Cambodia, from colonization to the Khmer Rouge: thwarted independence

The Geneva Accords of July 20-21, 1954 put an end to the First Indochina War. Vietnam was divided in two: in the North, a Communist state led by Ho Chi Minh; in the South, the Bao Dai regime, then a republic supported by the United States. Cambodia's independence, gained in 1953, is officially recognized.