america bombed cambodia for 3 years.from 1970 to 1973 cambodia sufferes hundreds of thousands of casualties as the war in vietnam spills over into the country.once a spacious city of 600,000 residents, Phnom Penh,the capital, now bulged to its limits as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the countryside to seek refuge in the city.
in 8 months of 1973,USA dropped more bombs on cambodia than all the bombs on japan in the entire second world war.cambodia was in ruins.the US puppet lon nol was overthrown. After USA lost interest in vietnam and cambodia,the ruined country was taken over by the khmer rouge,ultra communists who had gained power in the instability of US bombing and vietnamese communist support.
the khmer rouge were first welcomed by the people as their hopes soared for stability and peace.this famous photo shows the entire city of phnom penh welcoming the khmer rouge,hopeful that bombing and war that had ruined the country was over.
they were mistaken.