1965 - North Vietnamese guerrillas to set up bases in Cambodia to pursue their campaign against the US-backed government in South Vietnam.
1970 - Sihanouk is deposed.
1975 - The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, occupy Phnom Penh.
1975 - Cambodia is re-named Kampuchea.
1976 - The country is re-named Democratic Kampuchea.
1977 - Fighting breaks out with Vietnam
1978 - Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia
1979 January - The Vietnamese take Phnom Penh
1979 - Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge forces flee to the borders with Thailand
1979 - The People's Republic of Kampuchea is established
1989 - Vietnamese troops withdraw
1989 - The country is re-named the State of Cambodia
1997 - The Khmer Rouge put Pol Pot on trial and sentence him to life imprisonment
1998 Pol Pot dies.