Unraveling the Knot: An Analysis of Vietnamese/Cambodian Relations 1970-1979

Abstract

Scholar David Elliot refers to the causes and consequences of the Third Indochinese War (1978-1979) as a "tangled knot" in that "finding definitive answers to the fundamental questions of causation is not an easy task". After researching Vietnamese/Cambodian relations from the year 1970 to 1979, I have also come to the conclusion that relations between the two Indochinese nations was indeed a "tangled knot". The Communist parties of both Vietnam and Cambodia begun this decade as apparent allies, but by 1978 they would become engaged in the first war between Communist nations. This thesis will attempt to examine the web of historical and political factors which led to this conflict.