Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Essay Sample

Section A: Purpose of Probe

After they seized power in Cambodia in April 1975. Saloth “Pol Pot” Sar and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the decease of 1. 5-3 million Cambodian’s and were possibly one of the most pitiless governments of the twentieth century. The purpose of this probe is to measure Pol Pot’s means of keeping power from 1975 to 1979. An history of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge’s drastic internal reforms including the slaughter of 1000000s. economic reorganisation. political restructuring. and the cultivation of social/ethnic groups will look in subdivision B. External forces including support from China and the United States and inhibitory steps such as censoring. anguish. and executing will be assessed. This probe will trust on and measure assorted beginnings relevant to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge including The Pol Pot Regime and When the War was Over. An analysis of the methods will be weighed and considered in Section D. In subdivision E. a decision will make based on the grounds and analysis presented.

Section B: Evidence

1. Panic

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge viciously killed 1000000s of Cambodians through forced labour. anguish. and famishment. Those who had old ties with the former government. people of the working category including attorneies. physicians. instructors. and even people who wore spectacless were eliminated from this “purified Cambodia” ( Chandler 58 ) . The Khmer Rouge targeted cultural Vietnamese. Kampuchean Christians. Muslims. Buddhist monastics. and twenty other minority groups ( News VOA ) . An estimated 50 % of the 425. 000 Chinese life in Cambodia in 1975 perished – Muslims were besides forced to eat port. those who refused were shot ( Gavin ) .

Pol Pot’s most ill-famed signifier of panic was his forced emptying of an estimated two million dwellers of Phnom Penh into the countryside at gunpoint. Pol Pot proclaimed in April 1975 to the people. “You must go forth rapidly. The Americans are traveling to bomb the metropolis. Go ten to twelve stat mis off. don’t take much with you. we’ll take attention of everything until you get back. you’ll return in two or three yearss every bit shortly as we’ve cleaned up the city” ( Ponchaud 7 ) . “In 1976. people were reclassified as full rights ( base ) people. campaigners. and depositees – so called because they included most of the new people who had been deposited from the metropoliss into the communes” ( Stanton ) . Depositees were marked for devastation. Their rations were limited coercing 100s of 1000s to hunger.

Civilians worked the killing Fieldss on a “diet of one Sn of rice ( 180 gms ) per individual every two yearss. where they would shortly get down deceasing from overwork. malnutrition. and disease” ( Gavin ) . The on the job conditions were awful as working yearss started every bit early as 4 a. m. and ended every bit late as 10 p. m. with merely two periods of remainder throughout this 18-hour twenty-four hours ( Becker ) . Children were taken off from parents and forced into kids brigades ; the aged were killed. Furthermore. “young Khmer Rouge soldiers” administered these communes “eager to kill anyone for the slightest infractions” ( Kiernan add page figure ) .

The chief signifier of penalty for the offense for the offense of talking out against the Khmer Rouge was decease. In S-21 or Tuol Sleng. 20. 000 captives were viciously tortured into giving false confessions. and exterminated during the regulation of the Khmer Rouge. Anguish methods were highly barbarous as the anguish system was intended to “make captives squeal to whatever offenses their capturers charged them with” ( Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum ) . These methods included “electric dazes. scorching hot metal instruments and hanging” ( Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum ) . Violations punishable by decease include non working hard plenty. kicking about life conditions. roll uping or stealing nutrient for personal ingestion. and sorrowing over the loss of relatives” ( More or Less ) . An estimated 1. 5 million people were worked or starved to decease. died of disease or exposure. or were summarily executed for violations of cantonment subject.

During Pol Pot’s regulation. aliens were expelled and embassies were closed.

2. Propaganda:

Until 1975. the Khmer Rouge were popular. Originally. they had promised to raise the life criterions of the hapless. therefore guaranting the support of the people. When they took over they collectivized everything: cowss. American bison. home bases. everything ( Kiernan 185 ) . Pol Pot wished to put up an agricultural Utopia inspired by Mao Zedong. Like Mao Zedong. Pol Pot implemented a policy similar to the Great Leap Forward declaring “Year Zero” in an effort to sublimate society of all Western influences including “capitalism. Western civilization. metropolis life. faith. and all foreign influences” and transform Cambodia into a peasant – Communistic province ( Cook ) . “The CPK [ Communist Party of Kampuchea ] attempted to deflect people’s attending from their state of affairs by informing the provincials that life in Cambodia was superior to that in Vietnam. where people were reduced to eating husk. while Chairman Mao’s socialism was conveying advancement in China” guaranting that Cambodia would shortly follow ( Kiernan 185 ) .

Pol Pot insisted that Cambodia would non be independent until the economic system and society grew jointly. “To achieve our independency. domestic peace. and unity. we must mobilise the people’s forces to construct an classless society without rich or poor…if the economic system grows. society grows too…” ( Ponchaud 74 ) . During Pol Pot’s stay in power. Marxist books became widespread. including the Communist Manifesto. Libraries had reopened and shared these communist books with lycees ( Ponchaud 154 ) . Nevertheless. censoring was widespread and there was merely one newspaper in circulation during Pol Pot’s four old ages in power. This publication portrayed falsified information of Cambodia’s economic developments and mistreatment towards its citizens ( Chandler 35 ) .

3. Foreign Aid:

Foreign assistance came chiefly from the United States and China – “in one estimation. [ the United States gave ] $ 85 million in direct support – and it “pressured UN bureaus to provide the Khmer Rouge. ” which “rapidly improved” the wellness and capableness of Pol Pot’s forces…” ( Herman. China was Cambodia’s chief weaponries provider and trade spouse. supplying them with rice. fabric. drugs. gasolene. and machines” . Pol Pot besides received equipment from Thailand. Belgrade. and other Alliess. China supplied Cambodia MiG’s. Chinese built combatant planes and other arms ( Kiernan 317 ) .

4. Internal & A ; External Enemies:

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge made many enemies during his reign in power including those affiliated with the old authorities and the good educated. because he deemed them “detrimental to the Angkor State” ( Cook ) . The Khmer Rouge besides targeted cultural groups deemed “non-Khmer” including “the Chams. Laos. Vietnamese. and cultural Chinese. ” nevertheless others claim that the government discriminated against enemies of revolution instead than against specific cultural or spiritual groups” ( Kiernan 252 ) .

Cambodia’s ongoing discord with Vietnam was an chance for Pol Pot to unify the Kampuchean people. He inspired the Kampuchean people by proclaiming “the enemy is hesitating towards us…It is impossible for the enemy to assail us” ( Kiernan 358 ) .

Section C: Evaluation of Beginnings

Kiernan. Ben. The Pol Pot Regime: Race. Power. and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. 1975-79. 2nd. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2002

This book was written by an Australian Yale University professor. Ben Kiernan. who has extended cognition on the history of Southeast Asia. peculiarly Cambodia. provincial surveies. and race murder. The 2nd edition of The Pol pot Government: Race. Power. and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge was published in 2002 as portion of the Yale University Genocide Studies Program by the Yale University Press. This work was written to inform persons of the nature of the Khmer Rouge government under Pol Pot with a focal point on the Khmer Rouge revolution. the Totalitarian policies of the Khmer Rouge. and the race murder that killed approximately a one-fourth of the Kampuchean population.

This book is good to my research as it provides an in-depth analysis of what reforms took topographic point and how the Kampuchean people were treated one time Pol Pot took power in 1975. The book provides several interviews with Cambodians depicting what they endured and how the Pol Pot government transformed Kampuchean society. Sing that Ben Kiernan is an Australian author. his position of the events in Cambodia is purely as a witness. Bing a non-Cambodian. Ben Kiernan’s mentality might be influenced by Western civilization. hence holding a little prejudice. Kiernan’s most recent publication was published in 2004 and is entitled How Pol Pot Came into Power.

Becker. Elizabeth. When The War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge

Revolution. New York: Public Affairs. 1998.

This piece is written by an American journalist and writer who specializes in Asiatic personal businesss. Elizabeth Becker. She started her calling as a war letter writer for The Washington Post covering Cambodia. She left Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge expelled all aliens from the state in April 1975. She was one of two American journalists allowed by the Khmer Rouge to return to Democratic Kampuchea briefly in 1978. This book focuses on the Kampuchean Gallic colonialism epoch. resurgence of Kampuchean patriotism. the instruction of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. and the killing Fieldss of Cambodia. This book aids in my research as Becker merges original historical research with the many voices of those who lived through the times including sole interviews with every Kampuchean leader of the past one-fourth century. to analyse how Pol Pot consistently reorganized Kampuchean society. This book is besides good because Ms. Becker lived in Cambodia and was able to see the effects of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia first manus. Although this book is written from a Western point of view. Elizabeth Becker was present in 1978 to see Cambodia under Pol Pot’s government. She besides provided histories from civilians and top functionaries of the period. However. the histories of Pol Pot himself are non provided – this in itself is a minor restriction.

Section D: Analysis

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were able to remain in power between 1975 and 1979 due to a assortment of grounds. The Khmer Rouge ab initio used propaganda to obtain the support of the Kampuchean people. They promised provincials higher life criterions and representation in the authorities – deriving support in the multitudes. Pol Pot successfully evacuated the metropoliss by stating the citizens that it was a safety safeguard in the instance of an American onslaught – fring Cambodia of all Western Influence.

Pol Pot used censoring as a agency of glorying Cambodia’s economic developments and social growing. This besides guaranting the repose of the Kampuchean people. Nevertheless. propaganda was non the lone method used by Pol Pot to remain in power throughout those four old ages. Panic was used to scare Cambodians into entry. The Khmer Rouge politically oppressed opposing parties and “Non-Khmer” ethic groups. claiming they were enemies of the revolution. By Pol Pot’s subjugation of political parties. he hindered the spread of oppositional messages and a growing of an resistance to him – forestalling an early overthrow.

By set uping communes. Pol Pot was able to prehend absolute c0ontrol over the Kampuchean population. Tuel Sleng. a prison and question centre was used by the Khmer Rouge to brutally torment some 20. 000 captives ( Carvin ) . Anguish. although extremely inhibitory and barbarous. instilled fright in the Black Marias of Cambodians. which presented the possibility of rebellions. The usage of panic had many benefits for the Khmer Rouge as they utilized it as a agency to extinguish people with ties to the former government. intimidated the Vietnamese and Buddhist monastics to farther sublimate the Kampuchean society. and extinguish resistance. Pol Pot’s emptying of an estimated two million people from the metropolis of Phnom Penh to the Fieldss of Cambodia was necessary non merely to efficaciously transform Cambodia into an Agrarian based society. but besides to

Although foreign assistance did non play a important function in keeping Pol Pot’s power. it should be addressed. The United States and China played a function in support and back uping the Khmer Rouge. China funded the Khmer Rouge with weaponries and equipment to overhaul Pol Pot’s military. Pol Pots’s confederation with China. Thailand. Belgrade. and other U. S. Alliess increased the United States’ domain of influence in South Asia. Sing Cambodia’s ongoing tenseness with the Soviet funded Vietnam. their confederation with the United States was inevitable. Bing that the United States and the U. S. S. R. were in an on-going conflict to spread out their domains of influence in South Asia. Pol Pot’s siding with the United States was due to foreign fortunes. more specifically. Vietnam’s siding with the U. S. S. R. ( Herman ) .

As mentioned. Cambodia’s discord with Vietnam was an chance for Pol Pot to unify the Kampuchean people – imparting chauvinistic sentiment amongst civilians. by carrying the people that Vietnam was an attacker. militarily incapable of assailing Cambodia.

Section Tocopherol: Decision

Pol Pot was non able to remain in power due to a exclusive factor or method. but instead a figure of grounds. As illustrated. Pol Pot worked under the stalking-horse that Cambodia should free itself of the enemy and revert to an Agrarian society similar to that of Mao Zedong. His care of power was ab initio assured by the agencies of propaganda to derive support of the multitudes. Once in power. the Khmer Rouge instituted panic to transfuse fright in Cambodians likewise. Foreign funding modernized the Kampuchean military and this helped Pol Pot achieve the purpose of keeping power through military forces.

Plants Cited List

Carvin. Andy. “The Horrors of Tuol Sleng. ” KR Old ages: S-21. 1999. 18 Sept. 2006.

Chandler. David. Brother Number One. Centennial state: Westview Press Inc. . 1992.

Cook. Vincent. Pol Pot and the Marxist Ideal. George Mason University. 19 April 2006

hypertext transfer protocol: //www. gmu. edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/cook. htm

Herman. Edwards. “Pol Pot and Kissinger” Z Magazine. 17 April 2006

World Wide Web. zmag. org/zmag/articles/hermansept97. htm

Kiernan. Ben. The Pol Pot Regime. United States of America: Yale University Press.

2002.

News VOA. Cambodia Tribunal. 1 June 2005. News VOA. 18 Sept. 2006.

“Pol Pot Killer File” 24 September 2001. Moreorless. 18 April 2006.

hypertext transfer protocol: //moreorless. gold. com/killers/pot. hypertext markup language

Ponchaud. Francois. Cambodia: Year Zero. New York: Holt Rinehard and Winston. 1979.