Cham invasion sacks Angkor

1177

A Cham war fleet sailed boldly up the Tonle Sap lake and launched a devastating surprise attack on the Khmer capital, sacking the temples and palaces of Angkor and killing the reigning king. The catastrophe, unthinkable to a civilization that had dominated mainland Southeast Asia for three centuries, would ultimately galvanize the future king Jayavarman VII to rebuild the empire on an even grander and more ambitious scale.