Cambodian Genocide and Fall of Phnom Penh

The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide

• The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took power in Cambodia in 1975 after a civil war that killed around 500,000 people.
• The Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh's 2.5 million residents, forcing them to work in fields as part of a reeducation process.
• Those who disobeyed were tortured in detention centers, such as S-21, and then killed.
• During the Cambodian genocide, millions died from malnutrition, overwork, or inadequate healthcare, filling mass graves across the country.

Pol Pot's Rise to Power

• Pol Pot began his rise to power in 1968, launching a national uprising with the Khmer Rouge guerilla army.
• The Khmer Rouge gained a foothold in the sparsely populated northeast and eventually allied with Prince Norodom Sihanouk against General Lon Nol.

U.S. Involvement and the Vietnam War

• The United States backed General Lon Nol's troops in the civil war, while also conducting a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia as part of the Vietnam War.
• U.S. planes dropped 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia between 1969 and 1973, more than three times the amount dropped on Japan during World War II.
• The U.S. bombing campaign ended in August 1973, but the Khmer Rouge's control over Cambodia's territory had increased exponentially by then.

Khmer Rouge Regime

• The Khmer Rouge abolished money, private property, jewelry, gambling, most reading material, and religion.
• Agriculture was collectivized, children were forced into the military, and strict rules governed sexual relations, vocabulary, and clothing.
• Pol Pot became prime minister in 1976 after Prince Norodom was forced to resign.

Conflict with Vietnam and Pol Pot's Later Years

• Border skirmishes between Cambodia and Vietnam intensified in 1977, leading to a full-scale war in 1978.
• Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh in 1979, forcing Pol Pot to flee and resume guerrilla operations.
• The Khmer Rouge received arms from China and political support from the United States throughout the 1980s.
• Pol Pot was captured by a Khmer Rouge splinter group in 1997 and died in 1998 due to heart failure at the age of 72.