Prior to the rise of the communist Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, Cambodia was a highly agricultural society that endured ninety years of French colonial rule. In 1973, the United States (U.S.) commissioned the Arclight Missions. This operation was a series of bombings targeting the Cambodia-Vietnam border to fight the threat of communism from Vietnam. However, the bombings instead instilled chaos and fear in the civilians of Southeast Asia including Cambodia. These bombings convinced many Cambodians that establishing the Khmer Rouge and a new political system would solve all of their problems. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge as a communist group who sought to remove all Western influence in Cambodia and create an equal, agricultural society.