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The Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War

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THE CAMBODIAN CIVIL WAR AND THE VIETNAM WAR: A TALE OF TWO REVOLUTIONARY WARS by Boraden Nhem A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and International Relations Spring 2015 €•' 2015 Boraden Nhem All Rights Reserved ProQuest Number: 3718366 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 3718366 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 THE CAMBODIAN CIVIL WAR AND THE VIETNAM WAR: A TALE OF TWO REVOLUTIONARY WARS by Boraden Nhem Approved: _________________________________________________________________ Gretchen Bauer, Ph.D. Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations Approved: _____________________________________ George H. Watson, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Approved: _________________________________________________ James G. Richards, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: ______________________________ Stuart J Kaufman, Ph.D. Professor in charge of dissertation I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: _______________________________ Mark W McLeod, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: _______________________________ Mark J Miller, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: _________________________________________________________________ Matthew S Weinert, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Stuart Kaufman, Dr. Mark McLeod, Dr. Mark Miller, and Dr. Matthew Weinert for their guidance, valuable insights, and tremendous efforts in making sure my thesis is free of major errors. It is my privilege to have constantly learnt new things in this laborious process. I also would like to thank my longtime friend, Dr. Mike Minehan who has helped proofreading parts of the manuscript. Writing in a second language is never easy. The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the help of my professors and my friends. I also would like to express my thanks to my fellow International Military Student of the US Army Command and General Staff College, Class 14-02, Captain Tran Due Huong of the People's Army of Vietnam, who provided his assistance in the translation of some of the Vietnamese sources that I have used in my dissertation. Ms. Lynn Corbett of the Department of Political Science and International Relations also deserves special thanks for the administrative assistance that she has provided to me during this laborious process. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................xi LIST OF ACRONYMS............................................................................................................. xii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................xiv Chapter 1 A LITERATURE BUILT ON DIVERSE FOUNDATIONS.................................... 1 1.1 General Overview of the Literature ................................................................... 2 1.1.1 What is Revolutionary W arfare? .......................................................... 2 1.1.1.1 Definition of Guerrilla/Revolutionary Warfare Used in This Dissertation ................................................................. 5 1.1.1.2 Why Do Peasants Fight?.......................................................6 1.1.2 COIN Schools of Thought....................................................................11 1.1.2.1 The Coercion School ............................................................12 1.1.2.2 The Winning the Hearts-and-Minds School ................... 15 1.1.2.3 The Technical School ..........................................................20 1.1.2.4 Summary of the Literature on COIN ................................25 1.1.2.5 The American Way of War: Political COIN vs. Military COIN .......................................................................26 1.1.3 Case Selection Bias and the Organizational Approach to COIN 32 1.1.3.1 Malaya Revisited ..................................................................34 1.1.3.2 Controlled Comparison: Method of Difference-Most Similar System.......................................................................39 1.2 Summary of the Objectives and Contributions of the Current Dissertation ........................................................................................................... 41 1.3 Plan of the Dissertation ......................................................................................43 2 ANALYTICAL COMPARISON................................................................................57 2.1 Method of “Most Similar System" Applied to the Cambodian Case Study .......................................................................................................................57 2.1.1 Variable 1 - External Support and Sanctuary ................................. 57 2.1.2 Variable 2 - Natural Sanctuary, Geography, and Climate ............61 v 2.1.3 Variable 3 - Ethnic Composition .......................................................63 2.1.4 Variable 4 - Historical Precedence of Past Wars and Conflict... 69 2.1.5 Variable 5 - Political Issues (Social and Political Grievances) .. 69 2.1.6 Variable 6 - Tactics, Strategy, and War Dynamic ......................... 73 2.1.7 Variable 7 - Ratio of Force Between the Conventional and Paramilitary Forces o f the Counterinsurgent....................................79 2.1.8 Variable 8 - Military Organization....................................................82 2.2 Summary of Comparison ................................................................................... 86 2.3 Process Tracing and Historical Explanation ..................................................89 3 THE VIETNAM WAR: REVOLUTIONARY WAR, HYBRID WAR ...........99 3.1 Political Context ..................................................................................................99 3.1.1 Birth of a Revolution .............................................................................99 3.1.2 The RVN in the Abyss and the NLF's "Golden Period" 109 3.2 Military Organization .......................................................................................112 3.2.1 Regular Force: Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 112 3.2.2 Irregular Forces 1: Regional Forces-Popular Forces (RF-PF) ..118 3.2.2.1 History and Organization ..................................................118 3.2.2.2 The Question of Effectiveness ..........................................124 3.2.3 Irregular Forces 2: Combined Actions Platoon (CAP) and Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) ..................................... 128 3.2.3.1 Combined Action Program: Combined Action Platoon (CAP) and Companies (CACO) ....................... 128 3.2.3.2 Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) ....................133 3.3 The Tet Offensive (1968) .............................................................................. 140 3.3.1 Breaking the Stalemate....................................................................... 140 3.3.2 The Tet Offensive: Objectives, Plans, and Execution ..................142 3.3.3 Assessments ...........................................................................................145 3.4 Summary............................................................................................................. 151 3.5 Theoretical Discussions ...................................................................................153 4 THE CAMBODIAN CIVIL WAR: ROAD TO WAR....................................... 166 4.1 The French B uffer .......................................................................................... 166 vi 4.2 From KPRP to the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) ...................168 4.3 Turn Right: The End of the DRV's Free Access in Cambodia ...............169 4.4 The Coup of 18 March 1970 ........................................................................
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