Khmer Rouge Impact

After they seized power in Cambodia in April 1975, Saloth "Pol Pot" Sar and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the death of 1.5-3 million Cambodian's and were perhaps one of the most ruthless regimes of the 20th century. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate Pol Pot's means of maintaining power from 1975 to 1979. An account of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's drastic internal reforms including the slaughter of millions, economic reorganization, political restructuring, and the cultivation of social/ethnic groups will appear in section B. External forces including funding from China and the United States and repressive measures such as censorship, torture, and execution will be assessed. This

Cambodia is a small country of Southeast Asia, less than half the size of the state of California (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Cambodian government in the mid 1970’s was unstable as Lon Nol, the Cambodian prime minister, and his forces were being stretched dealing with conflicts of Vietnamese communists, and a rising group of Cambodian communists called the Khmer Rouge Party. (Peace Pledge Union) As the government grew weaker and began to loose control, The Khmer Rouge Party overthrew the country. They began killing for their cause in 1975. The Khmer Rouge Party, under the rule of a man called Pol Pot, enforced a new way of life following values and rules similar to Maoist-Communism (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Party attempted, in simplistic terms, to nationally centralize the middle or farming class of Cambodia (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian

The next two decades of Pol Pot’s life are best characterized by his endless political maneuvering within the Cambodian Communist movement. Having struggled to gain independence from French colonialism during the 1940’s, and again during the First Indochina War of the 1950’s, there were already several prominent Communist factions active in Cambodia upon Pol Pot’s return to his country. His initial task as a clandestine operative of the Marxist Circle was to evaluate each of these factions, and to rise to power in the most promising

Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.

Time and time again, power corrupts those who receive it, whether or not their intentions were benevolent in the first place. From 1975 to 1979, an attempt by Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, to form an egalitarian Communist farming society led to the death of 25% of the country’s population. The Khmer Rouge’s brutal social engineering targeted intellectuals, urban dwellers, civil servants, and religious leaders, among other existing groups occupying a high position in society. By the time the dust settled, Pol Pot’s regime had already became known as one of the most brutal and despotic in world history.

In 1975, the Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot, invaded Phnom Penh and overthrew Lon Nol’s U.S. supported military dictatorship. The Communist Party of Kampuchea, otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge, was a Cambodian political party that based its ideals on nationalism, communism, and agrarian socialism. The Khmer Rouge first gained attention during communist movement that emerged from the anti-colonial struggle against France. During French rule, Cambodia was under the influence of western ideas and culture. Because Cambodia had been a French Protectorate since 1863, many aspects of Cambodian culture and identity were lost within French colonial rule. After seizing power over Cambodia in 1975 and it was renamed as Democratic Kampuchea. The Cambodian genocide occurred because a radical idea of nationalism and ended up wiping out one-third of Cambodia’s population. A debate surrounding Cambodian nationalism has been argued while investigating the history of the Khmer Rouge. Michael Vickery, the author of the book Cambodia 1975-1982, argued that the Khmer Rouge was inspired by the peasants to create a nation in which everyone had the same living standards.Ben Kiernan, director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, argued that by favoring the peasants, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the working class. Kiernan also argues that “Pol Potism” rose from the idea of Cambodian nationalism. In 1976, Pol Pot created the “Four Year Plan” to build socialism in

“Why did the Vietnamese invade the Khmer Rouge and liberate the people?” After all the research and analyzation, I have finally solved this question. During this adventure, there were many captivating facts about this conflict. I learned that this war commenced by Khmer Rouge arrogance. Democratic Kampuchea aggravated Vietnam by demanding territory, blaming them for their difficulties, fighting their soldiers, and committing other violations; these factors were the central source which resulted in an invasion. Therefore, I can conclude that Vietnam strived for resistance; however, the Khmer Rouge was essentially asking for foreign intervention. Also, based on international opinion, it seems that Vietnam held invalid reasons for an intervention

Other smaller minorities in Cambodia, also faced execution, torture and other discriminations. The survivors of the massacre for some ethnic groups were nowhere to be found. This shows how the main goal in the Khmer Rouge army is to destroy or assimilate anyone who belonged to a different ethnic or religious group (Kiernan, 83). Difference between the citizens had to be abolished. All

Cambodia was, to a great extent, orientated toward a Communist upheaval due to the historical milieu. There are three solid reasons to support this theory. Firstly, that centuries of foreign intervention pushed Cambodia to hunger for independence and revolt, secondly, that Cambodian ideologies were influenced and heightened by a global insurgency of Marxism and finally, that

Located in Southeast Asia between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia was home to one of the bloodiest political regimes to exist in the 20th century. In a country, in which American government reports in 1959 documented, was full of “ ‘docile and passive people…[who] could not be counted on to act in any positive way for the benefit of US aims and policies’”, the United States conflict in neighboring Vietnam brought about incredible changes to an unsuspecting people (qted. in Dunlop 70). The countryside was bombed by the United States in order to uproot suspected North Vietnamese holdouts and supply routes starting in 1969. These bombing raids, which devastated

During the Cold War, Cambodia unfortunately found themselves caught in the crossfire. Two of the world’s super powers fought each other by supporting other countries. Vietnam was split; the north was communist while the south was capitalist. This caused a huge problem for their neighbor Cambodia. Originally they tried to stay neutral but eventually they joined the American’s side. Americans brought their troops into Cambodia in order to fight Vietnam. This caused major conflict and turned Cambodia into a warzone. As depicted in The Killing Fields and the articles we read for class, bombs were killing hundreds of Cambodian civilians. Their hospitals were overflowing with wounded and dying men, women, and children. Cambodians desperately wanted American troops to leave so they gathered around Pol Pot. Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a small communist organization. Once Pol Pot was in control he immediately sealed the borderes to Cambodia and started attacking his own people. As illustrated in some eyewitness accounts, many villages were dispersed and some were even burned to the ground. Within the first twenty minutes of The Killing Fields a bomb goes off in the middle of the street in the middle of the day with no warning whatsoever. The Khmer Rouge would invade villages and impose strict rules. Everyone was now required to work in the fields and they received little breaks. By 1975 the Khmer Rouge was out of control. Television and radio were shut down, bikes were

The Khmer Rouge is by far the most murderous group that existed. Pol Pot attempted to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia roughly overnight. This resulted in over 25% of the country’s population in just three days. Phnom Penh is the modern capital city of Cambodia. There, on April 17, 1975, marched into the capital with young peasants, Khmer Rouge soldiers and uneducated teenage boys. They forced all of Phnom Penh’s residents to evacuate and leave behind their items and march towards the countryside. Everyone was forced to evacuate the big city! Even those in patients in the hospital who were still in their hospital white gowns and IV bottles as stated in Cambodian Genocide « World Without Genocide - Working to Create a World Without Genocide. Cambodian Genocide « World Without Genocide - Working to Create a World Without Genocide. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2016.“Hospital patients still in their white gowns stumbled along carrying their IV bottles”. Children were all over the place desperately looking for their

While analyzing The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea, the section called “Open Conflict Between Socialist Nations”, revealed many components that led to a mandatory invasion of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge strived to reconquer the Mekong Delta, the region bordering Cambodia in the present day, of Vietnam. It turns out that Cambodia used to exert authority over the region, but throughout many decades, sovereignty transferred to the Vietnamese. In 1952, “the radical faction of the Khmer Students’ association in Paris-including ‘Pol Pot,’ Ieng

When khmer rouge came into power in cambodia, they take control of the whole country, and they turn this one school called Tuol Sleng into a torture chamber. In Tuol Sleng out of 1,7000 people who went in there only 14 survived. The prisoner in there are torture to death. In there they used electric shock and even water poured in the nose. All the people who have job like Doctor, Teacher, Lawyer, etc. are also put through it too, and the khmer rouge called them elite prisoner. The people who are is mostly seem as “intellectual” like wear glasses or when they ask the citizen, that is under their control, are they educated. If they said yes that they are educated, the evil leader will said something like they needed to be “purify.” And they will take them away to kill those educated people. Do you still remember about how people never get cleaning and got diseases? Well, they kill all the doctor so most sickness that was normally easily cure claimed ton of the worker lives. And can you feel the weakness that the worker feel when they barely get food and work 12 hour without rest? Million of people died just like that from diseases that is eating away their body, and the over exhaustion that their body feel that can barely move anymore. Do you know the worst part of this is when people compiled about the work you remember that I said they killed. Well, not just like kill like a club to the

39 years ago, Cambodia was misfortunate with creating one the saddest tragedies of the 20th century. It started off with the fall of the Khmer Republic, when the communist Khmer Rouges took over the country that led to the slaughtering of over 2 million people. After four dark years, what’s left was a civil war torn country that was left unstable throughout the 90’s with a corrupted Prime Minister name Hun Sen. Sen, a former Khmer Rouge led Cambodia as Prime Minister; Second to the King. On July 28th, 2013, it was the day of the elections where everything was set to change. The citizens that represented Cambodia went to the polls and voted. For some people, it was their first time voting and for all, it was a vote as if their lives