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Augugliaro/ Kempton/ Patten.  In 1953 Cambodia gained independence from France after nearly 100 years of colonist rule.  The population of Cambodia.

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Presentation on theme: "Augugliaro/ Kempton/ Patten.  In 1953 Cambodia gained independence from France after nearly 100 years of colonist rule.  The population of Cambodia."— Presentation transcript:

1 Augugliaro/ Kempton/ Patten

2  In 1953 Cambodia gained independence from France after nearly 100 years of colonist rule.  The population of Cambodia was just over 7 million people, almost all of whom were Buddhist.  Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. It is less than half the size of California.

3  During the Vietnam War, Cambodia became a staging ground for battle between US troops and the Viet-Cong.  From 1970-1974 as many as 750,000 Cambodian civilians died from U.S. B-52 bombings on suspected Viet-Cong villages.

4  The government of Cambodia in 1970-1974 was supporting the United States.  Upset with the loss of Cambodian lives due to U.S. bombings, a communist group the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot fought to take power.  With 700,000 men, and the support of the nation, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge took power in 1975.

5  Promised with images of hope and recovery, the people supported Pol Pot.  However, in 1975 his extremist views of collectivization and communal labor were put in motion.  All political and civil rights of the citizens were abolished. All religions were banned.

6  In order to create the “ideal communism” Pol Pot felt that all Cambodians must be peasant workers on collectives.  All opposition was to be killed. All city dwellers and educated people were forced to wear blue scarves, so they can be targeted more easily.  Survival was based on your ability to work. The elderly, young, ill, and handicapped were often executed immediately.

7  Under the threat of death, Cambodians nationwide were forced from the cities and their homes.  People were sent to collectives and work camps.  Children were separated from their parents and sent to separate work camps.  Those who survived the purges and forced evacuations were sent to live in communes & work camps with little to no food or rest.

8  Pol Pot also created torture camps in which prisoners would be interrogated and beaten to death with iron bars and cement blocks.  The Khmer Rouge would force civilians to dig their own graves and then beat them to death or buried them alive.

9  All doctors, professionals, educated people, government officials, and all who spoke foreign languages were targeted and killed.  Due to conditions of slave labor, starvation, injury, and illness, many became unable to work. They were killed off by the Khmer Rouge.  These collectives and mass graves became known as The Killing Fields.  In total 1.7 million people were killed in 3 years. It was 25% of the total 7 million people who lived there.

10  In 1979, the Vietnamese took control of Cambodia when they invaded and forced Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge out of power.  Even the Vietnamese were shocked when they came across the most infamous torture camp of the Khmer Rouge, S-21.  Only 7 people are believed to have survived from this camp. Over 14,000 people were sent there.

11  Because Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were a communist regime, many western nations did not help.  After the failure of Vietnam, the United States called their policy “willful neglect”. ◦ The US and UK actually supported the Khmer Rouge in the 1980’s in hope they would defeat the Vietnamese.  During the Genocide there was no intervention from any country or the United Nations.

12  In 1991 a peace agreement was made making Buddhism the national religion forcing the Vietnamese out.  In 1993 Cambodia held their first democratic elections.  In 1994 the UN called for tribunals to charge those responsible for their crimes  The trials only began in 2007. Pol Pot died in 1998, and most of his leaders also perished. Commander Duch, warden of S-21 has since been charged with crimes against humanity and genocidal actions. S-21 Footage


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