The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម) was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the totalitarian ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan.
This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering and the deaths this caused. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even i...
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The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម) was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the totalitarian ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan.
This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering and the deaths this caused. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.
Khmer Rouge means 'Red Khmers' in French, the administrative language of colonial-era Cambodia (the Khmer people are the major ethnic group in Cambodia). The term was originally coined by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Cambodian Head of...
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