French protectorate Cambodia

In the middle of the XIX century, the Khmer state had dual suzerainty - it was in vassal dependence on both Siam and Vietnam. King Ang Duong decided to get rid of this, relying on France, and therefore, immediately after ascending the throne in 1847, he tried in 1848 to purchase French weapons and invite French military instructors. However, France, proposing to conclude a trade agreement, evaded military obligations. In 1859, taking advantage of the capture of Saigon by the French , Ang Duong tried to annex Kokhinhin to Cambodia, but his death in October 1860 thwarted these plans.

On March 24, 1861, the new king Norodom I sent a large embassy to Saigon with an expression of friendly feelings to the French who had captured South Vietnam. In response, the French gunboat “to protect Christians” was sent to Mekong (there were then 500 people all over Cambodia), and in September 1862, Admiral visited Cambodia, who began to prepare an expedition to explore the Mekong and Tonle Sap Lake .

In 1862, Bonara, as governor of Cochin, was succeeded by , who was a proponent of the direct capture of Cambodia. In 1863, he ordered Officer Dudar de Lagre to represent France ’s political, commercial, and military interests in Cambodia with a view to establishing a French protectorate there.

On August 3, 1863, La Grandeur arrived in Udong , and on August 11, a secret Franco-Cambodian protectorate treaty was signed. The conclusion of this treaty caused great excitement in the public circles of Paris, and the French Foreign Minister even declared the impossibility of complicating relations with Great Britain over Cambodia due to the international situation. The British government twice presented to the French government about the treaty; In response, the French Foreign Ministry said that "it does not attach importance to the agreement, which is the work of the Ministry of the Navy."

The Siamese advisers at the court of Norodom did not fail to draw his attention to the evasive position of France in relation to Cambodia; at the same time, attempts were made to force the coronation of Norodom as the ruler of "independent" Cambodia (which was to be held in Bangkok ). In this situation, Dudar de Lagre, based on a pro-French group at the Cambodian court, organized a coup d'etat: on March 3, 1864, with a detachment of armed French sailors, he occupied the royal residence in Udong, and a French flag was hoisted in front of the palace; soon 5 gunboats and 100 marines who came to the aid of Udong and Phnom Penh came to his aid.

In early 1864, the French government ratified the protectorate treaty with Cambodia, and in Udong Norod signed a document abrogating Siam's legal rights to Cambodia. On June 3, 1864, the coronation of Norodom took place in Udong.

At that time, the situation in Cambodia was turbulent: there were popular uprisings throughout the country. In 1861, clergyman Atyar Sua from Udong joined one of these uprisings. After the defeat of the uprising, he fled to Siam, and on his return in 1863 he acted as a contender for the throne, posing as Ang Phima (the nephew of the former king of Cambodia, Ang Tian II ). Supported by the Vietnamese, the rebels captured the port of Kampot and marched to Phnom Penh, but were repelled. In 1865, Atyar Sua again launched an offensive from the south of Cambodia, on August 19, 1866 he was wounded in battle and was extradited by the Vietnamese governor of the Tyoudok province to the French, who sent him to the Antilles.

Another impostor - According to Kambau - pretended to be the grandson of King Ang Tian II. In May 1865, According to Cambau, he turned to La Grande with a request to recognize his rights to the Cambodian throne. For negotiations, he arrived in Saigon, where he fell under the strict supervision of the French, but in May 1866 he managed to escape to the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, where he gained two thousand troops and inflicted a number of defeats on the French territory in Cambodia, after which his army increased to 10 thousand person. Only the intervention of the French troops did not allow him to capture Udong on December 17, 1866.

In mid-1866, King Norodom moved the capital to Phnom Penh, and on January 7, 1867, troops across Kambau were defeated.

In 1867, France began negotiations with Siam on the division of Cambodia. This time they were supported by the French Foreign Ministry, which considered it necessary to achieve a formal refusal of Siam from claims to Cambodia. The Siamese side sought the consent of France to annex the Cambodian provinces of Battambang and Angkor, and the recognition of rights to the entire territory of Laos, however, these claims were not accepted by the French side. Under the terms of the contract of December 1, 1867, Siam recognized the protectorate of France over Cambodia. In France, this treaty, which yielded Siam to the western Cambodian provinces, provoked outrage: a demand was put forward to return these provinces in order to improve the conditions of French trade.

Since the 1870s, the French colonial administration began to gradually restrict the king’s power, and the Khmer aristocracy fought to preserve the monarchy in Cambodia as a political institution. Given this, the French administration acted cautiously, through a series of decrees authorizing the redemption of the privileges from the ruling family and the aristocracy.

On January 15, 1877, the king was forced to sign a decree restricting his power; members of the ruling family were deprived of administrative functions, although they retained their titles and were assigned maintenance. At the same time, all traditional state monopolies were canceled, except for the monopoly on the sale of opium and rice vodka. From now on, new taxes were introduced in the country only with the approval of the council under the ruler. A decree was issued to abolish life-long slavery, met with disapproval by the palace aristocracy and dignitaries.

Under the threat of the use of force on June 17, 1884, Cambodia was forced to sign a special convention with France, according to the first article of which the ruler approved in advance all the reforms that the French government considered necessary to carry out in Cambodia. The heads of the provinces were placed under the control of French residents, and the number of provinces was reduced. The provinces were divided into districts, the staff of officials in which was also approved by the French resident. Under the king, instead of the diplomatic representative of France, the post of high resident in Cambodia was established, reporting to the governor of Kokhinkhiny; the resident got free access to the ruler of Cambodia.

Khmer monarchist circles, who managed to mobilize the broad masses of the population, opposed these innovations. This “Movement in Defense of the Ruler” went along with the next uprising of Si Wath (the youngest of the sons of King Ang Duong, who claimed the throne of Cambodia), which began in the province of Kampong. The French authorities had to postpone their innovations, and the ministers of Norodom entered into negotiations with the leaders of the rebels and persuaded them to side with the ruler. Si Vath took refuge in sparsely populated areas of the country, where he formally restored the independent Khmer monarchy; the French could not liquidate this “state” until Si Wath died in 1891.

In 1886, a wide anti-French uprising unfolded in the southern and southeastern provinces of the country. The rebels managed to create liberated zones where they themselves levied taxes and mobilized the population. As a result, the French administration in Cambodia was forced to sign an agreement in June 1886, returning their administrative functions to the ruler and Khmer dignitaries.

By a decree of October 17, 1887, all French possessions in Indochina were merged into a single Indochinese Union, which was completely under the authority of the Ministry of Colonies. The administrative reorganization of Cambodia into a protectorate within this Union was completed by decrees of 1889-1898. The ruler remained in power in Cambodia, he passed laws that became effective after being approved by the French high resident. The ruler, as if in the service of the French authorities, received a salary from the income of the protectorate, which consisted of taxes, customs duties and state monopolies. The governor was governed by a five-person council of ministers, the chairman of which was a French resident in accordance with a decree of 1897; under the latter, a council was formed from senior officials of the protectorate. The administrative apparatus of Cambodia was subordinate to the French resident, who was subordinate to the Governor of the Indochina Union.

With the help of the agreements that the French administration of Cambodia concluded with the ruler Norodom, and then Sisovat, the ownership of land gradually changed. The French authorities aimed to maximize rice production, and if in 1904 300 thousand hectares were occupied under rice, then by the beginning of World War I - 500 thousand hectares.

By order of the ruler of Sisovat, elementary schools were opened at Buddhist monasteries, where they taught in their native language, and also studied French; the curriculum in these schools was supervised by the French administration. In addition to the monastic schools, secular elementary schools were opened, teaching in which was conducted in French. In Cambodia, Sisovata College was opened with a five-year term of study; a school for the training of skilled workers was established in Phnom Penh.

The French administration has invested heavily in creating modern infrastructure. If in 1910 in Cambodia there were only 406 km of paved roads, then by 1920 their length totaled 1,518 km. The highways connecting Phnom Penh with Saigon, Battambang and the port of Kampot were built. In 1929, a large bridge was erected over the Bassak River, and in 1932 the first train passed along the Phnom Penh-Battambang railway.

The construction of new roads made it possible to introduce thousands of hectares of new land into the economy and create a developed system of plantation economy in the country. Along with rice, the second most important export product appeared in the country - rubber, which began to be collected on hevea plantations planted on Khmer red soil. The economic effect of the introduction of this culture was enhanced by the fact that under the hevea came the lands of Kampongcham province, which were practically not used for rice or other traditional cultures. Growing Hevea and rubber production has become so profitable that French companies invested in rubber production on the eve of World War II, about 60% of all investments in Cambodia. An increase in the number of cultivated areas led to a large expansion of rice export: from the mid-1920s, 150 to 200 thousand tons of rice were annually exported from the country, and in 1937 its export amounted to 400 thousand tons.

Economic growth in the agricultural sector and a sharp improvement in medical care have become the basis of the demographic boom. If before the establishment of the French protectorate, the population was declining, then with the advent of the French, this process went in the opposite direction. The economic successes, stability and relative effectiveness of administrative power allowed Cambodia throughout the period 1914-1945 to avoid serious social conflicts and bloody uprisings; Opposition to the protectorate regime was weak and few.

After the outbreak of World War II, the economic mechanism that allowed Cambodia to develop steadily turned out to be broken. Rice no longer found effective demand, and it also had to be sent in large quantities for practically nothing to Japan. The main irrigation canals became unusable, a significant part of the previously developed arable land was abandoned; the life of all sectors of society has noticeably worsened. In such circumstances, only the tough administrative authority of the French resident kept the country from unrest and social protests.

Finding themselves on the verge of total defeat in World War II, the Japanese decided, as a last chance, to rely on local nationalists in the occupied territories. The French administration was swept away , and on March 12, 1945, the young king Norodom Sihanouk , dictated by the Japanese in two decrees, announced the termination of all previously signed agreements with France. On August 14, 1945, Son Ngok Than , who arrived from Tokyo, declared Cambodian independence and his readiness to defend the country's independence until the end. However, the Japanese soon surrendered. On October 9, 1945, French paratroopers entered Phnom Penh without a fight and, on the orders of General Leclerc, arrested Son Ngoc Thani and all members of his government.

Some supporters of independence fled to northwestern Cambodia where, with the support of Thais, they created the Khmer Issarak anti-French nationalist independence movement. Having developed a guerrilla war, by 1954 the Khmer Issarak took control of up to half of the country's territory.

Meanwhile, on October 27, 1946, according to the new Constitution of France, the French colonial empire was transformed into the French Union , in which the Indochina Union was transformed into the Indochina Federation from three associated states: the State of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos . On May 6, 1947, the Constitution of Cambodia was proclaimed. In December 1947, elections to the National Assembly were held. Cambodia gained "fifty percent independence."

In September 1951, Norodom Sihanouk asked the French to release Song Ngok Thanh. He returned to Phnom Penh in October 1951, but soon demanded the withdrawal of all French troops from Cambodia, and then fled and joined the Khmer Issarak.

In June 1952, Norodom Sihanouk dissolved his cabinet, suspended the Constitution and headed the government himself. In January 1953, he dissolved the National Assembly and declared martial law in the country. In March, he went on a three-month trip abroad, during which he announced that he would not return to the capital until France granted Cambodia independence. Upon his return to Cambodia, he retired to Siem Reap , where Lon Nol became his military ally.

Having suffered military defeats , the French government decided to satisfy the demands of Norodom Sihanouk. On July 3, 1953, it was declared its readiness to grant full independence to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In August, internal affairs bodies came under Cambodian control, and in October the armed forces. On November 9, 1953, Norodom Sihanouk triumphantly returned to Phnom Penh. Fiscal affairs were finally transferred to an independent state in 1954.

• "History of the East" (in 6 volumes). T.IV "The East in modern times (end of the XVIII - beginning of XX century)", Prince. 1 - M .: Publishing house "Oriental literature" RAS, 2004. - ISBN 5-02-018102-1
• "History of the East" (in 6 volumes). T.IV “The East in modern times (late XVIII – early XX centuries)”, book 2 - Moscow: publishing house “Eastern Literature” RAS, 2005. ISBN 5-02-018387-3
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