia" Paragraph 24

Throughout the 1960s, domestic Cambodian politics became polarized.

Opposition to the government grew within the middle class and leftists including Paris-educated leaders like Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar ( later known as Pol Pot ), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea ( CPK ).

Sihanouk called these insurgents the Khmer Rouge, literally the " Red Khmer.

" But the 1966 national assembly elections showed a significant swing to the right, and General Lon Nol formed a new government, which lasted until 1967.

During 1968 and 1969, the insurgency worsened.

However members of the government and army, who resented Sihanouk's ruling style as well as his tilt away from the United States, did have a motivation to overthrow him.