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?
Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. From the moment he was in control of Cambodia he set the calendars to year zero. His goal was to recreate Cambodia as a natural society, eliminating any trace of the modern world. Modern materials were seen as impure and dangerous and were quickly disposed of. Any intellectuals, artists, or monks were
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
an engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history. This book examines the theme of Civil Rights in America between 1865 and 1980. The long struggle for black equality and full citizenship is traced from the period of reconstruction after the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The rights of other minority groups such as Native Americans, Chicanos and Asian Americans are also given full consideration, as is the 'rights revolution' of the Cold War period, which involved the campaign for women's rights and the development of Gay rights. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary
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.
Pol Pot could be described in many different ways. For example the man or master mind behind the Cambodian genocide. Also the leader of the resistance movement, known as the Khmer Rouge. He was also known as dictator and murderer. Pol Pot is a man that you can not compare many people to, but one person you can relate to Pol Pot is a man we know as Adolf Hitler.
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
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 Cambodia in the 1960s The Khmer Rouge Regime rose to power, which lead to the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. Pol Pot, the leader of this group, believed in a new country without evils. He describes evils such as money and religion as the cause for the corrupt and terrible world he lives in. Pol Pot's goal was to bring Cambodia back to the middle ages. Pol Pot dreamed of a ‘perfect’ Cambodia in which the society “build a prosperous and happy Cambodian society in which all enjoy equality, happiness and a society free from all class or individual forms of exploitation, in which everyone strives to increase production and to defend the country (pg 415)”. He began enforcing communal farming as a new way of living. Pol pot states “When we have rice, we can have everything” is their ‘slogan’ (Journal of Contemporary Asia pg 414). Pol Pot along with the rest of the Khmer Rouge Regime believed strongly in the perks that come out of farming. They
The Khmer Rouge were followers of a communist party of Kampuchea, which took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. The party’s existence was kept a secret until 1977, anyone outside of CPK knew the leaders as Angkar Padevat. A genocide was born, where they tortured and killed thousands of innocents under the order of dictator Pol Pot. They set policies and rules to reach their main goal, which was to build a new Cambodia focused on agricultural success. When the Khmer Rouge took power people were forced into the countryside to work. In order to ensure this they banned money, private property, schools, churches, shops, government builds, universities. Prisons and reeducation camps were formed from schools and buildings. They would murder
The communist group known as “Khmer Rouge” was lead by Pol Pot during the Cambodian genocide. The Genocide began in 1975 to 1979. Due to the leader shutting down schools, universities, hospitals, private institutions and factories, people died of overworking. People also died of starvation and illnesses. About 2 million people died in Cambodia when Pol Pot took power in the country. The Khmer Rouge forces targeted religious groups and other ethnic groups and also banned the groups. In reality almost everyone was a target to them. The families were separated. The children and adults were sent to different camps. Anyone who attempted to disobey or refuse to do something was automatically shot and killed. The people in Cambodia did not live in
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
There are many people in this world who hold great reputations. There are far fewer people who posess great character. A reputation is built in just moments, and reflects what you do in front of people. Character, on the other hand, is built over years, and is reflected in what is unseen by others. Of all of my friends, one exemplifies great character more than any of the others. His name is Chris.
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