The Khmer Rouge During The 20th Century

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

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.

The Cambodian Genocide happened between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla group, over threw the government and started a regime to bring Cambodia back to year zero . The Khmer Rouge called this the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea . Their aim was to purify society from the influence of the west, and to create a communist country . The Khmer Rouge started this by destroying what was left of the old society and executing the wealthy, educated and military people. They banned all outside languages and religion. An estimated figure of 1.7 million Cambodians where killed during this period by the Khmer Rouge .

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

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

There exists a country in Southern Asia, known as Cambodia. This is a small and poor country that experienced dramatic changes in the past century. The Cambodian, or Khmer, society was a very capitalistic country consisted a small population of the rich and a large majority of the poor. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor proved to be fatal. This unreliable economic system soon became the cause of the Khmer Civil War in 1967. This civil war was started by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), who later renamed themselves to Khmer Rouge. Led by Pol Pot, this Kampuchea party was made up of mainly the lower and middle class who greatly despised the rich, who they believed shared a narcissistic view and an extreme corruption. The Khmer Rouge was able to defeat the Khmer Republic and took over

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

In the years of 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot became the head of the most murderous revolution of our time. His communist regime with the Khmer Rouge created one of the largest, yet greatly under-looked atrocities of the time. The genocide in his Democratic Kampuchea has created a death toll that could be as high as 3,000,000 people, or 25% of the country's population. (Chandler, 1999; Cambodia Genocide) In an attempt to refashion his country, "people were simply sacrificed to our struggle, not killed," as Pol Pot himself stated. (Pol Pot: Life of a Tyrant, 2000)

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

No Leader of any country should have the power to kill innocent people, however as history has shown that is not always the case. In Cambodia, a leader named Pol Pot Started Khmer Rouge, ruled from 1975-1979. It was in these years that he began a murderous regime. The CPK, also known as The Communist Party of Kampuchea, can also be referred to as Khmer Rouge’s other name. Khmer had so much power and authority that he was able to beat helpless people to death. He would do this by smashing their heads with hoes. Why a hoe you might ask? This was to save the bullets for use on others. Khmer’s reign was so powerful, so ruthless and full of death that his reign was classified as a genocide.

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.

Genocide is the mass killing of a specific group of people, mainly targeting people with certain ethnic backgrounds or religious groups. The Pol Pot genocide in Cambodia was endorsed by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. The Cambodians were under the control of Pol Pot during this time and the regime killed approximately 1.5 to 3 million Cambodian citizens, both children and adults. The Khmer Rouge was a communist party who began to make a move after seeing French colonization in Cambodia begin to struggle. The Khmer Rouge wanted to create the best community they could be, they started by killing and enslaving many Cambodians those who were educated and high up the social ladder (Sites.google.com, 2013). But there was one main perpetrator, Pol Pot who was a member but later on become the leader of the Khmer Rouge communist party.

The Cambodian Genocide started in 1975 and ended in 1979. During that period of time the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. About 1.7 million people died out of a total population of seven to eight million. People died of starvation, disease, overwork and or execution. Unlike in other genocides or conflicts, no one was immune from being branded an enemy of the country. Even if someone was on the right side that could change the next day. The Khmer Rouge attempted to socially engineer a classless peasant society. The Khmer Rouge targeted certain groups. People the leader of the Khmer Rouge Lon Nol thought was weak and different. The Khmer Rouge had a lot to do with what happened in Cambodia. The Cambodian Genocide was based of the Khmer Rouge and how they took over cambodia in 1975. The Khmer Rouge saw cities as the heart of capitalism and therefore they had to be eliminated. 1.7 million people died during the cambodian genocide. The Khmer rouge targeted certain people of class to pray on such as people of education, different race, ethnicity, and even people who wore glasses. The Khmer Rouge planned to create a form of agrarian socialism meaning they wanted them to be more of farmers and have more agriculture instead of a society where

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.

Pol Pot with his plan in mind, renamed Cambodia to the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea. Pol Pot declared the year ‘zero’ and he then began to “purify” the Cambodian society (Amendola). Pol Pot supported the idea of the extreme form of peasant communism, so he banned all western civilization influences, such as city life and capitalism. Foreigners were expelled along with religion (Lavinia). National embassies were shut down and the use of foreign language was outlawed. There was no use of media, news, and communication allowed, including limited mail and phone. All businesses, education, and education disappeared, and parental authority was void. Cambodia became a sealed of location in the world