ShmoopTube

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conflict is like a virus and by which we mean you know it's it's catchy [green faced military man]

00:07

okay all right well during the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union started [world map with US and Russian flags punching each other]

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fights all over the world and that fighting sometimes spread to peripheral

00:16

countries along with a runny nose persistent cough and a slight fever

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Southeast Asia provides us with the best example of this phenomenon Network that

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is the fighting part not the runny nose part the Ho Chi Minh Trail was a system [close up of Southeast Asia]

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of supports used by the North Vietnamese to supply the Vietcong in South Vietnam

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but the trail also passed through Cambodia and Laos to neighboring

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countries to the west which is why although both Cambodia and Laos were

00:45

neutral they got pulled into the Vietnam War by the United States if you're ever [Uncle Sam takes neutral flags away]

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wondering how to win a foreign country over to your side here's a hint don't

00:54

bomb the heck out of it sadly common sense was in short supply in the US

00:59

military and policy circles during Vietnam in the wake of the war Laos

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became a communist state it failed as so many communist states did today Laos has

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a mixed economy mixed with inequality that is and does its utmost to be [pictures of Laos today]

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friends with everyone so it can maximize foreign investment seriously check it [Laos flag taking selfies with China]

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social media presents so many Facebook friends

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well Cambodia failed much much harder than Laos mostly because it didn't play

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well with others after Vietnam including its own people

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Pol Pot was a radical Maoist who led the Khmer Rouge and believed that

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agricultural collectives were the answer to life's greatest question and if you

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haven't seen the killing fields well it's a movie you should see not on a [stacks of skulls]

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date night though Pol Pot's experiment predictably went awry and he ended up

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dabbling in genocide yeah and when we say dabble we mean he killed millions of

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people because of their class political beliefs ethnicity or religion what a [picture of Pol Pot and an AK]

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swell guy those killing fields eventually the

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Vietnamese kicked Pol Pot out of power they knew trouble when they saw it Pol

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Pot however then waged a guerrilla war against the Vietnamese troops occupying [gorillas run across screen]

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Cambodia to which we reiterate what a swell guy

02:17

we're sure the pot family is very proud of you

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