The Khmer Rouge started in 1975 and ended in 1979. This regime began with Pol Pot, a Marxist leader. Pol Pot’s entire idea was to return the state of Cambodia to a middle age state. Pol Pot forced millions of people to work day and night on communal farms in the countryside. This was an attempt at social engineering that failed tremendously, families died from execution, starvation, as well as overwork. During this time in the northeast, many tribes in the hills were self-sufficient and had no use for money or government. Pol Pot used his power to reassemble Cambodia to resemble the middle ages and named Cambodia Kampuchea. Pol Pot hoped his new middle age world would be an agrarian utopia. Pol Pot decided that the people he governed would start at “Year Zero”.
Many people were executed for being intellectuals of any sort. Many people were executed for simply wearing glasses or being known to be educated. Many people died, especially teenager because of the back-breaking work that they were forced to do each day. Pol Pot separated Cambodia from the rest of the world, abolishing any form of money, religion, and private property. Hundreds of thousands of educated middle-class citizens were executed for their education in special centers, the most famous being the S-21 jail in Phnom Penh. Those who weren't killed from the labor-intensive lifestyle that the Cambodians were forced into, they were killed by disease, exhaustion or starvation.
Pol Pot’s entire idea was to make his people less like those civilized around them, to deprive their human right of growing with society. Pol Pot’s final fall began in 1979 when the border of Cambodia was confronted by Vietnam. In the end, the Vietnamese army overthrew the regime in a big way. The upper echelon of the regime retreated into remote areas of the country where their power slowly faded into nothing. The years following gave way to the opening of the cities and the public hearing the horror stories of the survivors of the regime. After these stories became public Pol Pot was denounced and was put under house arrest.
Many people were executed for being intellectuals of any sort. Many people were executed for simply wearing glasses or being known to be educated. Many people died, especially teenager because of the back-breaking work that they were forced to do each day. Pol Pot separated Cambodia from the rest of the world, abolishing any form of money, religion, and private property. Hundreds of thousands of educated middle-class citizens were executed for their education in special centers, the most famous being the S-21 jail in Phnom Penh. Those who weren't killed from the labor-intensive lifestyle that the Cambodians were forced into, they were killed by disease, exhaustion or starvation.
Pol Pot’s entire idea was to make his people less like those civilized around them, to deprive their human right of growing with society. Pol Pot’s final fall began in 1979 when the border of Cambodia was confronted by Vietnam. In the end, the Vietnamese army overthrew the regime in a big way. The upper echelon of the regime retreated into remote areas of the country where their power slowly faded into nothing. The years following gave way to the opening of the cities and the public hearing the horror stories of the survivors of the regime. After these stories became public Pol Pot was denounced and was put under house arrest.
sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
https://www.nytimes.com/topic/organization/khmer-rouge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia
https://www.nytimes.com/topic/organization/khmer-rouge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia