Pathet Lao
Proper noun
Meaning
Pathet Lao
A communist nationalist movement and political party in Laos, which took power in 1975 after a civil war.
Examples
Additionally, the Khao San Pathet Lao, the country's official news agency, publishes English and French versions of its eponymous paper.
After the fall of South Vietnam to communist forces in April 1975, the Pathet Lao with the backing of North Vietnam were able to take total power with little resistance.
After the Pathet Lao took over the country in 1975, the conflict continued in isolated pockets.
Both in Cambodia and in Laos, the heavily armed and battle-hardened People's Army of Vietnam were a valuable ally to the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Rouge forces, providing economic and military aid, also with new weapons, technologies and intelligence.
A second Provisional Government of National Unity formed by Prince Souvanna Phouma in 1962 proved to be unsuccessful, and the situation steadily deteriorated into large scale civil war between the Royal Laotian government and the Pathet Lao.
Clan leaders took opposite sides and as a consequence, several thousand Hmong participated in the fighting against the Pathet Lao Communists, while perhaps as many were enrolled in the People's Liberation Army.