Cause And Effects Of The Cambodian Genocide

The Cambodian Genocide was the result of imperialism, ethnic supremacy, ultra-nationalism, anti-colonialism, a power grab, and religion. It began with the Cambodian people struggling against French colonization and grew in inspiration from Vietnam (end genocide). The French believed that Cambodia was a gateway into China to expand their trade with Southeast Asia. The French occupied southern Vietnam and wanted to expand their territory. There were many civil wars and invasions in Cambodia fought between the Vietnamese and Thai, and it greatly affected Cambodia. While the French did help Cambodia become independent and grew their infrastructure, while exploiting Cambodian labor, they failed to educate Cambodian people and establish a solid and effective judiciary system (Cambodia tribunal). Thus began their feelings of anti-colonialism. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used Cambodia as a base to regroup, but also bombed the country to kill suspected Viet Cong targets. This began their feelings of imperialism and ultra-nationalism. The Khmer Rouge began feeling great animosity towards the West for their influenced corruption to Cambodian land and its people. Between January and August of 1973, 300,000 Cambodians were killed by American bombers that had joined forces with Lon Nol, head of the Khmer Republic.

The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975 to 1979 in the Southeastern Asian country of Cambodia. The genocide was a brutal massacre that killed 1.4 to 2.2 million people, about 21% of Cambodia’s population. This essay, will discuss the history of the Cambodian genocide, specifically, what happened, the victims and the perpetrators and the world’s response to the genocide.

Later that same year, Pot and the Khmer Rouge took control over Cambodia. Pot wasted no time in starting his mission to reconstruct Cambodia. He thought that all the educated people needed to be killed (Melicharova). Also he thought that all noncommunist aspects of Cambodia needed to be wiped out. All rights you had were now gone. Religion was banned and if you were any kind of leader among the Buddhist monks, you were killed instantly (Melicharova). All kids were taken away and sent to work in the fields (Melicharova). If anyone was currently working and had a job, they were immediately killed along with their family members. It got so bad that you could be killed for just laughing, crying, and knowing another language. The Khmer Rouge motto was “To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss” (Melicharova). If you were lucky enough to escape death, you were put into the fields working usually from 4am to 10pm unpaid (“Pol”). From lack of food and sleep, people often became very ill which sadly led to death.

In the late 70’s, nearly 2 million Cambodians died of overwork, starvation, torture, and execution in what became known as the Cambodian genocide. A group known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in April 1975. Over the course of

The Cambodian Genocide and the Armenian Genocide have similar methods of how the victims were killed. They similarly murdered their victims, starved their victims and targeted government officials. They were different in that the Armenians were deported but the Khmer Rouge targeted Cambodians based of their class and had re-education camps.

Between the years of 1975 and 1979, an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian genocide. First They Killed My Father is the story from the perspective of a five year old girl, Loung Ung, and how her life was changed by the Khmer Rouge. Her and her family were forced out of their home, and into labor camps where they were to work for food in order to survive. They relied on each other, and pushed through the Hell that they were unfortunately placed into. In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, the author demonstrates how the Khmer Rouge use the techniques of confiscation, dress regulations, and food rations in order to remain in control of the citizens.

The Khmer Rouge forces took over Cambodia, and evacuated the nation's cities. They emptied schools, hospitals, factories and abolished all forms of money and wages. Religion, popular culture, and all forms of self expression were forbidden. They were forced into the countryside to do forced labor, and got less than 90 grams of rice a day. Where most people died from fatigue, disease, execution, and starvation. Now people of Cambodia are exchanging this terrible genocide for healing. Trying to find peace and a resolution for all those who have lost loved ones, or encountered this terrible genocide

Parallel to the happenings of Night, victims of the Cambodian genocide also had to work for long hours, regardless of the weather and the condition they were in. “Sometimes, when I refused to work, they would torture me by wipping me and making me worked over time without rest of drink. I work like an animal during a hot sunny day which the temperature sometimes reached up to 120 degrees” (Shawn). Here, Shawn writes about the conditions he was forced to work under. He describes them as being cruelly hot and long. He also mentions that when he refused, he would be beaten. In both Night and the Cambodian genocide, victims were forced to work under harsh conditions and were beaten if they refused. To the leaders of the Cambodian genocide, it did

There is a thin line between living and surviving. In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, it is evident that one’s ability to live a comfortable life is often times thwarted by factors that force many to try and survive. Cambodian-born American human rights activist, Loung Ung, is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide that took place from 1975 to 1979. While under the influence of Cambodia’s new communist government, the Khmer Rouge, around 1.5 million men, women, and children died from exhaustion, starvation, and disease. As the daughter of an old democratic government official, Ung and her family were forced to abandon their old life in hopes for survival. A reoccurring theme within Ung’s memoir is that suffering,

The stories they hear discuss the Khmer Rouge in a negative way. These survivor stories include talk about harsh living and working conditions in which they were separated from their families, starved, tortured, and even killed. Other households avoid the subject all together. Some do not want to relive the old traumas so they keep silent. Others cannot make sense of it therefore do not want to be subject to the questions of youth that they cannot answer. [12]

“During the three years, eight months and twenty days that the Khmer Rouge held power it is estimated that around 2 million people perished…from torture and execution or from starvation or untreated illness”. One may look at this figure, and automatically assume that these brutalities committed by the Khmer Rouge, fit the definition of genocide. Through a critical appraisal of a variety of sources, one may discover two very contradictory arguments towards this statement. One perspective illustrates that because the Khmer Rouge targeted specific groups, such as the Cham Muslims, Vietnamese and Buddhist monks it can be considered, ‘clear cases of genocide’. However, there is a great degree of counter arguments revealing that the actions of the

The Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979) was a period of complete chaos and destruction. In The Killing Fields, Eyewitness Accounts The Cambodian Genocide, and The Endurance of the Cambodian Family Under the Khmer Rouge Regime: An Oral History, Cambodia became controlled by the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge entered Cambodia on April 17, 1975 in preparation for a nationwide “liberation campaign” (Mam, 119). The Khmer Rouge’s goals were to create a communist revolution that would place power in the hands of the peasants to benefit the state. They wanted to increase agricultural production and transform the Cambodian society (Mam, 119). Before the Khmer Rouge rose to power, Cambodian class, family, and religion played a huge role in Cambodian identity. The family tried to remain strong through resistance, making it difficult for the KR to implement their harsh plans. However, the Khmer Rouge did implement horrific policies that caused many Cambodians to endure suffering that lasted until the Vietnamese forces liberated Cambodia in 1979.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, which lasted until January 1979. For their three-year, eight-month, and twenty-one day rule of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge committed some of the most heinous crimes in current history. The main leader who orchestrated these crimes was a man named Pol Pot. In 1962, Pol Pot had become the coordinator of the Cambodian Communist Party. The Prince of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, did not approve of the Party and forced Pol Pot to flee to exile in the jungle. There, Pol formed a fortified resistance movement, which became known as the Khmer Rouge, and pursued a guerrilla war against Sihanouk’s government. As Pol Pot began to accumulate power,

Genocide.When you hear that word it reminds you of the holocaust, but many genocides have occurred in our history from the rwanda genocide to the Roman Empire.The most devastating genocides are the ones ignored by people leaving those in danger to die.This has happen more often like we have not learned and ignore a genocide even though most countries have said they would avoid a genocide from happening again after the holocaust being so inhumane with the burning and torturing of people.Saloth star most commonly know as Pol Pot was the leader of a group named the khmer rouge who were in power during the cambodian genocide that lasted about 4 years and killed about two million people(History).Pol pot and his group wanted to make Cambodia classless

In 1976, after massacring hundreds of thousands of former government officials and supporters of the previous government, the Khmer Rouge began purging their own ranks. They utilized brutal tactics such as, “’the victory pole’ where four people would be tied together, their backs to the pole, facing opposite directions. Then a guard would shoot one in the head covering the others in blood and brains.” (Dunlop 87). They converted city schools into prisons and arrested people for any slight charge perceived against the revolution. Distrust with each other became so rampant among members inside the party that “vanquishing the enemies” became the most important task of the Khmer Rouge Regime. Food shortages occurred, electricity became scarce, and disease became a major problem for the population. Even the most useful resource for the Khmer Rouge executioners became scarce; they sometimes ran out of bullets after a heavy night of prison executions.