In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare

Lachlan takes you back through the more than 30 hours of Season 2's storyline that took us through 15 years of Cambodian history.

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Were the CIA responsible for the coup against Sihanouk?

Why did Lon Nol and Sirik Matak finally make a move against the prince?

What did Sihanouk’s removal from power mean for the Khmer Rouge?

Time Period Covered 1969 - 1970

In the final episode of this season, Lachlan covers the circumstances that surround the plot to remove Norodom Sihanouk from his position as head of state. Lon Nol and Sirik Matak will take advantage of the problem of Vietnamese troop presence on Cambodian land and turn it into a political necessity to oust the Prince. They would make several miscalculations which would mean that this plan would largely backfire, as Sihanouk joins a resistance front with who he thinks are the Khmer Rouge, as well as the Vietnamese and recieving Chinese aid. Lon Nol’s new government will have to resort to terrible measures to try and deliver on their promises.

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Sources

Chandler “Tragedy of Cambodian History” and “Brother Number One”
Short “Pol Pot”
Shawcross “Sideshow”
Heder “Cambodian Communism”
Sihanouk “My War With The CIA”
Osbourne “Sihanouk”
Jagel “Khmer Nationalist”
Haing Ngor “Survival in the Killing Fields”
Kamm “Report from a Stricken Land”

How did Cambodia become the ‘key’ to Nixon’s plan to end the Vietnam War?

What was the secret bombing of Cambodia?

How many bombs did the US drop on Cambodia?

What factors led to the end of Sihanouk’s leadership of the country?

Time Period Covered 1968 - 1969

In this episode Lachlan looks at the gradually degrading situation in Cambodia, and the destabilization prior to a change in the Whitehouse that will only make matters worse. We look at Sihanouk’s movies, the Cambodian economy, and the Khmer Rouge as they continue their ‘armed struggle’ across the country. Nixon’s ascension to power in the USA is explored, his plans for a quick end to the Vietnam War, and the role that Cambodia could play in producing this. Bombing, done in secret, is explained, as well as some comments on the general discourse around the idea of ‘bombs over Cambodia’.

Check out the YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/8QdRvpbMr_w?si=vTEurMs6dDEmjjHI

Sources

Short “Pol Pot”
Chandler “Tragedy of Cambodian History”
Shawcross “Sideshow”
Mark Atwood Lawrence “Concise History of the Vietnam War”
Kiernan “How Pol Pot Came To Power”
Osbourne “Sihanouk”
Heder “Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model”

Article Links

https://quillette.com/2023/12/07/kissinger-and-cambodia/

https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/cambodian-genocide-program/us-involvement/united-states-bombing-cambodia-1965-1973

Support

https://www.patreon.com/shadowsofutopia

How many journalists were able to set foot in Cambodia before the revolution, during the revolution and after the revolution?

Not many.

Elizabeth Becker is one of those people. In 1973 she began covering the war in Cambodia, in 1978 she was part of a three person delegation which saw the first western journalists to enter into Democratic Kampuchea. There she was witness to, as she describes it a "Twilight Zone" version of Cambodia.

She also met Pol Pot.

The end of her trip ended in tragedy as one member of the delegation was murdered the same night.

A fictionalised version of that story is the subject of Rithy Panh's new film Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot, and I got to speak to Elizabeth about her newest book "You Don't Belong Here", as well as her story and work in Cambodia, witnessing the effects of the 1973 US bombing campaign, her tour of Democratic Kampuchea and much more.

Please Note

At the beginning of the interview, Elizabeth references a review by David Chandler from 1987 and what it meant to hear this critique in the Khmer Rouge Tribunals. She also gives her reasoning behind why she thinks that criticism was given. I feel it is necessary to mention that Chandler later recommended the book in 2009 amongst other praise, and perhaps the reasons why he had been initially critical:

"She manages to tell the dramatic sides, the painful aspects, she builds up a very clear and moving picture. She worked in Cambodia in the early 1970s so she got a feel for the country, she understood what had been damaged and how people were affected. It is a very effective book and I believe that it will stand up to the test of time. I had reservations initially because she wasn’t an insider, and like so many writers she goes into the story through the dark side of the Khmers, the spooky nature of the land and people- in this way foreshadowing Philip Short. I don’t buy into that at all. It’s a small reservation I have, but otherwise this is a wonderful book."

That recommendation can be found at https://fivebooks.com/best-books/best-books-cambodia/


Please visit https://www.patreon.com/shadowsofutopia to watch the video of the interview.

What role does the Tet Offensive play in the My Lai Massacre?

What circumstances in troop deployment and officer training influenced what happened?

Why were more than 500 civilians murdered by Charlie Company?

Time Period Covered December 1967 - March 1968

In this episode, Lachlan confronts the horrors that occurred in My Lai on the 16th of March 1968. He attempts to answer why more than 500 civilians were killed, what the context of these killings were, as well as the role that officers such as William Calley had in producing the My Lai Massacre. 

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For Photos and Maps of the My Lai Assault please visit https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/episodes/tet-part-two-the-my-lai-massacre

** Be advised of a mistake in the episode. Hugh Thompson did not receive the "Medal of Honour", but a US Army Soldier's Medal. I meant this as a generality but forgot there is a genuine "Congressional Medal of Honour". Apologies. **

Sources

The Peers Inquiry of the Massacre at My Lai 1970
Edward Miller The Vietnam War: A Documentary Reader
William Thomas Allison My Lai
The Vietnam War Geoffrey War and Ken Burns
The Vietnam War Mark Atwood Lawrence
Anatomy of US and South Korean Massacres In the Year of the Monkey Heonik Kwon

Lachlan sits down with Matt Madden, translator of Chan Samoeun’s Prisoners of Class. The book, having been recently released in English for the first time, is an amazing example of a Khmer Rouge survivor memoir.

They discuss Matt’s journey in finding the original book, meeting the author and translating it over many years. The book itself, including amazing details and descriptions of the world of the ‘life slave’ in Democratic Kampuchea, are discussed and thought about, as well as the contributions to the work that Matt has produced.

Please go out and get yourself a copy of the book, the best place to do so is from https://www.mekongriverpress.com/ where you can preview the book, get access to the supplementary material, as well as purchase various editions. 
 
Please take the time to leave a rating or review wherever you get it from! 

What did the Tet offensive achieve?

How was the Battle of Hue waged?

Why were almost 3000 people murdered by the Viet Cong?

Time Period Covered 1968

This episode covers the Tet Offensive of early 1968. Lachlan links the media coverage of the event, with the extreme scenes in Saigon, to the reality of the offensive and what the communists hoped to achieve. In Hue, perhaps the most stunning battle of the offensive took place, as for four weeks the city was occupied by the NVA and NLF. During this time, as a brutal campaign of house-to-house combat took place, the communists embarked upon a reign of terror to reshape the city they had taken, at least 2800 civilians were murdered.

Sources

Edward Miller The Vietnam War: A Documentary Reader
Nha Ca Mourning Headband For Hue
The Vietnam War Geoffrey War and Ken Burns
The Vietnam War Mark Atwood Lawrence
Vietnam Max Hastings
The Viet-Cong Strategy of Terror Douglas Pike
Hue Mark Bowden

How did the CPK develop their plan to genuinely start a war in Cambodia?

Why did Sihanouk seek rapprochment with the United States?

How did the bombing of Cambodia begin?

Time Period Covered 1967-1968

January 1968 will prove to be a pivotal month for the Vietnamese, Cambodian and American interests in the war. This episode details how the Cambodian communist movement finally began an armed struggle against the Sihanouk government. How the United States negotiated a deal to bomb Cambodia, and how the Vietnamese began a counter attack against the Saigon regime.

Sources

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History & Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power and Peasants & Politics in Kampuchea
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Steve Heder Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model
Elizabeth Becker When the War was Over
Nic Dunlop Lost Executioner
ECCC Case 001 Witness Testimony 2009
Shawcross Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia
CIA FOIA

What led to Mao's launching of a 'cultural revolution' in the People's Republic?

What were the aims of this movement?

Why did perhaps a million people die at the hands of their countrymen in less than four years?

Time Period Covered 1964 - 1969

In what could be considered a belated "Part Two" to the episode introducing Maoism and the Great Leap Forward, Lachlan revisits China and attempts to explain the "Cultural Revolution". Officially launched in 1966, this period of chaos, an example of a cult of personality being used to destroy a system and replace it with a kind of perpetual revolution, would lead China into a near state of anarchy.

Radical young Maoists, organised into groups of "Red Guards" terrorised those that they considered to be sufficiently counter to the ideological mandate set by Mao.

Philip Short Mao
Frank Dikotter The Cultural Revolution: A People's History
Andrew Walder China Under Mao
Richard Baum Lecture Series

Special guest Matthew Jagel joins Lachlan to talk about his new book: Khmer Nationalist. The book is an exploration of Cambodian history using Son Ngoc Thanh as the central focus, and they join up to talk about Cambodian nationalism, the influence of Imperial Japan, Sihanouk's antagonism, the Khmer Serei and the CIA.

Visit https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769337/khmer-nationalist/  to purchase the book or find Matthew on social media at https://twitter.com/matthew_jagel?s=20  or listen to Matthew's podcast "Napalm in the Morning" on Itunes and Spotify.

Visit www.shadowsofutopia.com/support to contribute to the show.

What was the Samlaut Rebellion, and how did it start?

Who was responsible for this outbreak of violence?

What leads to Khieu Samphan disappearing over night?

Time Period Covered 1967

In the first part of an explanation of how the Cambodian Civil War begins, Lachlan looks into the circumstances which lead to an outbreak of violence in the province of Battambang. Then on April 2, 1967, a series of murders turns into a genuine eruption of peasant unrest and government reprisal; the Samlaut Rebellion. But who started it? Was it the Khmer Rouge as Sihanouk thinks - and just who are these Cambodian communists in his eyes?

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History & Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power and Peasants & Politics in Kampuchea
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Steve Heder Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model
Elizabeth Becker When the War was Over
Nic Dunlop Lost Executioner
ECCC Case 001 Witness Testimony 2009

How does the "Vietnam War" begin?

How did the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) get its name?

Why did Sihanouk start making so many movies in the 1960's?

Time Period Covered 1964 - 1967

In this episode, Lachlan revisits Vietnam as LBJ wages war upon the North and the Viet Cong. Pol Pot leaves the jungle to visit Hanoi, and Beijing, and changes the direction of Khmer Communism. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, Sihanouk begins losing his magic touch as various quarters become less enamoured with his policies. The Cambodian Civil War approaches, as the war in Vietnam begins to spread.

Sources
Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History & Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Steve Heder Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model
Edward Miller The Vietnam War
Mark Atwood Lawrence A Concise History of the Vietnam War
Democratic Kampuchea Livre Noir

Who was Nuon Chea?

What does Buddhism have to do with Khmer Rouge ideology?

Why did Sihanouk sever ties with the United States?
 

Time Period Covered 1963 - 1965

In this episode we explore the impact of the fateful year of 1963 in Cambodia, as well as the circumstances that the new Cambodian communist leadership were dealing with in the Vietnamese jungle. We also look at the difference between two influential future leaders of Democratic Kampuchea; Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, as they play quite different roles for the organisation.

This episode also explores the relationship between Theravada Buddhist language, grammar and thought and the way this was utilised by the Khmer Rouge to transplant communist ideas into Cambodian minds.

Finally, the episode concludes by explaining the reasons surrounding Sihanouk's distancing from the US and eventual cutting off of US aid and relations between the two countries.

Sources

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History & Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Steve Heder Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model
Norodom Sihanouk My War with the CIA

Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html 

What is Agent Orange and why did the Kennedy Administration decide to use it? 
 
How did Diem's Regime collapse?
 
What was the Buddhist Crisis?

Time Period Covered 1961 - 1963

In the final part of our exploration into the beginnings of the "Vietnam War", we look at the circumstances surrounding the early Kennedy years and how a 'prudent' approach to South Vietnam resulted in a number of problems, both immediate and in the future. We look in depth at Operation Ranch Hand, the decision to use defoliants in South Vietnam, as well as how the Diem Regime becomes a no longer viable partner for the US and their wider strategic interests. We explain the Buddhist Crisis and the self-immolation of Quang Duc and the competing visions of a new South Vietnam. Finally the coup against Diem, Kennedy's assassination as well as the return of Pol Pot to the jungles of Vietnam represents a new chapter in the coming historical hurricane.

Sources

Christopher Goscha Vietnam: A New History
Fredrick Logevall The Embers of War
Edward Miller The Vietnam War & Reinterpreting the Buddhist Crisis (Modern Asian Studies November 2015)
Neil Sheehan The Pentagon Papers
Geoffrey Warner The United States and Vietnam 1945-1965 (International Affairs October 1972)
William Buckingham The US Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia


Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html

Support
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html

How did a succession of US administrations become stuck in Vietnam?
 
How did Diem's policies create the conditions for insurgency?
 
What did the early activities of the NLF look like?

Time Period Covered 1954 - 1961

In part two of our exploration of the path to the Second Indochina War, we focus on early American efforts to create a stable regime in South Vietnam. The activities of the CIA and Edward Lansdale in the aftermath of Geneva are used to introduce this relationship, as well as the growing realisation in some quarters that perhaps Diem was not the best person for the job of leading the country. We look at the 'paradox' of Vietnam, why escalation slowly continued in the face of private doubts. NLF operations in the Mekong Delta are discussed from the point of view of those staging these actions, as well as those civilians who were effected by the authoritarianism of Diem and the intimidating tactics of those that wished to overthrow him.

Sources

Christopher Goscha Vietnam: A New History
Fredrick Logevall The Embers of War
Edward Miller The Vietnam War
Neil Sheehan The Pentagon Papers
Geoffrey Warner The United States and Vietnam 1945-1965 (International Affairs October 1972)

Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html

Support
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html

What occurred in a divided Vietnam in the aftermath of the Geneva Accords?
 
How did so many die during the North Vietnamese “Land Reform Campaign”?
 
Why was South Vietnam described as an ‘emerging fascist state’?

Time Period Covered 1954 - 1963

In this first part of a kind of mini-series on the origins of the Vietnam War, Lachlan investigates the state building in the divided Vietnam. Exploring the ideology and benefactors of the separate regimes, we touch upon the thousands of those who died during the efforts to revolutionise the North – as well as similarly draconian methods to consolidate power in the hands of one family in the South.

Sources

Christopher Goscha Vietnam: A New History
Ben Kiernan Viet Nam
Edward Miller The Vietnam War
Alec Holcombe Mass Mobilisation in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html

Support
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html

How did Pol Pot become leader of the Khmer Rouge?
 
What did prominent communists like Khieu Samphan do in Sihanouk’s Cambodia?

Were there limits to Sihanouk’s power and tightrope act?
 
Time Period Covered 1960-1963

We begin with a reflection on how Cambodian history can permeate even seemingly mundane spaces, before looking in on a secret communist seminar led by the new leader of the Khmer Rouge. This episode functions as a revisit of some loose ends left as the Cambodian communists began taking their own steps toward having an independent movement from the Vietnamese, as well as how the roles in that party began taking shape. We learn about the mysterious death of Tuo Samouth, as well as the circumstances that precede the vitally important year of 1963.

Apologies for some audio hiccups, this one was recorded in a different location.
 
 Sources

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History, Brother Number One, A History of Cambodia
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Elizabeth Becker When the War was Over
Norodom Sihanouk My War with the CIA

Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html

Support
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html

Why was one of the most prominent slogans of the Khmer Rouge about a "super great leap forward"?

What is Maoism and why did the People's Republic of China provide a new ideological source for the world?

Why did the USSR and the PRC split in the 1960s?

Time Period Covered 1949 - 1962

This episode could be considered the third instalment in the history of communist ideology of the series. Lachlan discusses the Chinese Civil War, the People's Republic of China, Mao, Maoism, the circumstances surrounding the Great Leap Forward and it's terrible consequences. This is a brief explanation of the 45 million deaths that occurred in China as a result of government policy. The Chinese communists will provide the Khmer Rouge not only with material and economic aid once they come to power, but also with an ideological framework - a program - that the Cambodians will seek to recapitulate. This is an explanation of that program, as well as another hugely important factor in the coming chaos in Indochina, the ideological schism between the USSR and the PRC known as the Sino-Soviet Split.

Sources

Philip Short Mao
Julia Lovell Maoism: A Global History
Richard Baum The Fall and Rise of China
Frank Dikotter Mao's Great Famine

How does the Communist Party of Kampuchea form? How does Saloth Sar become a married man and teacher? What are the consequences of Sihanouk’s neutral foreign policy?

Time Period Covered 1955-1960

As peace broke out over Cambodia in the wake of the First Indochina War, the fledgling communist movement had to learn to survive in a newly independent country under the rule of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Numbers dwindling and unable to openly resist the government, the ‘revolutionary organisation’, as they began calling themselves, found an avenue for recruits in the schools of Phnom Penh. The man who would become Pol Pot became a teacher.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to navigate a neutral path for Cambodia in the Cold War era, Sihanouk opens relations with China as well as the United States. This agenda will have consequences, as the CIA begins trying to undermine his government and even seek his removal. The resulting “Bangkok Plot”, a series of conspiracies against him, will be explained.

The Khmer Rouge, as Sihanouk had begun calling the communists in his country, will also meet to discuss a new kind of organisation - the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Saloth Sar, Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary will all find themselves in high-ranking positions as the seeds of their revolution are sewn.

Sources

Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History, Brother Number One
Ben Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to Power
Milton Osbourne Sihanouk
Elizabeth Becker When the War was Over
Norodom Sihanouk My War with the CIA
Peter Froberg Idling Song for an Approaching Storm
Craig Etcheson Overview of Hierarchy of Democratic Kampuchea

Show Content
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.html

This bonus episode is for those who would like to remind themselves of the topics covered in the first season of the podcast, or for new listeners who might want a simple overview of Cambodian history as it relates to the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge.

This is an introduction to the themes of the series as a whole, the aims of the podcast, the Khmer Empire, the conditions relating to Cambodia's modernity and the French colonial period. The growth of nationalism, the events of the Second World War and efforts toward independence, including the early stages of a Cambodian communist movement are also revisited.

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