After years spent trying to keep his "neutral" country from being swallowed up into the Vietnam conflict, Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in 1970 by Lon Nol. When the Khmer Rouge captured the capital in 1975, Sihanouk was briefly returned to power from exile in Beijing. In 1976, he resigned and was placed under house arrest. Though he became head of Kampuchea's CGDK coalition government in 1982, he resigned repeatedly over the years, moves seen as attempts to enhance his negotiating position with the government.