Cambodia
Final R.P. du Kampuchea Issue
Final People's Republic of Kampuchea Issue
Cambodia used the stamps of Indo-China until 1951 when the Kingdom of Cambodia under Prince Norodom Sihanouk began issuing its own stamps. American bombing brought the Vietnam war to Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. A coup in 1970 installed a right-wing pro-American government which declared a Khmer Republic. Prince Sihanouk gave his support to his former enemies, the Khmer Rouge who seized Phnom Penh in 1975 and carryied out a genocidal campaign of revolutionary cleansing from 1975 until 1979, when, with the support of Vietnam and the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of Kampuchea was established. A civil war continued until 1991 after which Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission. In 1993 the United Nations withdrew after elections in which brought a democratically elected government to power. In 1997 factional fighting brought toppled the government. The following year a coalition government under Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party was elected.
The political upheavals are, to some extent, reflected on the nation's stamps. They were inscribed R.P. du Kampuchea from the "Soldiers" issue of April 10, 1980 until the "Angkor Wat" issue of May 15, 1989 issue (pictured above). Subsequent issues are inscribed "State of Cambodia" or simply "Cambodia" until the "Hummel Figurines" of 1993 when the phrase "Kingdom of Cambodia" reappeared.
Bibliography
"Cambodia." 
