Meanwhile , confronted in early May 1945 with the Allied Powers ' victory over Nazi Germany and sensing their own imminent defeat , the Japanese military authorities in Laos began stirring up local anti-French nationalistic sentiments . In October of that year , a group of supporters of Laotian independence led by Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa deposed King Sisavang Vong and announced the formation of a new government body , the '' ' Committee for Independent Laos ' '' ( Lao Language : '' Khana Lao Issara '' ) or Lao Issara for short . Taking advantage of the temporary absence of French authority in the country 's main cities , the Lao Issara promptly established an armed defense force to exercise its authority with the support of Ho Chi Minh 's Viet Minh Hanoi-based government in the Tonkin and the Nationalist Chinese . The Lao Issara " Army " was essentially a lightly-armed militia force , provided with an mixed assortement of small-arms captured from the Japanese , looted from French colonial depots , or sold by the Chinese Nationalist Army troops who occupied northern Laos under the terms of the 1945 Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Royal Lao Army