the khmer rouge regime a personal nightmare sparknotes

THE KHMER ROUGE REGIME A PERSONAL NIGHTMARE SPARKNOTES FULL

It lacked the equipment and manpower to fight a conventional war against Lon Nol’s forces which were backed by the United States. 8 During this phase, the Khmer Rouge was largely an auxiliary force supporting the Vietnamese. Much of the initial fighting was done by North Vietnamese troops resisting Lon Nol’s attempts to cut off their route through Cambodia into South Vietnam. Pol Pot led a military campaign against the new government.

The Prince was popular with the peasants and the alliance increased the number of Khmer Rouge troops from 6,000 to 50,000. 6 But after Sihanouk was deposed, the Khmer Rouge formed an alliance of convenience with him against the new government. The Khmer Rouge opposed Sihanouk for his autocratic and ‘feudalistic’ rule. But in 1970, Sihanouk was deposed in a right-wing coup led by the nationalist and anti-communist Prime Minister, Lon Nol. After the Geneva Conference of 1954, mediated by Switzerland, France formally recognised Cambodian independence. Low-level conflict erupted as a result and, due to both this conflict and France’s defeat in neighbouring Vietnam, the French relinquished sovereignty over Cambodia in 1953.

THE KHMER ROUGE REGIME A PERSONAL NIGHTMARE SPARKNOTES FULL

Under Sihanouk’s leadership, the French had granted Cambodia ‘internal autonomy’ in 1946, but refused to grant them full independence. 5Ĭambodia at that time was ruled by Prince Sihanouk. The bombing caused thousands of Cambodian casualties which increased support for the Khmer Rouge. It was known as the Ho Chi Minh trail after the leader of the North Vietnamese government 4. 3 On 18 March 1969, the USA began bombing part of Cambodia close to Vietnam in an attempt to destroy a route used by North Vietnamese communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam. With continued Viet Minh support – and, more crucially, support from the Chinese Communist Party – the Cambodian Communist Party grew and formed its own distinct independence movement. Consequently Cambodians were allowed to join, including the man who became the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge initially grew out of the Viet-Minh a communist movement in Vietnam which sought the expulsion of French occupiers not just from Vietnam but from Cambodia and Laos, too. “Khmer” was a reference to the ancient Khmer Kingdom which ruled over the region and “Rouge” – French for red – reflected the party’s communist ideology. The Communist Party in Cambodia was known as the “Khmer Rouge”. Between 21 and 24 per cent of the population is estimated to have died. These deaths were a higher proportion of the population than that of all the other purges and periods of starvation in other communist regimes in the 20 th century. Overall, at least 1.5 million people were killed or starved to death.

The name arose from the many deaths which took place literally in the fields of Cambodia. “The Killing Fields” is a phrase that has come to mean mass killings and deaths by starvation that took place at the hand of the communist regime in Cambodia between 19.

The khmer rouge regime a personal nightmare sparknotes