In the early years, however, the Khmer Rouge had few victories. From there they launched an armed insurgency aimed at gaining control of the state from Sihanouk. Initially small in number, the group operated quietly in the capital Phnom Penh until 1963 when the leaders and their growing band of supporters fled to the countryside. The special tribunal in Cambodia set up to examine atrocities under the fanatical rule of the Khmer Rouge has held its final hearing, upholding the 2018 conviction for genocide and crimes. ![]() ![]() Under the Khmer Rouge, the group’s leaders believed, the Cambodian people would regain the international heft and stature they had created for themselves during the Khmer Empire. The Cambodian Genocide was the result of a social engineering project by the Khmer Rouge, attempting to create a classless agrarian society. During their brutal four-year rule, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of nearly a quarter of Cambodians. They also stressed self-reliance and intense nationalism-Cambodia was said to be in danger of extinction at the hands of its historical enemies Vietnam and Thailand (formerly Siam) and their Cold War allies. The Khmer Rouge had taken power in the country following the Cambodian Civil War. Increasing food production through collective farming, they believed, would ensure economic security for Cambodia’s overwhelmingly poor village population. The Khmer Rouge demanded unquestioning loyalty to the nameless and faceless regime that people knew simply as Angkar, or the organization. Inspired by the teachings of Mao Zedong, the Khmer Rouge came to espouse a radical agrarian ideology based on strict one-party rule, rejection of urban and Western ideas, and abolition of private property. Khmer Rouge soldiers march at Angkor Wat.
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