The Monster that Was Pol Pot Essay

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

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,

Vietnam eventually overthrew the Khmer Rouge and effectively installed a socialist regime consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors. Most members of the Khmer Rouge escaped and fled to Thailand to receive assistance from the western countries. The Soviet Union would end up fighting the Khmer Rouge with help from China and Vietnam for over a decade. Due to economic sanctions that the U.S. placed on Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge had to withdraw their troops and leave. Afterward, a peace agreement was signed and a coalition government was formed and former monarch, Prince Sihanouk, was elected to run. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge until 1997, when he was placed under house arrest until he died of natural causes without any charges being pressed against him (“The Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Rouge lasted until 1999, when most of it’s members died off or been arrested (“The Cambodian Genocide). After the genocide, the world was silent and refused to talk about it. Craig Etcheson, a Cambodia expert from George Mason University, felt that “For many years, their was a virtual taboo on even speaking of the Khmer Rouge, as if their words were … a malevolent spirit lurking in the corner of every room (Hume and Coren). Most of the Cambodian citizens were too afraid to speak up because they did not want to relive the horrors of what occurred. In essence, the Cambodian genocide was one of many genocides throughout history that share similarities with other

The rise of the Khmer Rouge government under Pol Pot brought four years of terror. The country became a killing field, where nearly two million people were slaughtered (Fletcher 2009). Pol Pot ruled with an iron fist that was unstoppable to control, he did whatever he wanted to do. On January 29 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime was dismantled and thrown out

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 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

Looking to end the Khmer Rouge border attacks. Finally on January 7, 1979, Phnom Penh fell and Pol Pot was removed. The Vietnamese then put a temporary government in with Khmer Rouge renegades for Cambodia. Pol Pot escaped into Thailand with the remaining Khmer Rouge army and began a guerrilla war. Pol Pot fought against Cambodian governments.

Pol Pot’s justification for mass violence was that he wanted to create an agrarian utopia. Pol Pot wanted complete control, so he would execute anyone who would oppose him. Anyone that may have been thought as a threat towards a revolution was also killed, such as educated people.

Pol pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge regime. In his early years, he was born eighth of nine children on May 19th, 1925. He had a decent childhood and a good education, but we still ask ourselves questions like, what was it that lead him to kill over 2 million citizens of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979? What made him corrupt? How different is he really from Julius Caesar?

Cambodia also known as Kampucheea to the Cambodians (and my family) is a country located in Southeast Asia. The country itself borders Vietnam and Thailand, and similar to all of the countries within Southeast Asia has a rich culture and language unique from its neighbors. From April of 1975 to January of 1979 the communist party of the Khmer Rogue led by the dictator Pol Pot had killed ¼ of the Cambodian population through starvation, labor concentration camps, and even execution (Tang). After the regime of Pol Pot had ended however, what happens to the survivors? What happens to the people in the country that now have to figure out what next? Many Cambodians decided to escape Cambodia

Some say that Pol Pot was responsible for the power and control of Cambodia because “Pol Pot cut Cambodia off from the world. He banned foreign and minority languages and attacked the neighboring countries of Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand in an attempt to regain ancient ‘lost territory’” (The life of Pol Pot- Cambodia 4). This statement is true because the Khmer Rouge did gain part of their power by isolating the country, but Pol Pot is not fully responsible for that. There were other people involved, like Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan all of these people were also leaders in the Khmer Rouge. Nuon Chea was the second leader in the Khmer Rouge he is known as “The evil genius of the movement” (Chandler 1), because he is the one who was in charge of the prison system. He was one of the one’s with a heartless mind, planning tortures and executing innocent people.

Pol Pot once said, “although a million lives have been wasted, our party does not feel sorry.” Pol Pot was the ruthless dictator of Cambodia during the 1970s and was single handedly responsible for millions of deaths and suffering. Pol Pot was considered a dictator because he was the leader of three consecutive parties and governments in Cambodia, and in all of them, he made his own people suffer while trying to make radical changes. His main goals were to completely reshape his country Cambodia, into a communist society based on peasants and agriculture. He wanted to create a new type of Cambodia where the population was made up of entirely workers and peasants, and all evidence of the wealthy classes was removed. Pol Pot wanted an equal society

According to the article, leader’s performance expectations positively affect the quality of their relationship with their followers, and their treatment of their followers falls in line with this. For example, if a leader has high expectations of a follower, this will translate to greater support and guidance for that follower. This is in line with LMX theory (Leader-Member Exchange), which focuses on the relationship development between the leader and the follower. Higher expectations are coupled with higher levels of trust and respect between the leader and the follower, placing them in the in-group of the leader. In contrast, leaders with low expectations of followers will generally experience the opposite result, with less resources and

Imagine a family member of yours was unjustly framed with something he didn’t commit and he is sentenced to death penalty, how would you feel? Death sentence has been thrown back and forth with the argument that it is or it is not an acceptable way of punishing. Offenders are doing what they know best, breaking the law, but the government instead of fixing the problem by doing something better, the make it worse by taking another life from society, which can be considered a “crime”. The death penalty is currently being used by thirty-four out of the fifty in the United States. Death penalty often establishes the question, “Does the government have the right to take away someone’s life?” When death penalty claim another life, the people that get affected are the families of the ones being charged. Death penalty does not bring justice in this world, instead it takes the life of another human being, innocent or not. Death penalty should not exist because it is unconstitutional and affects the families of the person being charged with a certain case. Death sentence didn’t just come out of the blue, it had to come from somewhere and what inspired its creation

It seems that each new day brings a new way that those in power are conspiring against us (“us” being Roman Catholics). It all started with a lie. Sweet Queen Catherine has, most unfortunately, been unable to produce an heir for the king; therefore, his brother, James, is the rightful successor to the throne of England (Kraft). However, the king also has an illegitimate son whom he cherishes, James, the Duke of Monmouth (Kraft). At face value, the problem seems nonexistent—of course the king’s brother should ascend the throne. But there is a problem! James II is a Catholic, as is the Queen. The Duke of Monmouth is not. There are many who are so blinded by their prejudices that they would rather anyone but a Catholic sit on the