This study examines how Cambodia’s history was rewritten during the period of the Khmer Republic (1970－75), after a coup d’état led to a transition from a monarchical to a republican form of government, and the war against Norodom Sihanouk and the Khmer communists (Khmer Rouge) supported by North Vietnam intensified. A diffusion of historical discourses by the government was essential to uphold the fighting spirit and claim legitimacy for the new government.

During the first half of the Republican Period, new historical discourses and interpretations appeared in various media. War brought them to the forefront of attention: these works helped the Khmer nation to resist extinction. In government narratives, the Vietnamese were cast as the historical enemy of the Khmer. The government supported studies of the origin of the Khmer. In several media, including books on national history, intensified narratives of previous Vietnamese invasions aroused fears of Vietnamese conquest. The coup d’état against Sihanouk promoted a reconsideration of the role of the Khmer kings. Several history books focused on non-royal heroes, and the government honored the Buddhist monk Achary Haem Cheav, who resisted French colonialism. The government propagated a historical discourse, calling the idea of a king dictatorial and feudal. This discourse was echoed in the media, which also criticized the current government in the same terms, using the Sdech Kang narrative.

Official history textbooks and Troeng Ngea’s “Khmer History” which eventually became part of the canon of Khmer history, reflected official historical discourse, but not exactly. These works also demonstrated a sense of crisis in the possible extinction of the Khmer nation, however they did not introduce new heroes from history. The most typical change through these national histories concerned the role of monarchy in Khmer history in respect of independency. The Kings in the Angkor period were not considered as feudal and dictatorial, but in respect of interferences by neighboring countries the Kings in post-Angkor period were considered as feudal and dictatorial.