The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Lon Nol

Born Nov. 2, 1913. Cambodian political figure. General.

Lon Nol held important administrative posts under the colonial regime. After the proclamation of Cambodia’s independence in 1953, he served as chief of staff of the Cambodian Army (1955-66) and was several times minister of defense. In August 1969 he was appointed prime minister. He played a major role in the coup of Mar. 18, 1970, and was elected presi-dent of the Khmer Republic in Phnom Penh in 1972. In April 1975 the Lon Nol regime was overthrown by the Cambodian patriotic forces. [15-47.3]

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References in periodicals archive

In February, the US and Chinese embassies in Cambodia exchanged words over the 1970 coup d'etat led by Lon Nol which toppled the government of the then prime minister Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

New US ambassador expected in July

Cambodia has a long tradition of commemorating military anniversaries, including Pol Pot's victory over Lon Nol forces in 1975, the Vietnamese invasion that ended his slaughter, end of Vietnamese occupation ten years later, the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, and even Pol Pot's death eight months before his chief lieutenants formally surrendered in Hun Sen's compound.

The Truth About War And Peace In Cambodia

Soon after seizing power, they arrested and killed thousands of soldiers, military officers and civil servants from the Khmer Republic led by then-Marshal Lon Nol, whom they did not regard as 'pure.' Over the next three years (1975 to 1978) they executed hundreds of thousands of intellectuals, city residents and minority people like the Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese.

'The killing fields'

1972 Cambodia's Premier Lon Nol takes complete control of Cambodian

March 10,1983: Indonesia re-elects Suharto for fourth term

A local communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, challenged the American-sponsored Lon Nol regime and gained support from the Cambodian countryside.

A friendlier neighbor

Indeed, in many cases -- the Shah of Iran, Cambodia's Lon Nol, Chile's Augusto Pinochet, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko, to name a few -- it led to long-term insecurity and disorder.

The Western temptation of backing a despot

bombed communist Vietnamese sanctuaries and supply lines along the Vietnam-Cambodia border, keeping Cambodia's Lon Nol government propped up as an anti-communist enclave, but it provided World War II aircraft and few artillery pieces to Phnom Penh forces fighting the Khmer Rouge.

40 years ago, US left Cambodia to 'butchers'; Tears, waves of goodbye

Some 8,000 Cambodians died of starvation and malnutrition in March 1975, according to the Washington-based Indochina Research Center, largely because the Lon Nol government and U.S.

Look back on NCR history

Members of the Cambodian elite, especially in Phnom Penh, were becoming disenchanted with "Sihanouk's highly personal style of rule" and, along with many army officers, including Marshal Lon Nol, were unhappy the Prince favored communist countries.

A little History and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Current Status

The current trial is related to crimes committed during the forced evacuation of an estimated 1.5 million-2.6 million civilians and the execution of 2,000-3,000 soldiers of the Lon Nol regime in the northwestern province of Pursat between 1975 and 1977.

Prosecutors call for life sentences for 2 Khmer Rouge leaders