An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society in Cambodia resulted in the deaths of 25% of the country’s population from starvation, overwork and execution.
Born in 1925, Pol Pot had attended college in Paris in 1949, where he developed an interest in Marxism.
He returned to Cambodia in 1953 and led a Communist movement there, becoming leader of the Cambodian Communist Party in 1962.
He had to flee to the jungle, though, as Prince Sihanouk did not agree with him. There, he formed the Khmer Rouge and waged a war against Sihanouk.
From 1975 to 1979 over 2 million people were killed. To save ammunition, executions were performed using hammers, axe handles, spades and sharpened bamboo sticks.
The bodies of those executed were buried in mass graves that became known as “killing fields”.
Related Posts
Ted Bundy American serial killer Theodore Robert Bundy was born on 24 November 1946 at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers…
Richardsons, The Charlie Richardson was born in Camberwell, south-east London in 1934. His brother Eddie was born in 1936, the youngest sibling…
Edward Heath 1 9 1 6 - 2 0 0 5 Edward Richard George Heath was born at Broadstairs, Kent, in 1916…
Robert Muldoon 1 9 2 1 - 1 9 9 2 New Zealand National Party right-of-centre politician and NZ prime minister from…
Gough Whitlam Born in 1916, Edward Gough Whitlam was elected to the Australian parliament in 1952 and became the leader of the…
Richard Nixon 1 9 1 3 - 1 9 9 4 Unless you were actually there, it's hard to imagine just how…
Protest Movement Protests in the 1960s can be divided into two main categories; those provoked by racial tensions, such as the ghetto…
Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1930. The grandson of an influential politician and businessman, Fraser was…
