Khmer Rouge
Pol Pot's government
The Khmer Rouge was the communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under Pol Pot.
The regime evacuated cities, abolished money, and attempted to create an agrarian utopia through forced labor and mass executions.
An estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians—roughly a quarter of the population—died from starvation, disease, and murder.
The name is French for "Red Khmer," referring to the Cambodian ethnic majority.
The Khmer Rouge's killing fields remain a symbol of 20th-century genocide.
- CambodiaIndochinese kingdom near Vietnam
- agrarian socialismCollective ownership of farmland
- rice fieldsFlooded agricultural plots
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
- communistCollectivist political adherent
Pol Pot · 1970s · Ho Chi Minh Trail · child soldiers · totalitarian · Stalinism · political movement · Phnom Penh · radical · collectivization · Maoism · Killing Fields · dictatorship · French · United Nations · anti-intellectualism · forced labor camps · reeducation
- Southeast AsiaVietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia
- CambodiaCambodia, Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat, Angkor, Mekong River
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- CommunistsMarx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao
- Indochina PoliticsCommunist Party, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam War, Politburo, one-party state
- Postwar AsiaKorean War, Vietnam War, Chinese Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square
Khmer Rougeliberal democracy
Rights-based elected governance
constitutional government · Velvet Revolution · social democracy · libertarianism · open society
Khmer Rougehuman rights defenders
Those protecting fundamental freedoms
Amnesty International · liberators · rescuers · humanitarians · humanitarian organizations
Khmer Rougemodernizers
Those who update outdated systems
industrialists · urban planners · technocrats · progressives