-
The Japanese occupation ended which lead to Cambodia’s freedom.
-
The Cambodians sign communist guerrillas to attack the French. They were armed and ready to attack.
-
The U.S started bombing the Vietnamese on Cambodian soil. This lead to Cambodia fighting along side the U.S.
-
Lon Nol is overthrown as the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot occupy Phnom Penh. Sihanouk briefly becomes head of state, the country is re-named Kampuchea.
-
The war, considered a Cold War-era proxy war by some,[58] lasted 19 years, with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.
-
The pro-Vietnamese Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party wins parliamentary elections. The international community refuses to recognise the new government.
-
A peace agreement is signed in Paris. A UN transitional authority shares power temporarily with representatives of the various factions in Cambodia. Sihanouk becomes head of state.
-
Deputy leader of Khmer Rouge Ieng Sary forms a new party and is granted amnesty by Sihanouk.
-
Pol pot dies in a jungle hideout. He had to have suffered a fatal heart attack Wednesday in the northern jungles of Cambodia, though some diplomats in Southeast Asia speculated that the remnants of his once-loyal Khmer Rouge guerrillas may have murdered him because he had become such a liability to all.
-
US-based Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) members convicted of 2000 attack in Phnom Penh. Group pledges to continue campaign to overthrow Hun Sen.
-
First multi-party local elections; ruling Cambodian People's Party wins in all but 23 out of 1,620 communes. Ranariddh's half-brother Prince Norodom Chakrapong sets up his own Norodom Chakrapong Khmer Soul Party.
-
After nearly a year of political deadlock, Prime Minister Hun Sen is re-elected after CPP strikes a deal with the royalist Funcinpec party. Parliament ratifies kingdom's entry into World Trade Organisation (WTO). King Sihanouk abdicates and is succeeded by his son Norodom Sihamoni.
-
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy goes abroad after parliament strips him of immunity from prosecution, leaving him open to defamation charges brought by the ruling coalition.
-
Rainsy is convicted in absentia of defaming Hun Sen and is sentenced to 18 months in prison
-
Hun Sen's ruling CPP claims victory in parliamentary elections criticised by EU monitors. Cambodia and Thailand move troops to disputed land near Preah Vihear temple after decision to list it as UN World Heritage Site fans nationalist sentiment on both sides.
-
Tensions rise as Cambodia charges two Thai citizens with spying after they were arrested for crossing the disputed border. Respective forces exchange fire across the border. Hun Sen calls for UN peacekeepers.
-
A second judge quits the tribunal. Swiss Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet says going because his Cambodian counterpart, You Bunleng, had thwarted attempts to investigate some former members of the Khmer Rouge regime.
-
Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary dies while awaiting trial for genocide, leaving only Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan among prominent Khmer Rouge figures still alive and under arrest by the UN-backed tribunal.
-
Riot police clear a two-week opposition protest camp held in Phnom Penh as part of a long-running campaign launched against the government after the disputed 2013 election.
-
Sam Rainsy resigns as head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). He had been in self-imposed exile since 2005, when parliament stripped him of his immunity.