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Khmer Rouge was the communist party that ruled Cambodia after overthrowing the Cambodian government. It is a brutal, disastrous rule that changed the country forever and shocked the world.

In’70, the Khmer Rouge soldiers began an insurgency against the government. They were helped by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, and used this combined power to gain control over more than two-thirds of the country in a short time. The popularity of the Khmer Rouge is witnessed by the dramatic rise in strength from 3,000 in the year’70 to 30,000 in’73. With this, most of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops had withdrawn.

Under the leadership of Pol Pot, in’75, “Democratic Kampuchea” came into existence after the government was brought down. Everything changed for the Cambodian people and all the peace and quiet vanished overnight, and the monstrous rule of the Khmer Rouge took over. They started demolishing everything that was held dear by the people of Cambodia. They evacuated full cities, destroyed property, closed factories and schools and made thousands of workers turn to farming. The worst part was the assassinations of millions of people. Later it was revealed that the death toll was more than 2 million people.

Things were not hunky dory with Vietnam too, leading to the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese in’79. This helped bring down the Khmer Rouge; however, its 30,000 strong army continued to flourish on the Thai border, to the extent that the United Nations gave it the recognition of the official Cambodian government.

In’82, this government entered into a coalition with former premier Norodom Sihanouk and Son Sann, who was a non-Communist leader. Leadership also changed hands from Pol Pot to Khieu Samphan, although it was widely believed that the real leader was still Pol Pot. In’91, all the Cambodian factions signed a treaty asking for UN-supervised elections and in’92; the UN assumed the administrative functions of the government. It was at this time that the Khmer Rouge disconnected itself from the peace process and started fighting. It also rejected the results of the UN-run elections that saw the beginning of a coalition government in Cambodia.

Internal disputes and disagreements led the Khmer Rouge to its own destruction in’97, with the imprisonment of Pol Pot, leading to his death within a year. Some of the members of this disturbed communist party surrendered, while others were captured and by’99 it all came to an end.

The extent of the mass assassinations in Cambodia was not known to the world until’79, when Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge. It was only then that the actual atrocities came to light.

Khmer Rouge is considered to be the deadliest and most shocking reigns of the modern era. The death toll is not an indication of the brutalities that Cambodians had to suffer in the hands of unscrupulous elements that formed the government. It created such an impact on the world that there never was another revolution that was worse than the one in Cambodia.

Visit KhmerArticles.com for more information about khmer people and the country of Cambodia.

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