On July 23, 1962, the major powers, United States, Soviet Union, China, United Kingdom, and France, signed the “International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos” in Geneva. Apart from Laos itself, the other of the 14 signatory countries were North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Canada, India, and Poland. The agreement was a product of the “International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question” (May 1961-July 1962) to seek a resolution to the ongoing Laotian Civil War. The signatories agreed to respect Laotian neutrality, desist from interfering in Laos’ internal affairs, and refrain from drawing Laos into a military alliance or to establish military bases there.
The agreement was a failure as Laos became a battleground during the civil war and Vietnam War. The United States conducted a “secret war” and heavily bombed the Laotian countryside, while North Vietnam established a supply route called the Ho Chi Minh Trail to support the Pathet Lao and more important, the Viet Cong rebels in South Vietnam.
A former French colony, Laos had declared independence after World War II. But the returning French reoccupied the territory, as well as Vietnam and Cambodia. An insurgency broke out by the nationalist/communist North Vietnamese-backed, Pathet Lao. After the defeat of the French in the First Indochina War (1946-1954) and their withdrawal from the region, Laos regained its independence. In 1960, civil war broke out between the Royal Lao Army, backed by the United States, and the Pathet Lao rebels, supported by communist North Vietnam.
(Taken from Laotian Civil War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)
Background of the Laotian Civil War In March 1889, France established a protectorate over the Kingdom of Luang Prabang. Then in October 1893, the French extended the boundaries of Luang Prabang after gaining more territory on the western side of the Mekong River. Also in 1893, following the Franco-Siamese War, France formally established Luang Prabang’s borders by annexing the regions of Vientiane, Xiangkhoang, and Luang Namtha. With the further addition of Phongsali and Houaphan, the French protectorate of Luang Prabang essentially delineated the borders of what is the present day country of Laos. The French protectorate of Laos formed part of French Indochina, which included Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina (these three regions forming modern-day Vietnam), and Cambodia.
In the early 1940s, France encouraged nationalism among the different Lao tribes to counteract Thailand’s irredentist territorial ambitions on Laos. This had the unintended consequence of generating anti-French, anti-colonial sentiment among Laotians, which led to the founding of the short-lived separatist organization, Lao Pen Lao (Lao for Laos).
In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and in December 1941, in the Asia Pacific. In June 1940, France fell to Germany, and the new French Vichy government became allied with the Axis Powers, including Japan. In August 1940, Japan and Vichy France signed the Matsuoka-Henry Pact, which granted Japanese forces access to French Indochina for Japan’s invasion of other parts of Southeast Asia. The treaty also allowed French colonial authorities to continue governing Indochina.
But by 1944, World War II had turned decisively in favor of the Allied Powers. In September of that year, France was recaptured by the Allies, and a pro-Allied provisional government came to power. By early 1945, French commando infiltrations into Indochina and the subsequent formation of French-Lao guerilla resistance groups forced the Japanese to dismantle French colonial authority in Indochina. As a result, the Japanese ruled Indochina directly. The Japanese then exerted pressure on King Sisavang Vong, the pro-French Lao monarch, who in April 1945, ended the French protectorate and declared Lao an independent state. But just four months later, on August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.
In the immediate post-war period, Indochina was racked by anarchy and unrest. In Laos, rival political elements competed in a power struggle to fill the void left by the sudden Japanese capitulation. In Luang Prabang (the royal capital of Laos), Prince Phetsarath, the Prime Minister, tried to convince King Sisavang Vong to implement policies relevant to an independent Laos. King Sisavang Vong refused, as he was determined to permit the restoration of French rule. After being stripped of his positions of Prime Minister and viceroy, on August 27, 1945, Phetsarath took control of Vientiane (Laos’ administrative capital). There, on September 15, 1945, Phetsarath declared a unified Laos comprising Luang Prabang and the four southern provinces of Khammouan, Savannakhet, Champasak, and Saravane (Figure 14).
On October 7, 1945, a Lao partisan force led by Prince Souphanouvong arrived at Savannakhet, where other nationalists had taken control of the town’s administration. Their combined forces, with Souphanouvong as over-all commander, proceeded north to join Phetsarath in Vientiane. There, in October 1945, the Lao nationalists, now led by the three princes, the brothers Phetsarath and Souvanna Phouma, and their half-brother Souphanouvong, declared Laos’ independence under a revolutionary government called Lao Issara (“Free Laos”). (Souvanna Phouma and Souphanouvong would later play major roles in the coming Laotian Civil War.) On October 10, 1945, the Lao Issara sent a force to Luang Prabang, where it forced King Sisavang Vong into submission.
However, the Lao Issara failed to consolidate power. In the immediate post-World War II period, major political decisions were dictated by the victorious Allied Powers, which accepted France’s desire to restore colonial rule in Indochina. But in the meantime that France was yet assembling a force for that purpose, the Allies also allowed the Chinese Nationalist forces to enter Laos to formally accept the Japanese surrender there.
As a result, Laos became partitioned into areas of control by different forces. The Lao Issara controlled the capital and the towns of Thakhek and Savannakhet. Chinese forces held the northern regions (Luang Prabang, Phongsali and Luang Namtha). The French-Lao forces controlled the south (Xiangkhoang, Khammouan, and Savannahkhet provinces, together with Pakxe and Saravane, where the pro-French political warlord Prince Boun Oum operated). And the Viet Minh (a Vietnamese anti-French revolutionary movement) occupied Houaphan along the northeast border with Vietnam.
The Lao Issara, apart from its lack of foreign support, faced many other major problems: a dearth of money to run a government, a shortage of weapons, and political infighting. These problems undermined the Laos Issara’s capacity to survive. By October 1945, the French had reestablished its military presence in southern Indochina (Cochinchina and Cambodia). From Saigon, French troops advanced north toward Laos. In January 1946, French-Lao forces seized full control of Laos’ southern regions and soon entered Savannakhet, meeting only light resistance. In March 1946, following lengthy French-Nationalist Chinese negotiations, China withdrew its forces from Laos (and Vietnam).
On March 21, 1946, at the decisive Battle of Thakhek, French-Lao forces attacked and defeated the Lao Issara. A few days later, the Lao Issara government abandoned the capital, Vientiane, which was taken over by the French. Arriving at Luang Prabang on March 23, 1946, the Lao Issara made appeasement with Sisavang Vong, restoring him to the throne. King Sisavang Vong only reluctantly accepted reconciliation, and on April 23, 1946, he announced a new constitution and declared Laos’ unity. French forces continued their advance north, and entered Luang Prabang in May 1946. The French ended the remaining Lao Issara resistance, and presently regained control of all Laotian territory.
France reinstated King Sisivang Vong as monarch over Laos, and then reversed its plan to restore direct colonial rule. Instead, the French government prepared to hand over self-government to the Lao people. In December 1946, elections were held to the Lao National Assembly (the state legislature), which then convened to prepare a new constitution. In May 1947, the completed constitution, ratified by the king, declared Laos an autonomous state within the French Union. In July 1949, in the Franco-Lao General Convention, France granted the Lao government greater prerogatives in Laos’ foreign affairs. In February 1950, with France again confirming Laos’ self-determination status, the United States and Britain recognized Laos as a sovereign state. In December 1955, Laos joined the United Nations.
However, despite Laos’ apparent independence, France retained a virtual stranglehold over the country, controlling Laos’ finance, defense, and major foreign policy functions. French forces also were stationed in the country, which by the late 1940s, had become extremely vital to French regional interests, because of the ongoing conflict in Vietnam (First Indochina War, separate article).
Meanwhile, the Lao Issara, following its defeat, fled to Thailand, where it set up a government-in-exile and a guerilla force. Lao Issara fighters then began launching cross-border attacks into Laos. But in November 1947, a military coup in Thailand brought to power a regime that restored relations with France, recognized Laos, and dismantled Lao Issara bases in Thailand. The Lao Issara then experienced infighting within its leadership, particularly between Phetsarath and Souphanouvong, on whether to seek assistance from the communist Viet Minh to continue the revolutionary struggle. Souphanouvong, a Marxist ideologue, subsequently was expelled from the Lao Issara. He then moved to Vietnam, where he previously had lived many years, and came into contact with Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader.
In October 1949, the remaining Lao revolutionaries disbanded the Lao Issara and dissolved their government-in-exile. Souvanna Phouma accepted a Lao government amnesty and returned to Laos, where he would play a major political role in the next 25 years. After the 1951 National Assembly elections, he became Prime Minister, holding this position until 1954. In subsequent years, he would return as Prime Minister in 1956-1958, 1960, and 1962-1975.
Phetsarath remained in Thailand, and ceased to play an important role in Laotian politics. In Vietnam, Souphanouvong met with other Lao anti-French radicals. These included communists, but also non-communists, such as former Lao officials and royals, and ethnic minorities, who saw the Lao royal government as no more than a French puppet. In August 1950, these anti-colonialists formed the Neo Lao Issara (Free Laos Front), purportedly a united front of Lao opposition groups comprising different political persuasions. A revolutionary government also was formed, called the “Resistance Government of the Lao Homeland”, led by Souphanouvong as its president. The Western press soon began using its shortened name, “Pathet Lao” (Lao Homeland), to refer to this organization.
During its revolutionary struggle, the Pathet Lao would put great efforts to portray itself as an ideologically and politically pluralistic organization. In large part, it relied on the prestige of Prince Souphanouvong. In fact, however, the Pathet Lao was controlled behind the scenes by hard-line communists led by Kaysone Phomvihane and Nouhak Phoumsavan. To gain the widest popular support, the Pathet Lao kept hidden its Marxist background. It also did not overtly call for the end of the Lao monarchy, and did not reveal its desire to implement agrarian reform and collectivized farming. Land reform ran contrary to Laos’ socio-economic structure, as most farmers owned their own lands, and landless peasantry was almost non-existent in Laos.
The communist movement in Laos traces its origin to the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), formed in 1930. The ICP consisted nearly exclusively of ethnic Vietnamese, and had as its main goals the overthrow of French rule in Indochina and the establishment of socialist governments in an independent Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In February 1951, the ICP reorganized into three separate but allied communist parties, one each for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The Lao communist group, in March 1955, secretly formed the Lao People’s Party (LPP), which later in February 1972, was renamed the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), both of which were not known to the general public at that time.
As early as January 1949, with the military guidance and support provided by the Viet Minh, the fledging Lao communist movement organized an armed militia to launch the revolutionary struggle in Laos. By the early 1950s, with the formation of the Pathet Lao and also with Viet Minh leading the way in the escalating First Indochina War, the Lao guerillas were transformed into an auxiliary force behind the Viet Minh.