Cambodia has always been a nation of powerful empires and bloody wars, from the Funan in the 1st century AD to the great Khmer empire which flourished from the 9th century to the 13th century. The Khmer empire covered Siam (Thailand), Cambodia, Laos, and southern Vietnam. France established a protectorate in 1863 but gave the nation its freedom in 1953 when it was liberating many of its Indo-China colonies. When South Vietnam, aided by the U.S., attacked Vietcong forces in Cambodia by plane, the leader of Cambodia denounced the U.S. Relations were improved between Cambodia and the U.S. when Cambodia announced that Viet communists were giving Cambodian rebels arms. In 1970 the Khmer Rouge seized power with Lon Nol as their leader. He requested the removal of 40,000 North Viet troops and the monarchy was ended. The Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh in 1975. During those 5 years of fighting 100,000 people or more had died. Under the new government over one million people had been executed or forced to hard labor. Conflict resurfaced between Cambodia and Vietnam in 1978. Many refugees fled to Thailand. The Vietnamese have attacked the Khmer Rouge rebels and refugee camps on the borderand gained control of Cambodia bases. In 1989, a peace conference that was held in Paris under international supervision tried to find a diplomatic solution to the Cambodia crisis. @
