Sisowath Monivong

Sisowath Monivong (Khmer: ព្រះបាទ ស៊ីសុវតិ្ថ មុនីវង្ស) (1875–1941) was the king of Cambodia from 1927 until his death in 1941.

Sisowath Monivong was the second son of King Sisowath. He was born in Phnom Penh in 1875. During this time, his uncle, King Norodom was ruling from Odong, the capital at that time, as a puppet king for the French colonial protectorate. In 1884, after the French conquered Laos and occupied Vietnam, Cambodia became a direct colonial possession. Siam was defeated in a war, but not occupied. The royal family moved from Odong to the new capital of Phnom Penh, where Sisowath Monivong was residing.

In 1904, his uncle died and his father, the crown prince, became king and Sisowath Monivong became the crown prince of Cambodia. In 1927, his father died, and the Sisowath Monivong, aged about 52, ascended to the throne. Like his father and his uncle, Monivong was a figurehead for the French administration, and the real power was in the hands of the French Resident General.

It was during Monivong's rule that Cambodia became open to outside communist influences. In 1930, the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh founded the Indochina Communist Party which subsequently obtained popularity in Cambodia. The Cambodian communists were intent on their primary objective of overthrowing the French.

In 1940, when France fell to the Nazi German armies, the occupied French administration, the Vichy, took power not only in France (under German rule), but also in France's overseas colonies, including Cambodia. In late 1940, a powerless Monivong noticed that Japan was making inroads in Vietnam. Japan invaded and occupied Cambodia in early 1941. The Japanese allowed Cambodian French Vichy officials to administer, but under Japanese protection. The Cambodian king was beholden to the Vichy French, who were in turn beholden to the Japanese. In western Cambodia, Thailand, now an ally of the Japanese, occupied some lands. As the Japanese and Thai oppression of Cambodians became evident, Sisowath Monivong retired to Kampot in late 1941, and died there the same year.

Although his son, Sisowath Monireth was the heir apparent to the throne, the French authorities chose his daughter Sisowath Kosamak's nineteen-year-old son, Norodom Sihanouk, to succeed him, believing that he would be more pliable than Monireth.