Global InformationLaotian Civil War information
| Laotian Civil War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War, the Indochina Wars, and the Cold War | |||||||
 Areas of Laos controlled by the Pathet Lao and bombed by the United States Air Force in support of the Kingdom of Laos. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Supported by:
|
Supported by:
| ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Souphanouvong Kaysone Phomvihane Phoumi Vongvichit Deuane Sunnalath Nouhak Phoumsavanh |
 Souvanna Phouma Phoumi Nosavan Vang Pao Boun Oum Kong Le Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Henry Kissinger Robert McNamara Clark Clifford Melvin Laird Thanom Kittikachorn | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
8,000 (1960)[1] 48,000 (1970)[1] 10,000+ (1970) |
50,000 soldiers (1954)[2] 17,000−21,000 mercenaries (1962)[3] 19,000–23,000 Hmong militiamen (1964)[4] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Unknown c. 42,000 dead.[5] |
15,000 dead[6] | ||||||
| 20,000–62,000 total dead[7] | |||||||
The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War, with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. It is known as the Secret War among the American CIA Special Activities Center, and Hmong and Mien veterans of the conflict.[8]
The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theater for other belligerents during the Vietnam War. The Franco–Lao Treaty of Amity and Association (signed 22 October 1953) transferred remaining French powers to the Royal Lao Government (except control of military affairs), establishing Laos as an independent member of the French Union. However, this government did not include representatives from the Lao Issara anti-colonial armed nationalist movement.[9][10]
The following years were marked by a rivalry between the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right wing under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing Lao Patriotic Front under Prince Souphanouvong and half-Vietnamese future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane. Several attempts were made to establish coalition governments, and a "tri-coalition" government was finally seated in Vientiane.
The fighting in Laos involved the North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, American and Thai armies, both directly and through irregular proxies in a struggle for control over the Laotian Panhandle. The North Vietnamese Army occupied the area to use for its Ho Chi Minh Trail supply corridor and as a staging area for offensives into South Vietnam. There was a second major theater of action on and near the northern Plain of Jars.
The North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao eventually emerged victorious in 1975, in the slipstream of the victory of the North Vietnamese army and South Vietnamese Viet Cong in the Vietnam War. A total of up to 300,000 people from Laos fled to neighbouring Thailand following the Pathet Lao takeover.[11]
After the communists took power in Laos, Hmong rebels fought the new government. The Hmong were persecuted as traitors and "lackeys" of the Americans, with the government and its Vietnamese allies carrying out human rights abuses against Hmong civilians. The incipient conflict between Vietnam and China also played a role with Hmong rebels being accused of receiving support from China. Over 40,000 people died in the conflict.[12]
The Lao royal family were arrested by the Pathet Lao after the war and sent to labor camps, where most of them died in the late 1970s and 1980s, including King Savang Vatthana, Queen Khamphoui and Crown Prince Vong Savang.[13]
- ^ a b "Area Handbook Series- Laos - Glossary". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ "The rise of Communism". Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
- ^ Ely 1993, p. 70.
- ^ "Hmong rebellion in Laos". Archived from the original on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
chuyenwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ T. Lomperis, From People's War to People's Rule (1996)
- ^ Obermeyer, Ziad; Murray, Christopher J. L.; Gakidou, Emmanuela (2008). "Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme". British Medical Journal. 336 (7659): 1482–6. doi:10.1136/bmj.a137. PMC 2440905. PMID 18566045. See Table 3.
- ^ "Stephen M Bland | Journalist and Author | Central Asia Caucasus". stephenmbland. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016.
- ^ Uppsala Conflict Data Program (2 November 2011). "Laos". Uppsala University Department of Peace and Conflict Research. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2002.
In October 1953, the Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association transferred power....
- ^ "Brief Chronology, 1959–1963". Foreign Office Files: United States of America, Series Two: Vietnam, 1959–1975; Part 2: Laos, 1959–1963. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
October 22 Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association
- ^ Courtois, Stephane; et al. (1997). The Black Book of Communism. Harvard University Press. p. 575. ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2.
- ^ Laos (Erster Guerillakrieg der Meo (Hmong)). Archived 9 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Kriege-Archiv der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Universität Hamburg.
- ^ http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Laos/sub5_3a/entry-2943.html Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 17 April 2018.