Khmer Rouge

Khmer Rouge
In 1973, the signing of the Paris Peace Accords effectively “ended” the Vietnam War and allowed US troops to withdraw from the region. In fact, it actually sealed South Vietnam’s fate and the ensuing conflict destabilized a number of other countries, including Cambodia, allowing the Khmer Rouge to come to power.

Between 1965 and 1975, the expansion of the Vietnam War into neighboring regions aggravated Cambion political disputes. From as early as 1951, Vietnam communists facilitated the creation of a Cambodian communist party, which was first known as the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), though it was mostly controlled by Vietnamese. Throughout the next decade, the party went through a series of reforms to become the Workers’ Party of Kampuchea (WPK) in 1960 and later the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in 1966. The aim of the CPK was revolution over reform, and believed their task was to empower Cambodia’s peasant farmers and eradicate all vestiges of Western influence, intellectualism and technology.

Between 1965 and 1969, the US bombed 83 sites in Cambodia, including B-52 carpet bombing in 1969 to facilitate the withdrawal of US troops. They targeted North Vietnamese communists in the Cambodian jungle.

In March 1970, a coup was launched against Prince Sihanouk, ruler of Cambodia, resulting in a new government with Lon Nol, a pro-American general. Because of this, the Khmer Rouge, now supporting Sihanouk, began intensifying their attacks on the government. Widespread opposition to Lon Nol, combined with continued American bombing of Cambodia, helped build support for the Khmer Rouge and destabilize the Cambodian government. By 1972 the Khmer Rouge had more than 30,000 regular soldiers and more than 100,000 reservists.

The final phase of the U.S. bombing campaign, from January to August 1973, aimed to halt the rapid advance of the Khmer Rouge with a B-52 bombardment campaign that targeted heavily populated areas but affected the entire country. The effect of this was that the takeover of capital Phnom Penh was delayed, but the hard-lines within the CPK were strengthened and the bombings further turned Cambodians against Lon Nol, facilitating communist recruitment efforts. After the US bombing campaign ended, the Khmer Rouge and Lon Nol forces continued fighting for two more years.

By the start of 1975, it was clear the Khmer Rouge would soon be in control of the entire country. On April 1st, as Khmer Rouge forces approached the capital Phnom Penh, Lon Nol resigned and fled Cambodia. Twelve days later the United States military launched Operation Eagle Pull, a brief mission to evacuate American diplomats, foreigners and some Cambodian officials from Phnom Penh.

Initially, the Khmer Rouge were welcomed in the capital. However, they immediately evacuated the city and began searching for and arresting foreigners. They reinstated Sihanouk; however, the real rulers were the Angkar, the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, with Saloth Sar heading the organization. He was referred to as Pol Pot.

Socially, the Khmer Rouge began focusing on “rewinding” westernization and wanted to construct a Marxist-esque, classless, communal society. Schools and colleges were closed, foreign embassies were seized and Buddhist pagodas were destroyed. Cambodia’s legal system and courts were virtually abolished and replaced by the Khmer Rouge’s ‘death squads’ or its ‘re-education camps’. Cities, which the Khmer Rouge referred to as  “hives of bourgeois corruption”, were evacuated. Those with higher education were executed, while the rest were put to work in fields without adequate food, medical care, or shelter.

Accompanying the social reforms were high rates of death, as the government targeted anyone suspected of being an enemy to the revolution and sent them to the “killing fields.” During the KR reign, it is calculated that around 1-3 million people died from execution or from starvation and disease.

In 1979, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and drove Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from power. However, they left behind a legacy of unprecedented violence and death.

Sources:
https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/khmer-rouge/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399
https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/cambodia-u-s-bombing-civil-war-khmer-rouge/
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/the-khmer-rouge