|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Khmer Rouge , name given to native Cambodian Communists. Khmer Rouge soldiers, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began a large-scale insurgency against government forces in 1970, quickly gaining control over more than two thirds of the country. The strength of the Khmer Rouge rose dramatically from around 3,000 in 1970 to more than 30,000 in 1973, enabling most of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops to withdraw. ... In 1979, after increasing tensions with Vietnam, Vietnamese troops invaded, aiding a rival Communist faction to depose the Khmer Rouge government. The Khmer Rouge, however, continued to field an army of c. ... Khieu Samphan officially succeeded Pol Pot as head of the Khmer Rouge in 1985, but Pol Pot was believed to remain the real leader. ... In 1992 the United Nations assumed the governments administrative functions, while the Khmer Rouge withdrew from the peace process and resumed fighting. The following year the Khmer Rouge rejected the results of the UN-run elections that brought a coalition government to Cambodia. ... Factional fighting within the Khmer Rouge in 1997 led to Pol Pots ouster, trial, and imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. ...
The reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia ranks as one of the most disastrous in modern history. ... Scholars currently investigating mass graves in Cambodia now estimate Pol Pots three-and-a-half year reign led to the deaths of more than two million people. There were no precise statistics on the population of the country when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, but it is likely that the number of deaths represented between fifteen and twenty percent of the entire population.
Moreover, an important fact to remember regarding the Khmer Rouge period is that the death toll alone does not fully reflect the severity of their rule. ... Overnight, Cambodia became a nation of slaves. For every Cambodian old enough to remember the events of 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge reign would mark a turning point in their lives.
The extremism of the Khmer Rouge was not merely rooted in evil. It is doubtful that the Khmer Rouge were morally any worse than, for example, the right-wing death squads in El Slavador or Guatemala.
Approximate Word count = 1827
Approximate Pages = 7.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|