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".

Cartridge: Roll of thin paper which held a small amount of gun powder in the bottom and a ball or bullet in the top. A soldier needed to tear off the top of the cartridge in order to fire his weapon - part of the nine steps to fire a muzzle loading gun (or five to fire a breech loading gun).

"Infernal Machine": A term of contempt for torpedoes (either the land or the water variety). This term was also used to describe the Confederate vessel H.L. Hunley- the first successful submarine.

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

Torpedo Boats: Small submersible vessels with long wooden spars mounted on the bow for ramming enemy ships. Torpedoes were lashed to the tip of the spar to explode on impact.

Campaign: A series of military operations that form a distinct phase of the War (such as the Shenandoah Valley Campaign).