The Khmer Rouge After the Fall of Phnom Penh (1979-1989)
The Khmer Rouge After the Fall of Phnom Penh (1979-1989) The Vietnamese Invasion and Immediate Aftermath (January 1979) The Fall of Phnom Penh On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces launched their final assault on Phnom Penh, effectively ending the Khmer Rouge's brutal four-year rule over Cambodia. The Vietnamese invasion, which had been building since late 1978, was sparked by escalating border conflicts and the Khmer Rouge's increasingly aggressive raids into Vietnamese territory. Within days, Pol Pot's government collapsed, and the Khmer Rouge leadership fled westward toward the Thai border. The Mass Exodus The collapse of Democratic Kampuchea triggered one of the largest refugee crises in Southeast Asian history. By the end of 1979, approximately 600,000 to 700,000 Cambodians had fled to the Thai border, creating a humanitarian catastrophe that would persist throughout the 1980s. This massive population movement included not only Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadres bu...