Cambodian Civil War

After Sihanouk demonstrated his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the Khmer Rouge's new recruits were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the king, rather than communism, of which they had little understanding.

By 1975, with Lon Nol's government running out of ammunition due to its loss of U.S. support, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before it would collapse. On 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and ended the civil war. Estimates for total civil war deaths vary. Sihanouk used a figure of 600,000 civil war deaths, while Elizabeth Becker reported over a million civil war deaths, military and civilian included; other researchers were unable to corroborate such high estimates. Marek Sliwinski notes that many estimates of the dead are open to question and may have been used for propaganda, suggesting that the true number lies between 240,000 and 310,000. Judith Banister and E. Paige Johnson described 275,000 war deaths as "the highest mortality that we can justify". Patrick Heuveline states that "Subsequent reevaluations of the demographic data situated the death toll for the [civil war] in the order of 300,000 or less".

Reinforcements: Troops sent to strengthen a fighting force by adding an additional number of fresh soldiers.

Federal: Loyal to the government of the United States. Also known as Union, Yankee, or Northern.

Drill: To practice marching, military formations and the steps in firing and handling one's weapon.

Recruits: The term used to describe new soldiers.

Artillery: Cannon or other large caliber firearms; a branch of the army armed with cannon.