O Pol Pot example essay topic

Cambodian Genocide " What is rotten must be removed " When: 1975-1979 vs. 1925: Pol Pot (Sloth Sar) is born into a farming family in central Cambodiav 1949: Pol Pot moves to Paris and becomes absorbed in Marxism (communism) vs. 1953: Pol Pot returns to Cambodia and joins the underground Communist movement 1962: Pol Pot, now leader of the Cambodian Communist Party, is forced to flee into the jungle and forms the armed resistance movement against Prince Sihanouk, known as the Khmer Rouge and wages war on Sihanouk 1970: Prince Sihanouk is ousted by a U.S. military coup and joins Pol Pot's group in opposing the new military government 1970: U.S. invasion of Cambodian border occupied by the North Vietnamese, forces the Vietnamese deeper into the jungle where they ally themselves with the Khmer Rouge 1969-1973: The U.S. occasionally bombs North Vietnamese sanctuaries in eastern Cambodia, killing 150,000 Cambodian peasants, and hundreds of thousands of Cambodian peasants fled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capitol vs. By 1975: U.S. had withdrawn all troops from Vietnam and Cambodia lost its American military support April 17, 1975: Seizing the opportunity in Cambodia's disorganized government, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army marched into Phnom Penh and took control of Cambodiav December 25, 1978: Vietnam launches a full-scale attack of Cambodia vs. January 7, 1979: Phnom Penh falls and Pol Pot was deposed vs. 1979-1996: Pol Pot retreats into Thailand with his Khmer Rouge and continues to attack a succession of Cambodian government sv 1996: Pol Pot loses control of the Khmer Rouge vs. April 1998: Pol Pot dies of a heart attack before he could be tried for the events of 1975-1979. Where: Cambodiav Cambodia in South East Asian Pol Pot renamed Cambodia the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" and instituted prisons and new provincial boundaries all over Cambodia, including the evacuation of Cambodia's capital: Phnom Penh, and S-21: a secret prison operated by Pol Pot's regime in Phnom Penh vs. Vietnam: which attacked on the borders of Cambodia leading to the overthrow of Pol Pot Application of the United Nations Definition: Killing of members of the group: vs. Deadly purges to kill many target groups 20,000 tortured and killed in Tool Slengv People suspected of disloyalty were shot on sight 212,500 Chinese living in Cambodia perished 20,000 killed on the evacuation of Phnom Penh Causing serious bodily or mental harm Prisoners in the camps were beaten to submission so that they would not question authority and only work Imposed a harsh schedule on those who survived the march from the cities, so that the only thing they could think of was sleep, if they resisted while working, they were shot In camps, prisoners were tortured into false confessions of crimes and were beaten until they believed what they said Told that "whether or not you die is not of great significance " Inflicting on the group conditions of life Forcibly evacuated all cities vs. March to the countryside, as many as 20,000 died along the way Millions forced into slave labor Accustomed to city life, the Cambodians started to die from diet of one tin of rice every other day, 18 hours of work every day, one day of rest every 10 days, disease, malnutrition, and overwork, in Pol Pot's "killing fields" Imposing measures to prevent births and Transferring children of the group Pol Pot did not try to prevent births of the target groups, he tried to force births from the acceptable Cambodian population Pol Pot forcibly took thousands of children from the cities, marry them in communal's against their will, and force them to have children vs. The women that were of the target groups had their children not old enough for reproduction killed brutally Determination of Target Group: Communist opposition, ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese, Buddhist monks, anyone of "the old society"vs. Pol Pot said "What is rotten must be removed" and that 1975 was "year zero". His idea of recreating society was to "purify" Cambodia by removing capitalism, western culture, city life, religion, and all foreign influences, in favor of peasant Communism The educated The wealthy Buddhist monks Police, doctors, lawyers, teachers, former government officials and anyone else who had a position of authority or intelligence in Cambodiav Ex-soldiers and their families Anyone suspected of disloyalty vs. Ethnic groups, the Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cham Muslims, and 20 other smaller groups Political and Economic Motivation: vs. Leaders were o Pol Pot, who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the person behind the genocide o Ta Mok, known as "the butcher", set up guerrilla stronghold in northern Cambodia after Vietnam deposed Khmer Rouge in 1979 o I eng Sary, a powerful Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen, another powerful Khmer Rouge commander who is now Cambodia's current prime minister Norodom Shianouk, who was the head of state during the genocide vs. After prince Shianouk was ousted, the U.S. set up a military government, which held until Pol Pot set up a communist government in 1975 with almost no communication or ties to the outside world When Pol Pot seized control in 1975, Cambodia was in a state of economic, military, and political destabilization, because of the bombings of Vietnamese sanctuaries, the massive alliances of Pol Pot, and because of the mass settlement in Phnom Penh Deliberate and systematic methods that were employed: Pol Pot, leader of 'Democratic Republic of Kampuchea' enforced the following: vs. Schools were closed, currency and markets abolished, Buddhist monasteries shut down vs. All the people were forced to march out of the capital, Phnom Penh vs. Leaders of the CPK promised power, respect and responsibility to those who joined the revolution; this appealed to the citizens who had always been powerless vs. In addition, Party members were allowed to wear watches, carry weapons and listen to portable radios, unlike everyone else vs. City dwellers under Democratic Kampuchea were kept prisoner; they could not walk around freely or socialize in groups of more than two people vs. 1 out of every 7 people died from overwork, insufficient feeding, diseases and most importantly, executions; 200,000 people were murdered vs. S-21, the secret prison in Phnom Penh, was operated by the communist group Khmer Rouge vs. Targets: people thought to have betrayed the revolutionary movement vs. Once captured, people were photographed and tortured until they confessed to whatever crimes they were charged with, then immediately executed vs. Out of 14,200 prisoners at S-21, only about 7 survived A Khmer slogan read: 'To spare you is no profit; to destroy you is no loss. ' Moral Hatred: vs. Pol Pot and his accomplices justified their horrific acts as a way to 'purify' Cambodia. vs. They wanted to cleanse the nation of cities and the foreign educated elite.

They emptied out all urban centers, abolished banks, finance and currency, and outlawed all religions. vs. They exterminated every person in a high position with an important job in the society, especially intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers and artists, who were all murdered. vs. The Communist Party declared that the bodies of the executed people would not be cremated because precious firewood could not be wasted on 'trash. ' Resistance and resilience: There was not much opportunity for the target groups to resist or fight back - the few brave individuals that spoke their minds were immediately executed. Any failure to admit to the crimes that the people were accused with resulted in extreme methods of torture: vs. burning and piercing the skin with a blazing hot rod vs. punching in teeth vs. beating with metal poles vs. sending electric shocks throughout the body The members of Khmer Rouge also consumed the livers of their victims, which was a sign of power and strength.