Lon Nol (redirected from General Lon Nol)

Lon Nol (lŏn nōl), 1913–85, Cambodian general and political leader. He became defense minister and army chief of staff in 1955 in Norodom Sihanouk's government. He served as premier (1966–67) under Sihanouk. In 1970, he led the coup that deposed Sihanouk, and assumed control of the government. He attempted unsuccessfully to suppress the Communist Khmer Rouge guerrillas, and his efforts plunged the country into civil war. After temporarily relinquishing power, he seized control in 1972 and suspended the constitution. Due to his inept leadership and anti-Communist fervor, he was forced to leave the country in 1975, when the Khmer Rouge advanced on the capital city. He settled in Hawaii.

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Lon Nol

(born Nov. 13, 1913, Prey Vêng, Camb.—died Nov. 17, 1985, Fullerton, Calif., U.S.) Cambodian military and political leader. A magistrate in the French colonial service, he became successively head of the national police (1951), army chief of staff (1955), and commander in chief (1960). He was twice premier (1966–67, 1969–70) under Norodom Sihanouk. In 1970 he was the chief architect of the U.S.-supported coup that deposed Sihanouk. He abandoned Sihanouk's policy of neutrality in the Vietnam War and threw Cambodia's support behind the U.S. and South Vietnam. In 1972 he assumed total power in Cambodia; he fled to the U.S. in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge takeover was imminent.