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

Lachlan Peters
  • 4.9 (273)
  • History
  • Series

A comprehensive, long-form history podcast about Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot Regime. 

See All

  1. Episode 1

    The Invasion (Part One): Counting Bodies Floating Down the Mekong

    In April 1970, bodies began drifting down the Mekong into South Vietnam. They were ethnic Vietnamese civilians, killed by the forces of a Cambodian government that had held power for a matter of weeks. The new regime had declared war on an army it could not fight, and turned on the people it could reach instead. Time Period Covered: April 1970What was the crisis facing the new Cambodian government in April 1970? Why were the Vietnamese communities subjected to massacres? What circumstances led to a US invasion of Cambodia? In this episode Lachlan explores the horrible aftermath of the coup against Sihanouk, as a panicked new regime produces a pogrom against an innocent group of civilians. The communist Vietnamese armies take much of the countryside. Journalists disappear as they report on a Vietnam War that has spilled over the border. The Nixon White House faces a decision. Sources Chandler “Tragedy of Cambodian History”Short “Pol Pot”Shawcross “Sideshow”Kamm “Report from a Stricken Land”Sak Satsukhan “The Khmer Republic at War”Wilfred Deac “Road to the Killing Fields”Walter Isaacson “Kissinger”Kiernan “How Pol Pot Came to Power”Etcheson “Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea”

    The Invasion (Part One): Counting Bodies Floating Down the Mekong

  2. Episode 2

    The Invasion (Part Two): Nixon's Cambodian Incursion

    On April 30th, 1970, Richard Nixon went on television to announce that American and South Vietnamese troops were crossing into Cambodia. He called it an incursion, not an invasion, and promised it would be brief. Within a week four students were dead at Kent State, and within two months the Americans were gone again. The war they left behind was not. Time Period Covered: May to June 1970Why did Nixon invade Cambodia in May 1970? What impact did the 'Cambodian Incursion' have on the war in Vietnam? How did it affect Cambodia? In part two of our discussion of the situation in Cambodia after the coup, we see how the Nixon White House responded to the crisis. Lachlan asks whether the decision Nixon and Kissinger made was the right one, or whether there was a right one at all. We look at the circumstances that brought about the decision, what options were on the table, and the impact of Nixon's speech announcing the 'incursion'. Then we look at the Cambodia Campaign itself, the fighting that overtakes much of the country, and the outcomes this had in the short and long term. Sources:Chandler “Tragedy of Cambodian History”Short “Pol Pot”Shawcross “Sideshow”Kamm “Report from a Stricken Land”Sak Satsukhan “The Khmer Republic at War”Wilfred Deac “Road to the Killing Fields”Walter Isaacson “Kissinger”Kiernan “How Pol Pot Came to Power”Etcheson “Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea”James Sterba "G.I's in Cambodia" (New York Times)

    The Invasion (Part Two): Nixon's Cambodian Incursion

  3. Episode 3

    Pol Pot Rises

    On April 3rd, 1970, a former maths teacher named Kaing Guek Eav walked out of prison in the general amnesty that followed the coup. He is better known as Duch. Within a year he would be running a jungle prison called M-13, and within five, the interrogation centre at Tuol Sleng. Time Period Covered: April 1970 to July 1971Why was Duch released from prison on April 3rd, 1970? How did Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge transition from small guerrilla enclaves to administering huge areas of Cambodia? What exactly was 'Independence Mastery', and why was it so central to the Khmer Rouge mindset? In this episode, we pivot from Lon Nol's takeover to the Cambodian communist perspective, exploring how Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge navigated the chaotic months following the coup. We follow Duch's unexpected release from prison, track Pol Pot's return journey from Beijing and Hanoi, and see how the Khmer Rouge began absorbing millions of Cambodians into so-called 'liberated zones'. Along the way we look at the principle of Independence Mastery, the uneasy alliance with the Vietnamese, and the early precursor to S-21 known as M-13. We also uncover the paranoid mindset driving the Khmer Rouge's suspicion of outside influence, including alleged assassination plots and forced confessions, shadows of the horror to come. Sources Chandler - Tragedy of Cambodian History and Voices From S21Short - Pol PotKiernan - How Pol Pot Came To PowerECCC Archives - Duch Trial 2009Heder - Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese ModelEdwards - CambodgeHarris - Buddhism Under Pol Pot

    Pol Pot Rises

  4. Episode 4

    The Khmer Republic: The Lon Nol Line and Operation Chenla I

    In late 1970 the Khmer Republic launched its first major offensive of the war, an attempt to reopen Route 6 and relieve the town of Kompong Thom. It was the first test of whether Lon Nol's army could actually fight. Time Period Covered: June 1970 to January 1971How did the Khmer Republic try to take back control of Cambodia? What was Operation Chenla I, and what did it reveal about the Cambodian army? What was the 'Lon Nol line'? In this episode, we follow the Lon Nol government as it attempts to prove that the Khmer Republic can fight and win. After the initial chaos of the coup and the brief US incursion, Cambodia's leaders launch their first large-scale offensive: Operation Chenla I. We look at how the Cambodians, with American and South Vietnamese support, attempt to open Route 6, retake lost territory, and secure the Lon Nol strategy. Please see this link for Chenla Offensive Visuals and Maps: https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/episodes/the-khmer-republic-chenla-one Sources: Wilfred Deac The Road to the Killing FieldsCraig Etcheson The Rise and Demise of Democratic KampucheaSat Sutsakhan The Khmer Republic at WarVarious New York Times Articles June 1970CBS News September 4 1970Ros Sereysothea (song)David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian HistoryHenry Kamm Report From a Stricken LandHaing Ngor Surival in the Killing FieldsPresidential Briefings 1970 (CIA reading room)Lon Nol - Nixon Correspondance (Office of the Historian)

    The Khmer Republic: The Lon Nol Line and Operation Chenla I

  5. Episode 5

    Chenla II: Lon Nol Strikes Out

    In February 1971 Lon Nol suffered a stroke and was flown to Hawaii to recover. Many hoped he would not come back. He did, and by December the army under his command had suffered a defeat on Route 6 from which it never recovered. Time Period Covered: March to December 1971What was the political fallout from Lon Nol's stroke? How did race and religion become such a key theme of his regime? What led to the worst military defeat of the Cambodian Civil War? In this episode, Lon Nol returns to Cambodia after recovering from a mild stroke in Hawaii. While many hoped he might step aside, and that the US might provoke a change in leadership, Lon Nol remained in power. His little brother's influence grew, and his obsession with race and religion became even more pronounced. As the Vietnam War played out on Cambodian land, the carnage of American bombs became a regular occurrence. Meanwhile, politics in Phnom Penh leaned toward military dictatorship. By the end of the year, the Khmer Republic had to face its worst military defeat, one it would not recover from. Check out www.shadowsofutopia.com/episodes/ for maps and diagrams Sources: Wilfred Deac The Road to the Killing FieldsCraig Etcheson The Rise and Demise of Democratic KampucheaSat Sutsakhan The Khmer Republic at WarElizabeth Becker When The War Was OverDavid Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian HistoryHenry Kamm Report From a Stricken Land

    Chenla II: Lon Nol Strikes Out

  6. Episode 6

    1972 - Life (and Death) in the Liberated Zones. Regrets for the Khmer Soul and M-13

    In 1972 a Phnom Penh schools inspector named Ith Sarin spent nine months inside Khmer Rouge territory and came back to write about it. Around the same time a French scholar named Francois Bizot spent three months chained in a jungle camp called M-13, interrogated daily by Duch. Between them they left the two most detailed accounts of the Khmer Rouge before it took power, and they do not describe the same regime. Time Period Covered: 1971 to 1972Why would someone join the Khmer Rouge? How would people view the parts of the country now being run by the communists? What was M-13, and why is it so important? In this episode, Lachlan returns to one of the most invaluable insights into the prototype regime of Democratic Kampuchea and the countryside control of the Khmer Rouge: Ith Sarin's Regrets for the Khmer Soul, a detailed account of life under the communists for nine months, which is not as damning as some might expect. This is in sharp contrast to another memoir from this same period, Francois Bizot's The Gate, in which he recounts his imprisonment at M-13, the jungle prototype of Tuol Sleng. Woven through these two sides of the story is the evolution of the Khmer Rouge into a group taking over the functions of a state, and applying the blueprint of revolution they had settled on to the Cambodian population they controlled, which numbered in the millions. Check out my visit to M13 at YouTube or https://www.patreon.com/ Sources: David Chandler The Tragedy of Cambodian History Philip Short Pol PotIth Sarin Regrets for the Khmer Soul (available at https://www.mekongriverpress.com/)Francois Bizot The GateECCC Testimony Kang Gek Iev (Duch)Henri Locard Jungle Heart of the Khmer RougeNorodom Sihanouk My War with the CIABen Kiernan How Pol Pot Came to PowerSophal Ear The Khmer Rouge Cannon (Phd Thesis)Ian Harris Buddhism Under Pol PotAlex Hinton Why Did They Kill?

    1972 - Life (and Death) in the Liberated Zones. Regrets for the Khmer Soul and M-13

  7. Episode 7

    How to Get Out of a War in Indochina: Nixon, Mao and the Paris Peace Accords

    In February 1972 Richard Nixon flew to Beijing to shake Mao's hand. In May he went to Moscow. In between, North Vietnam launched the largest conventional offensive of the war and American bombers returned in force. All of it, in one way or another, was about how to leave Vietnam without appearing to lose it. Time Period Covered: 1971 to 1973How do you get out of a war without losing it? What did Nixon's opening to China have to do with Vietnam? And how much of 'peace' in 1972 was about diplomacy, and how much was about the election? In this episode, Lachlan examines the pivotal year of 1972. North Vietnam launches the Spring Offensive, the largest conventional campaign of the war, while American air power returns on a massive scale. At the same time, Nixon travels to Beijing and Moscow, reshaping the Cold War balance and strengthening his position at home. Behind the scenes, Henry Kissinger conducts secret negotiations in Paris. The Oval Office tapes reveal a colder logic: South Vietnam may not survive indefinitely, but if it lasts long enough, the United States can leave on its own terms. Cambodia, meanwhile, remains entangled in bombing, secrecy, and executive overreach, part of the same governing culture that produces Watergate. By January 1973, the Paris Peace Accords are signed. American prisoners are coming home. Nixon has won a landslide re-election on promises of peace. But the settlement leaves North Vietnamese troops in the South, freezes the battlefield in place, and offers no real solution for Cambodia. The war, in other words, is ending. Just not for everyone. Sources: Short Mao: The Man Who Built ChinaHastings Vietnam: An Epic TragedyMiller The Vietnam War: A Documentary ReaderVarious Recordings: Nixon Whitehouse 1971-2Shawcross Sideshow

    How to Get Out of a War in Indochina: Nixon, Mao and the Paris Peace Accords

  8. Episode 8

    Terrorism, Rock and Roll and the Battle of Angkor Wat

    At the beginning of 1972, Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces fought each other in the temple complex at Angkor. In Phnom Penh, a city swollen with refugees and rocked by bombings, the radios played Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea. It was the peak of Cambodia's golden age of music, and it had three years left. Time Period Covered: 1972How did a golden age of music emerge during the Cambodian Civil War? How did Lon Nol survive the fallout of Chenla II? What did the clashes between communists and government produce around Angkor? In this episode, Lachlan returns to the view from Phnom Penh as the Cambodian Civil War truly begins to live up to its name. The Khmer Rouge had amassed tens of thousands of troops and were challenging not only Lon Nol's struggling regime, but also their Vietnamese comrades in arms. Most notably, at Angkor -- where fighting will erupt around the temple complex at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile while the government lost more control of the countryside, Lon Nol continued to consolidate his own power. Sidelining much more capable politicians, while the United States stood idly by as his dastardly little brother, Lon Non, used violent and grubby means of propping up the new president - and his own position. The refugee crisis in Phnom Penh continues, and Lachlan looks into the different stories of individuals effected by the war who fled to the capital. And, the backdrop to all of this chaos? Cambodia's golden age of rock & roll. Dont forget to check out the complete history of Angkor on YouTube. Check out www.shadowsofutopia.com/support to help out the show -- or leave a review on the platform you are using! Thank you Sources: Wilfred Deac -The Road to the Killing FieldsSutsakhan -The Khmer Republic at WarDavid Chandler -Tragedy of Cambodian HistoryShawcross -SideshowNew York Times -Various Reporting 1972Craig Etcheson -The Rise and Demise of Democratic KampucheaOral History Project -Brigham Young CollegeHaing Ngor -A Cambodian OdysseyJim Laurie -Last HelicopterDee Peyok -Away from Beloved LoverNew Cambodia Magazine 1972 -various issues

    Terrorism, Rock and Roll and the Battle of Angkor Wat
See All Season 3 (17)

4.9
out of 5
273 Ratings

About

A comprehensive, long-form history podcast about Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot Regime. 

Information

You Might Also Like