{"id":2973,"date":"2019-11-01T08:18:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T08:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2973"},"modified":"2026-03-11T09:57:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:57:52","slug":"khmer-rouge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/khmer-rouge\/","title":{"rendered":"Khmer Rouge: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Khmer Rouge were a Marxist<\/a> and communist<\/a> organization in the country of Cambodia that ruled over the country in the 1970s and is widely considered to be responsible for the events of the Cambodian Genocide<\/a>.\u00a0 The Cambodian Genocide is considered to be a significant example of genocide<\/a> and crimes against humanity<\/a> in the 20th century, alongside others, such as: Armenian Genocide<\/a>, Holodomor<\/a>, Nanking Massacre<\/a>, Holocaust<\/a>, Rwanda Genocide<\/a> and the Bosnian Genocide<\/a>.\u00a0 A genocide is defined as a mass killing of a certain group of people based on their religion, ethnicity or cultural background.\u00a0 A crime against humanity is considered to be when a group of people are subjected to humiliation, suffering and death on a mass scale by another group. The Cambodian Genocide occurred in the country of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.\u00a0 The genocide and crimes against humanity that occurred in the country are considered to be the actions and result of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot<\/a>, who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KHMER ROUGE – RISE TO POWER<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term \u2018Khmer Rouge\u2019 was the commonly used name for the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).\u00a0 In October of 1966, Pol Pot and other Cambodian party leaders established the CPK.\u00a0 Norodom Sihanouk, the Head of State of Cambodia at the time, began referring to the CPK as the \u2018Khmer Rouge\u2019 in reference to their communist<\/a> or \u2018red\u2019 principles, which eventually led to the followers of the CPK being referred to as the Khmer Rouge.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Khmer Rouge rose to power in Cambodia when they launched an attack against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia, which began the Cambodian Civil War.\u00a0 The Khmer Rouge were supported by the communists in North Vietnam and China, while the government of Cambodia (led by Norodom Sihanouk) were supported by the United States.\u00a0 Pol Pot<\/a> played an important role in the conflict as he persuaded North Vietnam and others to support and supply the Khmer Rouge.\u00a0 For its part, the United States sought to protect its ally in South Vietnam and stop the spread of communism to Cambodia.\u00a0 This was related to the American policy of containment<\/a> from the time frame of the Cold War<\/a>, because at the time, the United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War<\/a>.\u00a0 Regardless, after five years of brutal fighting between both sides the Khmer Rouge claimed victory in 1975 and established the Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodia.\u00a0 The Democratic Kampuchea was the name of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979 under the control of Pol Pot and was based on Marxist principles of the Khmer Rouge.\u00a0 Since Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, he also became leader of Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took control of the country.\u00a0 As leader of Cambodia, Pol Pot became known as \u2018brother number one\u2019.\u00a0 The major events of the Cambodian Genocide followed.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pol Pot in 1978. (Colorized and enhanced by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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KHMER ROUGE – CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A key feature of any genocide is the focused and mass killing of different groups of people based on their religious or ethnic background.\u00a0 This was especially true in the Cambodian Genocide<\/a> because the Khmer targeted different groups, including: ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Chinese, Christians and Buddhists.\u00a0 As well, educated professionals and members of rival political parties were systematically removed from their positions and forced out of the city-centers.\u00a0 Essentially, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge focused their power against groups of people they did not deem to be \u2018desirable\u2019 to Cambodia or who had the intellectual ability to question the authority of the government.\u00a0 Many of the first deaths of the Cambodian Genocide were a result of the forced removals from the cities.\u00a0 For example, anyone that was unwilling to relocate was either forcibly removed or executed.\u00a0 Furthermore, many people died from exhaustion and starvation during the process.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cambodians forced to migrate during the events of the Cambodian Genocide. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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However, anyone that survived the transportation to the countryside suffered due to the grueling work that was expected on the collective farms.  In fact, the farms were little more than labor camps in which the workers experienced continual abuse, threat of death and exhausting work.  Many more died there also from starvation and exhaustion.  As time progressed, the survival of a person was determined by the ability to complete work in the labor camps.  As a result, many people who could not keep up with the work demands of the Khmer were killed, including: young children, elderly and the sick.  When starvation no longer resulted in the deaths of these \u2018undesirable\u2019 people, the Khmer Rouge resorted to a method that historians refer to as the \u2018Killing Fields\u2019.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, the term \u2018Killing Fields\u2019 refers to sites across Cambodia in which people were taken to be tortured, interrogated and executed for their alleged crimes against the state.  Most of the estimated one million victims, were buried in mass graves.  The most famous of these sites was called Security Prison 21 (S-21), which was a former high school just outside of the Cambodian capital.  The high school was transformed into a detention center in 1975 during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in which \u2018enemies\u2019 of the state were tortured and eventually executed.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, it is estimated that as many as 1.5 million to 3 million people died in the killing fields and as a result of the events of the Cambodian Genocide which occurred between 1975 and 1979.  To date, over 23,000 mass graves have been discovered in Cambodia containing the majority of the reported victims.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Skulls of victims from the Cambodian Genocide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The international community was slow to learn about the genocide and crimes against humanity occurring in the country due to the Khmer Rouge expelling foreigners and reporters.  Regardless, news of the genocide leaked out and most foreign countries condemned the actions of the Khmer.  However, the regime also enjoyed support from several communist nations including China who is said to have supplied them with money, military supplies and training for soldiers.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reign of the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide ultimately ended in 1979 when Vietnamese forces invaded the country and toppled the rule of Pol Pot.\u00a0 The Cambodian dictator<\/a> fled and lived out much of his remaining years on the Cambodian border with Thailand where he would often move between the two countries.\u00a0 While the Khmer Rouge remained a force in the region throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it lost its power and ability to rule especially with the \u2018retirement\u2019 of Pol Pot in 1985.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KHMER ROUGE – TRIBUNALS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, the Cambodian government established the Khmer Rouge Tribunals for the purpose of trying leaders of the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian Genocide.\u00a0 It was a national court established by the Cambodian government but supported by the United Nations<\/a> with some international lawyers and judges.\u00a0 The full name for the tribunals was \u2018Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia\u2019 or ECCC.\u00a0 In general, the perpetrators of the Cambodian Genocide were accused and made to stand trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.\u00a0 For example, one of the people tried at the tribunals was Kang Kek Iew.\u00a0 He was a former leader of the Khmer Rouge who was in charge of the prison camp system and oversaw the operation of the notorious S-21 camp.\u00a0 In July of 2010, he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major issue facing the tribunals carried out in the first part of the 21st century was the many of the former Khmer leaders were either dead or had fled the country to other parts of the world.  For example, the Khmer Rouge leader responsible for the Cambodian Genocide, Pol Pot, evaded trial for his role.  He lived out the remaining years of his life along the western border of Cambodia or in the country of Thailand.  He died on April 15th, 1998 from heart failure.  In an interview he gave late in his life, Pol Pot, claimed he had no regrets and denied his involvement in mass killings during the genocide.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under the leadership of communist dictator Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge were responsible for the events of the Cambodian Genocide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":10,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,26],"tags":[61,15,102],"class_list":["post-2973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genocide","category-vietnam-war","tag-genocide","tag-history","tag-vietnam-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2973"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6399,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973\/revisions\/6399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}