Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge (ខ្មែរក្រហម; Kmae Krɑhɑɑm) was the ruling political party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During that period, Cambodia was renamed the Democratic Kampuchea. The term Khmer Rouge, meaning "Red Khmer", was coined by Norodom Sihanouk to refer to Communist parties in Cambodia, and later came into widespread use by English speakers.

The Khmer Rouge is most well-known for its genocide of over two million people, or an estimated fifteen to twenty percent of Cambodia's population at the time. In terms of the fraction of the population killed, the Khmer Rouge is ranked as one of the most lethal regimes of the 20th century. These deaths were caused in part when the Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of social engineering, such as forcing the entire population into labor on collective farms and other forced labor projects, on Cambodian society. The Khmer Rouge also tortured and eventually executed everyone considered as belonging to any of several categories of "enemies".

Origins

The Khmer Rouge originated in the 1960s, as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. It initially accomplished little, until a right-wing military coup took over from Prince Norodom Sihanouk. At that time, the Khmer Rouge allied with Sihanouk, gaining support. During a five-year civil war, it gradually gained control of rural areas, eventually taking Phnom Penh in 1975.