Khmer Rouge

Guide Note:

The Khmer Rouge (translated as "Red Khmer") was the Communist-inspired ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During its time in power, the Khmer Rouge attempted to completely remake Cambodian society by systematically imprisoning and executing anywhere between one million and three million of its own people, primarily those considered urban and intellectual. The Khmer Rouge were driven from power by the Communist Vietnamese Army in 1979.

Fast Facts:

1. Leaders: Pol Pot, Nuon Chea
2. Years in Power: 1975-1979
3. During Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia was known as Democratic Kampuchea
4. Killed one to three million of their own people in massive social engineering experiment
5. Overthrown by Vietnam in 1979

Although both the Khmer Rouge and the forces in Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh both espoused Communism, the Khmer Rouge allied themselves with China, while North Vietnam, and later, Vietnam, allied themselves with the Soviet Union. The party, led by Pol Pot, adopted a draconian view in establishing Communism in Cambodia. All opposition to the establishment of Communism in Cambodia needed to be exterminated, and this, according to the Khmer Rouge, needed to be done through a form of murderous social engineering: the planned execution of the educated classes, along with their family, friends, and acquaintances. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge sought to remake the nation from the ground up, using rural farmers and their families as the main beneficiaries of the revolution. After the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the leaders of the movement hid in northern Cambodia, where many lived into the 1990s without ever being brought to justice.