The Vietnamese liberation movement made use of parts of Laos that came to be called the “Ho Chi Minh Trail,” assisted by the revolutionary Pathet Lao movement, while the CIA encouraged ethnic tensions within Laos and financed such groups as the “Secret Army” led by Vang Pao. In between, there was a short period when the Japanese occupied Laos during WWII. The Pathet Lao refused to disarm and the North Vietnamese Army did not leave the country. Althougl1 the bulk Articles containing non-English-language text, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/446407/Pathet-Lao, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, "WGIP: Side event on the Hmong Lao, at the United Nations", http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/lima/laos1962.htm, http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/lima/laos1954.htm, http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/world/A0859186.html, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9058717/Pathet-Lao, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Pathet_Lao?oldid=2827948. Founded in 1950, the Pathet Lao (Lao Country) movement joined with the Viet Minh, the Communist-oriented Vietnamese nationalist organization, in armed resistance to French rule in Indochina. In 1957, the Pathet Lao was invited to form a coalition government. Those members who returned to Laos continued to work for complete Lao independence from France , but within the legal framework. The communist forces battled the Royal Lao Army, U.S. irregular forces (including Air America and other contract employees and Hmong commandos), and Thai "volunteer" forces in Laos winning effective control in the north and east.

Laos is a major arena of international confrontation despite the Geneva Accords of 1962. BANGKOK, Thailand, Aug. 23 —The Communist‐led Pathet. The organization can trace its roots from the Second World War just as the Khmer Issarak in Cambodia and the Viet Minh & Vietnam People's Army in Vietnam did in the war as well. Lao took over Laos today, marking the last chapter in the rise to power of Communist‐led movements in Indochina. Pathet Lao, left-oriented nationalist group in Laos that took control of the country in 1975. One gets a hint of how difficult and frought those years were for so many. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The coalition government envisaged by the treaty did not long outlast it. Yet there is a dearth of published material on Laos, and the crucial issue of North Vietnam's role in that country has hardly been examined. Later, when the Pathet Lao fully was established, Soup announced it was his goal for Laos to become a Communist country. The communists began to make incursions into central Laos with the support of the Viet Minh, and a civil war erupted; the Pathet Lao quickly occupied substantial sections of the country. In August 1950, Souphanouvong joined the Viet Minh in their headquarters north of Hanoi, Vietnam, and become the head of the Pathet Lao, along with its political arm dubbed Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front). In 1956 a legal political wing, the Lao… The Pathet Lao (Lao: ປະເທດລາວ, "Lao Nation") was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century.The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power in 1975, after the Laotian Civil War.The Pathet Lao were … The Pathet Lao - Leadership and Organization | Joseph J. Zasloff | download | B–OK. Laos is a major arena of international confrontation despite the Geneva Accords of 1962. Prince Souphanouvong, who had spent seven years in Nha Trang[4] during his sixteen years in Vietnam,[5] met Ho Chi Minh, and acquired a Vietnamese wife while in Vietnam, solicited Viet Minh aid in founding a guerrilla force. Looking back, one could say that Laos was in an interesting place during World War II. In September 1959, North Vietnam formed Group 959 in Laos with the aim of building the Pathet Lao into a stronger counterforce against the Lao Royal government. In 1968, the Army of North Vietnam launched a multi-division invasion of Laos. [6] Pathet Lao found resistance government with members: Souphanouvong (Prime Minister, Minister of the Foreign), Kaysone Phomvihane (Minister of the Defence), Phoumi Vongvichit (Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior), Souk Vongsak, Sithon Kommadam, Faydang Lobliayao. The typical strategy during this era was for North Vietnamese regulars to attack first but then send in the Pathet Lao at the end of the battle to claim "victory". [2], The political wing of the Pathet Lao, called the Lao Patriotic Front (Lao language: Neo Lao Hak Xat) served in multiple coalition governments, starting in 1956. Landlocked Laos is one of the world's few remaining communist states and one of East Asia's poorest. In 1977 a communist newspaper promised the party would hunt down the “American collaborators” and their families “to the last root". In 1956 a legal political wing, the Lao… The Rise of Laotian Nationalism During WW2. Download books for free. Karen (Ka-ren) The Baw G’naw, known to many as the Karen, are one of the largest hill tribe groups in Southeast Asia. Two months after the conference, the Viet Minh/North Vietnam formed the unit Group 100 with headquarters at Ban Nameo. [3] Together these groups resisted the French Union in Indochina. 4. Download books for free. Pathet Lao, left-oriented nationalist group in Laos that took control of the country in 1975. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pathet-Lao. The area was used as a transit route for men and supplies destined for the insurgency in South Vietnam. With the fall of China to communism and the rise of Communist rebellion in Vietnam, the US sent elite soldiers, the Green Berets, to train Hmong guerrillas to oppose the Vietnamese and the Pathet Lao communists of … In the late 1950s, southeast Asia, including Laos, was viewed as an important region to the West. By the Geneva Agreements of 1954 and an armistice of 1955, two northern provinces were given to the Pathet Lao; the rest went to the royal regime. Unstated was its subordination to Communist Party of Vietnam. Following true independence, it transitioned to a constitutional monarchy. Pathet Lao, left-oriented nationalist group in Laos that took control of the country in 1975. The 1960 Laotian coups brought about a pivotal change of government in the Kingdom of Laos.General Phoumi Nosavan established himself as the strongman running Laos in a bloodless coup on 25 December 1959. Prince Souphanouvong During the Laos civil war in the 1960s to the early 1970s, the movement clashed with the U.S.-backed Vientiane regime and effectively won areas in the north and east part of Laos. Laos is a major arena of international confrontation despite the Geneva Accords of 1962. In May, the US-backed Vientiane government fell and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party formed a new government.[2]. Vientiane falls. The Pathet Lao held hundreds of US "detainees" as prisoners of war during and after the Vietnam War (Second Indochina War). The organization can trace its roots from the Second World War just as the Khmer Issarak in Cambodia and the Viet Minh & Vietnam People's Army in Vietnam did in the war as well. Shortly after the Paris Peace Accords ended US involvement in the Vietnam War, the Pathet Lao and the government of Laos signed a cease-fire agreement, the Vientiane Treaty, in February 1973.[7]. This transition, as well as Vietnamese and Viet Cong meddling, led to a civil war and the rise of the Pathet Lao communist government, which declared the country to be a single party state. Its stated goal was to wage the communist struggle against capitalism and Western colonialism and imperialism. The Viet Minh/North Vietnamese, in spite of the agreement, never really withdrew from the border areas of Laos and the Pathet Lao continued to operate almost as a branch organization of the Viet Minh. Gunn'ssecond book takes a broader perspective on the French presence in Laos and tries to relate colonial actions to several episodes of ethnic rebellion. With the fall of the South Vietnamese government in April 1975 in their minds, the non-communist elements of the national government decided that allowing the Pathet Lao to enter power would be better than to have them take it by force. Kaysone is credited with building the Pathet Lao movement into a force that resisted years of U.S. carpet bombing and eventually toppled the 600-year-old royal dynasty in 1975. The Pathet Lao (Lao language: ປະເທດລາວ; English: Lao Nation)[1] was a communist nationalist group in Laos that was founded in 1950 and took control of the country in 1975. A total of 13 clashes were recorded during that period. One gets a hint of how difficult and frought those years were for so many. In November 1975, the Pathet Lao took over Laos, abolishing the monarchy and establishing the Lao People's Democratic Republic. During the months that followed the escape of the Pathet Lao battalions in May 1959, there were continuous government crises in Vientiane, each one producing a shift to the Right. In 1961, small groups of Pathet Lao insurgents infiltrated north Thailand. The agreements provided for the regrouping of Pathet Lao guerrillas in the provinces of Houaphan and Phôngsali and their integration into the Royal Lao Army. The Rise of Nosavan. Pathet Lao, left-oriented nationalist group in Laos that took control of the country in 1975. Rise of the Pathet Lao The decisions of the three princes to go their separate ways divided the Lao Issara. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership. However, conflict between the loyalist and Pathet Lao was inevitable, and by 1962, the country underwent a civil war.

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