Cambodia - The Rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide (1976-1978)

The killing of so many Cambodian people fueled the Khmer Rouge to begin a power grab, where they staged a coup to take control of the government. They succeeded and

Their population today is around 7,000,000 people who are mostly Buddhists. At the center of the ancient kingdom of Khmer is its capital city, Angkor. In 1953, all of the power was handed to Prince Sihanouk but he was overthrown by his own Lieutenant-General Lon Nol in 1970. Lon Nol was made president of the new Khmer Republic and Prince Sihanouk and all of his followers joined forces with a communist guerrilla group known as the Khmer Rouge soon after the civil war started. The actions of the Khmer Rouge which was actually “genocide” began shortly after they got power from Lon Nol in 1975. The article on the Cambodian Genocide also says the genocide lasted until the Khmer Rouge got overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978. The genocide itself self-destructed from a harsh climate of political and social turmoil. The atmosphere of the general unrest in Cambodia arose during the French decolonization of Southeast Asia in the early 1950s and continued to devastate the region until the late 1980s. Under Prince Sihanouk, Cambodia had remained neutral during the war by giving support to both sides. The Viet Cang was allowed to use the ports and the U.S. was allowed to bomb Viet Cong hideouts in Cambodia. The allowed U.S. troops to roam freely in and out of Cambodia while battling with the Viet Cang. For the Next four years American led B-52 bomb attacks to destroy suspected North Vietnamese forces. Around 156,000 Cambodians died

In 1975, The Khmer Rouge became the ruling political party of Cambodia after overthrowing the Lon Nol government. Following their leader Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of social engineering on Cambodian society. They wanted to form an anti-modern, anti-Western ideal of a restructured “classless agrarian society'', a radical form of agrarian communism where the whole population had to work in collective farms or forced labor projects. The Khmer Rouge revolutionary army enforced this mostly with extreme violence. The book “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers”, written by Luong Ung, is the author’s story of growing up during this time period. She was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came

In the 1960’s a group named the Khmer Rouge surfaced, but was with few members. They were led by Pol Pot, a man who would soon bring terror to all Cambodians. Their goal was to bring Cambodia into a primal state, where everyone

Cambodia experienced mass death, approximately 1.7 million lives, during the Cambodian genocide of 1975 through 1979. The Khmer Rouge regime dominated the Cambodian government and attempted to purge the population of intellectuals, professionals and supporters of the original government. In an attempt to better the country’s economic standing at a horrendously rapid rate, the country instead experienced mass destruction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the various ways devastation was brought upon Cambodia and how it affected the populace. In the 1950’s the country was engulfed by the civil war north and south Vietnam was waging after gaining independence from France. The battlefield of the war overflowed into Cambodia and caused physical

The communist group known as “Khmer Rouge” was lead by Pol Pot during the Cambodian genocide. The Genocide began in 1975 to 1979. Due to the leader shutting down schools, universities, hospitals, private institutions and factories, people died of overworking. People also died of starvation and illnesses. About 2 million people died in Cambodia when Pol Pot took power in the country. The Khmer Rouge forces targeted religious groups and other ethnic groups and also banned the groups. In reality almost everyone was a target to them. The families were separated. The children and adults were sent to different camps. Anyone who attempted to disobey or refuse to do something was automatically shot and killed. The people in Cambodia did not live in

In 1975 in Cambodia, Asia a warlord named Pol Pot with his party named Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia. You may asked what their plans were there plan was to change the country into a communist agrarian utopia. If you are asking what is Agrarian utopia this means perfect society. So to complete this goal he evaluate millions of people in the city of Cambodia. Then the Khmer Rouge took the citizen of Cambodia to labor camps where they were starved, tortured, and abused. Doctor, Teachers, Monks, Rich people, and other educated people where the people who were mostly tortured and killed. This genocide had a humongous death toll of 1.7 to 2 million Cambodians that died in the four years of the Khmer Rouge rain. With little to no help from

The Cambodian genocide was one of the worst atrocities in the twentieth century. Innocent civilians living in Cambodia were targeted by a communist group called the Khmer Rouge. Victims such as Cham Muslims, Buddhist Monks, Christians, and anyone who was considered a threat to the ultimate goal of the perpetrators were extensively tortured or brutally murdered. Year Zero was a society that the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, wanted Cambodia to adapt. In order to do carry out his plan, he made everyone become farmers and started the genocide by evacuating the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. On April 17th, 1975, the Khmer Rouge Army stormed into Phnom Penh and forced two million people to the countryside. They ruled Cambodia until 1979

The Khmer Rouge group was created in the 1940s, but it was during the Vietnam War that the KR gained more power and became more prominent. The Khmer Rouge is an off-shot from the North Vietnamese government and essentially was funded by their government. The Vietnamese helped to make the KR a real political party in the Cambodian political system. Without their help, they could not afford to provide a whole army guns, military vehicles, and other military resources. It was in 68’ when the group launched a full scale national uprising. They wanted to make a unrealistic “fair” society where there was no

From the time humans began to exist in this world, hatred seemed to be a superior attribute that one comes accustomed to. This inevitable emotion has the ability to provoke people to engage in acts without thinking; but it is the acts that are premeditated that should be be classified as evil and brutal. This appalling endeavor is known as genocide, the deliberate destruction of a particular national, racial or religious group. Between the years of 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge party leader, Pol Pot seized power of Cambodia and forced civilians of urban regions into rural lands for labor in order to build his own agrarian utopia. Over the course of these four years, the Cambodians and other minor ethnic groups suffered through labor camps, starvation, and torture which all led up to their demise. As a result of these mass killings, the country 's population depleted by over 20 percent in just a few years. The country went through hardship during and even before the genocide began including wars, torment, and considerable numbers of deaths.

The Cambodian Genocide refers to Khmer Rouge Party Leader, Pol Pot’s, attempt to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia, in accordance with the principles of Maoism, Stalinism, and the Chinese Communist agricultural model. All those who refused to conform, along with any traditional aspects of Cambodian society, were eliminated. The genocide rampaged from 1975 to 1979, claiming the lives of 25% of the country’s population through torture, mass relocation, executions, forced labour, malnutrition and disease.

On January 7, 1979, Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot was deposed. These events were later to be known as the Cambodian Genocide.

From 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge regime, had a goal to create a society that was completely self-sufficient. In four years the Khmer Rouge killed, tortured and starved to death somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million innocent Cambodian civilians, ultimately destroying any trace of humanity within Cambodia. Forty years later the people of Cambodia are still suffering and the country is still trying to put the pieces back together, both physically and emotionally.

The Problems of the Khmer Rouge In First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung remembers the horrors of Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. She survived, but half of her family was killed or died due to disease or malnourishment. The Khmer Rouge destroyed many lives in the pursuit of an equal agrarian society and, although equality is still a necessary topic in America, it is vital to understand how it could potentially be more harmful than helpful.

There are many genocides that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain power and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the country from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, wanted to create their own ideal communist society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? Some argue that Pol Pot was the only one responsible for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was