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Step 31 of 62

Spillover and aftermath

  • The Pathet Lao, communist forces in Laos, took power in 1975
  • The Khmer Rouge, communist forces in Cambodia under Pol Pot, took power in 1975 and conducted a horrific genocide killing 1.5 to 2 million people (see Unit 10.10)
  • Approximately 800,000 "boat people" fled Vietnam in the late 1970s; many died at sea
  • The domino theory was partially vindicated (Laos and Cambodia fell to communism) and partially refuted (Thailand, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian states did not)
  • The U.S. defeat in Vietnam shaped American foreign policy for decades, producing the "Vietnam Syndrome" of caution about military interventions
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