" 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.

While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak in the early hours of March 18, 1970.

Lon Nol assumed power after the military coup and immediately allied Cambodia with the United States.

The Khmer Republic's leadership was plagued by disunity among its three principal figures: Lon Nol, Sihanouk's cousin Sirik Matak, and National Assembly leader In Tam.

Lon Nol remained in power in part because none of the others were prepared to take his place.

In 1972, a constitution was adopted, a parliament elected, and Lon Nol became president.

The history of the communist movement in Cambodia can be divided into six phases: the emergence of the Indochinese Communist Party ( ICP ), whose members were almost exclusively Vietnamese, before World War II ; the 10-year struggle for independence from the French, when a separate Cambodian communist party, the Kampuchean ( or Khmer ) People's Revolutionary Party ( KPRP ), was established under Vietnamese auspices ; the period following the Second Party Congress of the KPRP in 1960, when Saloth Sar ( Pol Pot after 1976 ) and other future Khmer Rouge leaders gained control of its apparatus ; the revolutionary struggle from the initiation of the Khmer Rouge insurgency in 1967 – 68 to the fall of the Lon Nol government in April 1975 ; the Democratic Kampuchea regime, from April 1975 to January 1979 ; and the period following the Third Party Congress of the KPRP in January 1979, when Hanoi effectively assumed control over Cambodia's government and communist party.

From their ranks came the men and women who returned home and took command of the party apparatus during the 1960s, led an effective insurgency against Lon Nol from 1968 until 1975, and established the regime of Democratic Kampuchea.

* 1970 – Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

* 1913 – Lon Nol, Cambodian politician ( d. 1985 )

* In Cambodia the communist leader Pol Pot led a revolution against the American-backed government of Lon Nol.

** General Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

** U. S. President Richard Nixon asks the U. S. Congress for US $ 155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government ( US $ 85 million is for military assistance to prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam ).

** Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns, but remains effectively in power until the next elections.

The jewel encrusted royal crown was lost after the coup by Lon Nol in 1970.

The term also applied to other authoritarian regimes with close ties to the United States during the Cold War, more appropriately referred to as U. S. proxy states, such as South Vietnam, Iran until 1979, Cambodia under the regime of Lon Nol, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia.

The fall of Cambodia had more complex causes but ultimately also resulted from the country being dragged into the Vietnam war, first by the Viet Cong who operated bases in the country and used it as part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and then by full scale NVA attack, in conjunction with the Khmer Rouge, against the pro-U. S Lon Nol republic.

Marshal Lon Nol (; November 13, 1913 – November 17, 1985 ) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister.

The 1966 parliamentary elections represented a major shift in the balance of power towards Lon Nol and the rightist elements of the Sangkum, as conservative and right-wing candidates were overwhelmingly elected.

Lon Nol became Prime Minister, and the following year his troops were used by Sihanouk to carry out a savage repression of a leftist-inspired revolt, the Samlaut Uprising, in Battambang Province.

for this are as follows: Wilfred P. Deac, " Road to the Killing Fields: The Cambodian War of 1970-1975 " ( Texas A & M University Press, 1997 ) pp. 61 – 2 ; Robert Dallek, " Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power ," ( Harper Collins, 2007 ), p. 191 ; Steve Heder " Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamse Model, Volume I: Imitation and Independence, 1930-1975 ," ( White Lotus Press, 2004 ), p. 156.: It seems likely that Lon Nol initially intended to strengthen his position against the North Vietnamese with the ultimate aim of preventing their troops ( and those of the Viet Cong ) from operating within Cambodian borders, and wished to apply pressure on Sihanouk to achieve this.

However, events rapidly developed far beyond the original plan, and with the encouragement of Sirik Matak – who wished to see Sihanouk deposed as Head of State – Lon Nol was ultimately to engineer Sihanouk's removal.

On 12 March, Lon Nol and Sirik Matak closed the port of Sihanoukville, through which weapons were being smuggled to the Viet Cong, to the North Vietnamese and issued an ultimatum: all PAVN ( North Vietnamese ) and NLF ( Viet Cong ) forces were to withdraw from Cambodian soil within 72 hours or face military action.

Lon Nol initially refused to countenance Sihanouk being deposed as Head of State ; to force his hand, Sirik Matak played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk blamed them for the unrest and threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.

Formally declared on October 9, 1970, the Khmer Republic was a right-wing pro-United States military-led government headed by General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak that took power in the March 18, 1970 coup against Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then the country's head of state.

A number of government officials were murdered by demonstrators, including Lon Nol's brother Lon Nil.

On Lon Nol's return from hospital in Hawaii in April 1971, he instigated a cabinet crisis by resigning, providing a means to dissolve the government, with the probable encouragement of his brother Lon Non ( a figure of considerable influence, especially with the military ).

The elections, despite an inevitable victory for Lon Nol, revealed considerable dissatisfaction with the government even though they had been rigged in Lon Nol's favour: had they been fair, it is likely that In Tam would have won.

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam invaded and occupied parts of Cambodia to use as military bases, which contributed to the violence of the Cambodian civil war between the pro-American government of Lon Nol and Maoist Khmer Rouge insurgents.

Out of concern that the right wing might cause an irreparable split within the Sangkum and might challenge his domination of the political system, Sihanouk set up a " counter government " ( like the British " shadow cabinet ") packed with his most loyal personal followers and with leading leftists, hoping that it would exert a restraining influence on Lon Nol.

The history of the communist movement in Cambodia can be divided into six phases: the emergence of the Indochinese Communist Party ( ICP ), whose members were almost exclusively Vietnamese, before World War II ; the ten-year struggle for independence from the French, when a separate Cambodian communist party, the Kampuchean ( or Khmer ) People's Revolutionary Party ( KPRP ), was established under Vietnamese auspices ; the period following the Second Party Congress of the KPRP in 1960, when Saloth Sar ( Pol Pot after 1976 ) and other future Khmer Rouge leaders gained control of its apparatus ; the revolutionary struggle from the initiation of the Khmer Rouge insurgency in 1967-68 to the fall of the Lon Nol government in April 1975 ; the Democratic Kampuchea regime, from April 1975 to January 1979 ; and the period following the Third Party Congress of the KPRP in January 1979, when Hanoi effectively assumed control over Cambodia's government and communist party.

The Khmer Rouge were ideologically tied to the Chinese, while North Vietnam's chief supporters, the Soviet Union, still recognized the Lon Nol government as legitimate.

In the early months of S-21's existence, most of the victims were from the previous Lon Nol regime and included soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc.

On January 29, 1889, the British government appointed 38 year old Sao Lawei as Mayor ( Myoza ) of Saw Lon.

The new government has had to deal with many forces that oppose the revolution -- former Lon Nol officials, as well as organized networks of American, Russian and Vietnamese agents trying to overthrow the Government.

A 1 riel coin about the size of a U. S. nickel was to be issued in 1970, as part of the United Nations ' Food and Agriculture Organization's coin program, but was not released, perhaps due to the overthrow of the government of Norodom Sihanouk by Lon Nol.

On April 17, 1975, the Maoist Communist rebels, the Khmer Rouge, overthrew the government of the Khmer Republic led by Lon Nol after America left the Vietnam War.

Foreign media subsequently suggested that Sirik Matak, who continued as Lon Nol's deputy in the new government, was the real organisational force behind the coup ; it was claimed that in order to finally convince Lon Nol, Sirik Matak had played him a tape-recorded press conference from Paris, in which Sihanouk threatened to execute them both on his return to Phnom Penh.

Lon Nol was increasingly dependent on the advice of soothsayers and Buddhist mystics: at one point during a Khmer Rouge assault on Phnom Penh, he sprinkled a circular line of consecrated sand in order to defend the city.

* Sebastian Strangio, " Revisiting Lon Nol ’ s Cambodia: A look back at Lon Nol ’ s ill-fated gamble on democracy in Cambodia ," The Phnom Penh Post, March 18 2010.

Saukham Khoy, successor to Lon Nol as President of the Khmer Republic arrives on board the USS Okinawa on 12 April 1975 after being evacuated from Phnom Penh.

Shortly after the official surrender of the Lon Nol government to the Khmer Rouge was announced, Sirik Matak sought refuge at the Hotel Le Phnom, where the International Red Cross was attempting to create a safe zone.

Soldiers loyal to the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh continued to hold it long after the plain below fell to communist forces.