In 1968, the Khmer Rouge officially launched a nation-wide insurgency across Cambodia. Even though the government of
Sihanouk … See more

Ideology played an important role in the genocide. Pol Pot was influenced by Marxism–Leninism and he wanted to transform Cambodia into an entirely self-sufficient agrarian socialist society that would be fr… See more

Analysis of existing mortality estimates show that men accounted for 81% of all violent deaths and 67% of all excess deaths in this period. The killing of about 50–70% of Cambodia's working-age men led to a shif… See more

The Khmer Rouge exploited thousands of desensitized, conscripted children in their early teens to commit mass murder and other atrocities during and after the genocide. The indoctrinated children were taught to fo… See more

The Khmer Rouge regime is also well known for practicing torturous medical experiments on prisoners. People were imprisoned and tortured merely on suspicion of opposing the regime or because ot… See more

Ben Kiernan estimates that between 1.671 million to 1.871 million Cambodians died as a result of Khmer Rouge policy, or between 21% and 24% of Cambodia's 1975 population. A study by French demograph… See more

Although executions of public officials of the old regime had taken place after Phnom Penh fell, 20 May 1975 is commemorated in Cambodia as the date that the Khmer Rouge campaign against private citizens began and … See more