Difference between revisions of "Killing Fields"

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The Killing Fields is a collective name for several mass execution sites used by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975-1979.  
 
The Killing Fields is a collective name for several mass execution sites used by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975-1979.  
  
== Historical Background ==
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=== Historical Background ===
  
 
On April 17, 1975, after five years of civil war, the totalitarian communist party known as the Khmer Rouge (French: Red Khmers) invaded the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and took over government of the country. Three days after taking the city, the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of the city on the pretext that American bombers would attack the city once it had fallen to the Communists. Within hours, the city was largely emptied of its nearly 2 million inhabitants.
 
On April 17, 1975, after five years of civil war, the totalitarian communist party known as the Khmer Rouge (French: Red Khmers) invaded the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and took over government of the country. Three days after taking the city, the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of the city on the pretext that American bombers would attack the city once it had fallen to the Communists. Within hours, the city was largely emptied of its nearly 2 million inhabitants.

Revision as of 20:02, November 16, 2009

The Killing Fields is a collective name for several mass execution sites used by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975-1979.

Historical Background

On April 17, 1975, after five years of civil war, the totalitarian communist party known as the Khmer Rouge (French: Red Khmers) invaded the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and took over government of the country. Three days after taking the city, the Khmer Rouge ordered the evacuation of the city on the pretext that American bombers would attack the city once it had fallen to the Communists. Within hours, the city was largely emptied of its nearly 2 million inhabitants.

In the ensuing months, the majority of Cambodian civilians were herded onto collective farms and forced to work under brutal conditions, under which an estimated 1.6 million Cambodians died due to starvation, illness, forced labor and execution.

The Khmer Rouge regime worked fervently to root out its perceived enemies, targeting politicians and soldiers of the former government. Believing that peasant class were "untainted" by capitalist sentiment, the government worked to eliminate all others to ensure a pure Maoist ideology. In pursuit of this goal, the Khmer Rouge sought out anyone fitting its broad definition of "intellectuals," including those who spoke a foreign languages or wore glasses or a wristwatch.[1]


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945394,00.html
  1. http://www.cambodia.org/khmer_rouge/