Cambodian–Vietnamese War

1977-1991 interstate war

The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was a war fought between Kampuchea (present-day Cambodia) and Vietnam.[1] The war had started because of repeated attacks by the Khmer Rouge guerillas into Vietnamese territory, which often caused the massacre of entire villages. On 21 December 1978, after the Khmer Rouge had raided a village on the border, perpetrating the Ba Chúc massacre, murdering almost all 3,000 Vietnamese civilians, Vietnam decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea, which the aim of overthrowing the Khmer Rouge forces of Pol Pot. Less than 2 weeks later, the Vietnamese army entered Phnom Penh, establishing a new government made up of Khmer Rouge defectors. In response to the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, China invaded Vietnam. As a response to the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, Vietnam managed to stop the Cambodian genocide, which caused the deaths of between 1.5 million and 3 million people, approximately 25 percent of the country's population.

Cambodian - Vietnamese War
Part of the Third Indochina War, Cold War and the Sino-Soviet split
Date21 December 1978 - 23 October 1991
(14 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Cambodia, southern Vietnam and eastern Thailand
Result

Vietnamese/PRK victory

Belligerents

Democratic Kampuchea (1978 - 82)
Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (1982 - 91)

 Thailand
 China
 United States
 Vietnam
People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979 - 89)
State of Cambodia (1989 - 91)
Commanders and leaders
Pol Pot
Khieu Samphan
Ieng Sary
Nuon Chea
Ta Mok
Son Sen
Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Ranariddh
Son Sann
Dien Del
Ronald Reagan
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Prem Tinsulanonda
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
Deng Xiaoping
Lê Duẩn
Trường Chinh
Nguyễn Văn Linh
Võ Nguyên Giáp
Heng Samrin
Hun Sen
Pen Sovan
Chan Sy
Chea Sim
Strength
1979: 73,000
1989: 30,000
150,000 - 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers
Casualties and losses
  • 1975–1979:
    c. 15,000 killed[2]
  • 1979–1989: more than 100,000 killed
  • 1975–1979:
    • 10,000 killed[2]
  • 1979–1989:
    • Vietnam:
      • 15,000[3]–25,300[4] killed
      • 30,000 wounded[3]
    • People's Republic of Kampuchea:
      • Unknown
  • Total: 25,000–52,000 killed[5]
200,000+ Cambodian civilians killed

References

change
  1. "Vietnam's Invasion of Cambodia, Revisited". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Khoo, p. 127
  3. 3.0 3.1 Vietnamese sources generally offer contradictory figures, but Vietnamese General Tran Cong Man stated that at "least 15,000 soldiers died and another 30,000 were wounded in the ten-year long Cambodian campaign"—so the figures do not include the casualties from the period between 1975 and 1979. Thayer, 10
  4. SIPRI Yearbook: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
  5. Clodfelter, p. 627.