Members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia)
This article is about the regime in general. For the political party of the Khmer Rouge regime, see Communist Party of Kampuchea. For nation of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge Regime, see Democratic Kampuchea.
Khmer Rouge
ខ្មែរក្រហម
The flag of Democratic Kampuchea, whose design was used by Khmer guerrillas since the 1950s with the building design varying
Dates of operation
June 1951 (June 1951) – March 1999 (March 1999)
1951–1968 (political party)
1968–1975 (insurgency)
1975–1979 (government)
1977–1999 (insurgency)
Headquarters
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Ideology
Communism[1]: xix–xx [2]
Autarky[1]: xix–xx
Khmer nationalism[1]: xx [2]
Anti-Vietnamese sentiment
Political position
Far-left[3][4]
Allies
Cambodian Civil War:
GRUNK
People's Republic of China
Albania
North Korea
Romania
North Vietnam
Viet Cong
Pathet Lao
Cambodian–Vietnamese War:
FUNCINPEC
KPNLF
North Korea
Malaysia[5]
Romania[6][7]
Singapore[5]
Thailand
United Kingdom[8][9]
United States (alleged)[10][11]
Opponents
Cambodian Civil War:
Kingdom of Cambodia (1968–1970)
Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
South Vietnam
Kingdom of Laos
Australia
South Korea
New Zealand
Philippines
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Thailand
United States
Cambodian–Vietnamese War:
Vietnam
FUNSK (1978–1979)
People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989)
State of Cambodia (from 1989)
Laos
Albania[12]
Soviet Union
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia[13]
East Germany[14]
Hungary
Poland[15]
Battles and wars
Cambodian Civil War
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
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This article contains Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script.
The Khmer Rouge (/kəˌmɛərˈruːʒ/; French:[kmɛʁʁuʒ]; Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម, Khmêr Krâhâm[kʰmaekrɑːhɑːm]; lit.'Red Khmer') is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by then Chief of State Norodom Sihanouk to describe his country's heterogeneous, communist-led dissidents, with whom he allied after his 1970 overthrow.[16]
The Khmer Rouge army was slowly built up in the forests of eastern Cambodia during the late 1960s, supported by the North Vietnamese army, the Viet Cong, the Pathet Lao, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).[17][18][19][20] Although it originally fought against Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge changed its position and supported Sihanouk following the CCP's advice after he was overthrown in a 1970 coup by Lon Nol who established the pro-American Khmer Republic.[20][21] Despite a massive American bombing campaign (Operation Freedom Deal) against them, the Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian Civil War when they captured the Cambodian capital and overthrew the Khmer Republic in 1975. Following their victory, the Khmer Rouge, who were led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, and Khieu Samphan, immediately set about forcibly evacuating the country's major cities. In 1976, they renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea.
The Khmer Rouge regime was highly autocratic, totalitarian, and repressive. Many deaths resulted from the regime's social engineering policies and the "Moha Lout Plaoh", an imitation of China's Great Leap Forward which had caused the Great Chinese Famine.[17][22][23] The Khmer Rouge's attempts at agricultural reform through collectivization similarly led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, including the supply of medicine, led to the death of many thousands from treatable diseases such as malaria.[24]
The Khmer Rouge regime murdered hundreds of thousands of their perceived political opponents, and its racist emphasis on national purity resulted in the genocide of Cambodian minorities. Summary executions and torture were carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during genocidal purges of its own ranks between 1975 and 1978.[25] Ultimately, the Cambodian genocide which took place under the Khmer Rouge regime led to the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people, around 25% of Cambodia's population.
In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge was largely supported and funded by the Chinese Communist Party, receiving approval from Mao Zedong; it is estimated that at least 90% of the foreign aid which was provided to the Khmer Rouge came from China.[a] The regime was removed from power in 1979 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia and quickly destroyed most of its forces. The Khmer Rouge then fled to Thailand, whose government saw them as a buffer force against the Communist Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge continued to fight against the Vietnamese and the government of the new People's Republic of Kampuchea until the end of the war in 1989. The Cambodian governments-in-exile (including the Khmer Rouge) held onto Cambodia's United Nations seat (with considerable international support) until 1993, when the monarchy was restored and the name of the Cambodian state was changed to the Kingdom of Cambodia. A year later, thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrendered themselves in a government amnesty.[29]
In 1996, a new political party called the Democratic National Union Movement was formed by Ieng Sary, who was granted amnesty for his role as the deputy leader of the Khmer Rouge.[30] The organisation was largely dissolved by the mid-1990s and finally surrendered completely in 1999.[31] In 2014, two Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, were jailed for life by a United Nations-backed court which found them guilty of crimes against humanity for their roles in the Khmer Rouge's genocidal campaign.
^ abcKiernan, Ben (2004). How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300102628.
^ abCook, Susan; Rowley, Kelvin (2017). Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda: New Perspectives(PDF). Routledge. ISBN 9781351517775. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
^Martin, Gus (2008). Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies. SAGE Publications, Inc. p. 80. ISBN 978-1412953139.
^Hartman, Tom (1985). A World Atlas of Military History, 1945–1984. Hippocrene Books. p. 81. ISBN 0870520008.
^ abRichardson, Michael (29 September 2000). "Singaporean Tells of Khmer Rouge Aid". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^Shafir, Michael (20 December 1985). Michael Shafir, Pinter, 1985, Romania: Politics, Economics and Society : Political Stagnation and Simulated Change, p. 187. Pinter. ISBN 9780861874385. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
^Frost, Gerald (23 September 1991). Gerald Frost, Praeger, 1991, Europe in Turmoil: The Struggle for Pluralism, p. 306. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780275941291. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
^"How Thatcher gave Pol Pot a hand". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^"Butcher of Cambodia set to expose Thatcher's role". The Guardian. 9 January 2000. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^Becker, Elizabeth (17 April 1998). "Death of Pol Pot: The Diplomacy; Pol Pot's End Won't Stop U.S. Pursuit of His Circle". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
^Parkinson, Charles; Cuddy, Alice; Pye, Daniel (29 May 2015). "The Pol Pot dilemma". The Phnom Penh Post. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
^"Outside Interference in Vietnamese Affairs Condemned" (PDF). www.cambodiatokampuchea.wordpress.com. 20 July 1978.
^Weiss, Thomas G.; Evans, Gareth J.; Hubert, Don; Sahnoun, Mohamed (2001). The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. International Development Research Centre (Canada). p. 58. ISBN 978-0-88936-963-4. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^"When Moscow helped topple the Khmer Rouge". rbth.com. 19 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022.
^"Diplomats Recall Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge". The Cambodia Daily. 5 April 2003. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^"Khmer Rouge". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
^ abcChandler, David P. (2018). Brother Number One: A Political Biography Of Pol Pot. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-98161-6.
^ abStrangio, Sebastian. "China's Aid Emboldens Cambodia". Yale Global Online. Archived from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
^"The Chinese Communist Party's Relationship with the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s: An Ideological Victory and a Strategic Failure". Wilson Center. 13 December 2018. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^ abHood, Steven J. (1990). "Beijing's Cambodia Gamble and the Prospects for Peace in Indochina: The Khmer Rouge or Sihanouk?". Asian Survey. 30 (10): 977–991. doi:10.2307/2644784. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2644784.
^ ab"China-Cambodia Relations". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^McLellan, Janet (1 April 1999). "5". Many Petals of the Lotus: Five Asian Buddhist Communities in Toronto (1st ed.). University of Toronto Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-8020-8225-1.
^Chandler, David (2007). A History of Cambodia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1578566969.
^Guillou, Anne Yvonne (9 October 2008). "Medicine in Cambodia during the Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979): Foreign and Cambodian Influences". HAL Open Science. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
^Ratner, Steven R.; Abrams, Jason S. (2001). Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-19-829871-7.
^Levin, Dan (30 March 2015). "China Is Urged to Confront Its Own History". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
^Kiernan, Ben (2008). The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–79. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300142990.
^Laura, Southgate (8 May 2019). ASEAN Resistance to Sovereignty Violation: Interests, Balancing and the Role of the Vanguard State. Policy Press. ISBN 978-1-5292-0221-2.
^"Cambodia profile – Timeline". BBC News. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
^"Cambodia profile". BBC News. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
^"No Redemption – The Failing Khmer Rouge Trial By Allan Yang". Harvard International Review. 2008. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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contains Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script. The KhmerRouge (/kəˌmɛər...
the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the KhmerRouge under the leadership of Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot...
tribunaux cambodgiens (CETC); Khmer: អង្គជំនុំជម្រះវិសាមញ្ញក្នុងតុលាការកម្ពុជា), commonly known as the Cambodia Tribunal or KhmerRouge Tribunal (សាលាក្ដីខ្មែរក្រហម)...
The United States (U.S.) voted for the KhmerRouge and the KhmerRouge-dominated Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) to retain Cambodia's...
people were killed and buried by the Communist Party of Kampuchea during KhmerRouge rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the...
Ideologically a communist and a Khmer ethnonationalist, he was a leading member of Cambodia's communist movement, the KhmerRouge, from 1963 to 1997 and served...
involved, the Khmer Republic resulted in 1970. Another result was a civil war which by 1975, ended with the takeover by the KhmerRouge. Cambodia endured...
Khmer text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Khmer script. The Khmer Republic (Khmer:...
between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the KhmerRouge, supported by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong) against the government...
some Western academics that early claims of atrocities committed by the KhmerRouge government (1975–1979) in Cambodia were much exaggerated. Many scholars...
1970 coup installed the US-aligned Khmer Republic, which was overthrown by the KhmerRouge in 1975. The KhmerRouge ruled the country and carried out the...
was the capture of Phnom Penh, capital of the Khmer Republic (in present-day Cambodia), by the KhmerRouge on 17 April 1975, effectively ending the Cambodian...
Khmer Communist Party, was a communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot, and its members were generally known as the KhmerRouge (Red Khmer)...
secondary school which was used as Security Prison 21 (S-21; Khmer: មន្ទីរស-២១) by the KhmerRouge regime from 1975 until its fall in 1979. From 1976 to 1979...
a month after the KhmerRouge took control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic. After the KhmerRouge seized the U.S. merchant...
higher education. These Khmer-language study centres became the birthplace of Cambodian nationalism.[citation needed] The KhmerRouge leaders dreamed of reviving...
conflict primarily started due to continued raids and incursions by the KhmerRouge into Vietnamese territory that they sought to retake. These incursions...
Cambodian military chief and soldier who was a senior figure in the KhmerRouge and the leader of the national army of Democratic Kampuchea. He was also...
supporters of exiled Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the KhmerRouge ("Red Khmer", an appellation he had himself coined for the members of the Communist...
communist KhmerRouge from 1970 to 1975. This phase was also marked by intensive United States bombing from 1969 to 1973 of the KhmerRouge and sanctuaries...
the KhmerRouge.: 708 Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to the KhmerRouge on 17 April 1975. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the KhmerRouge would...