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Please Note
Although the information the information is true some dates are within the time frame of the event but a specific day is not accessible.
Over specific points in the timeline there will be points referred to as additional notes that will give additional information and analysis. -
Deposing a Prince
Prince Sikanouk is over thrown and Lon Nol is becomes the new president. during Sikanouk's reign he held a neutral position to the US and the Vietcong during the Vietnam war. Lon Nol on the other hand favored the US and was backed by them. As Lon Nol was backed by the US, he allowed US troops to enter Cambodia and bomb possible Vietcong positions. -
Who were the Khmer Rouge
This group was the communist political party of Cambodia this party would eventually take over their country. The party would be soon be led by Pol Pot a Cambodia who favoured Mao’s version of communism and planed on centralizing the country into a country fouled purely by farming. As many of the transition was rushed the road to communism lead Cambodia to commit genocide to their own people. -
Civil War
By 1973 much of Cambodia (85% of the country) was under the control of the Khmer Rouge (a communist group lead by Pol Pot). The Cambodian army was unable to mount proper defences by the Us continued to fight for 2 more years. -
Additional Notes #1
The momentum of the rebellion was impart due to Cambodians distaste towards the US as they had bombed much of Cambodia to crunch Vietcong forces in Cambodia and to discourage Cambodians to stay away from communism. Ironically this pushed Cambodians to join with Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge to get rid of the US supporting Lon Nol. -
Khmer Rouge's strangths
by 1975 the Khmer rouge's army numbered 700,000. recruits joined them as American's bombardment of Cambodia and people unhappy that Lon Nol's collaboration with the US. -
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Cambodian genocide
Class structure, schools, private property, religion, foreign clothing, education and even some of the Cambodian culture, all of these were things that the Khmer Rouge had wished to eliminate. Even basic concepts of family were removed by the Khmer Rouge. The people in Cambodia were denied human rights and people were not allowed to gather and discuss things. People that did such things were arrested or executed. by the state and over 25% of the population were killed in the genocide. -
Rise of the Rouge
The Khmer rouge takes over Cambodia and begin to implement the reforms for the country. The KR (Khmer Rouge) plan on moving the population from the cities to farm land. -
Move! People, Move!
Shortly after the Khmer take over they began to execute their plan, by pushing out the cities' population to use as farm labour. 2 000 000 people were move out of the cities and forced to work in farms. During the evacuation many thousands of people died in khmer's attempt of collectivization in Cambodia. -
The New Prisions
many of former schools, temples and buildings were used as prisons for those that disagreed with the Khmer rouge. Such prisons included the prison known as S-21, prisoners were subject to harsh rules and treatment. -
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Time In Prisons
To be sent to one of these prisons was essentially a death sentence and most did not make it out alive. in S-21 10s of thousands were sent to the former school now prison with only a hand full of survivors. -
Additional Notes
When the Khmer Rouge initiated their plan they did not put proper time for people to change and embrace their ideas instead they forced people to shift to their reforms days after Pol Pot was put in to power. Without the infrastructure or time to allow for the changes their reforms caused many deaths just from moving people to the communal farms and more from killing everone that disagreed with them. -
Begining of the End
During 1977 conflicts between Cambodia and Vietnam broke out. The Khmer Rouge sent tens of thousands to fight the Vietnamese resulting in many thousands of deaths -
Communist vs. Communist
The Vietnamese begin an invasion of Cambodia. Although the two nations were both communist, both countries had had much tension and animosity towards each other and their communist policies did not fix it. The Khmer troops were ill equipped and offered little resistance. -
Khmer Rogue on their Last Leg
The Vietnamese army had pushed through the Khmer Rouge west and on January 7, 1979 had taken the capital of Cambodia Phnom Penh and much of the country. -
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China on the Charge
China fearing a united Vietnam and Cambodia invaded Vietnam in an attempt to convince Vietnam to leave Cambodia. After china pushed several miles in to Vietnam the Chinese the attack staled and the Chinese military attack ended and fell back. -
What Did the World think
Much of the world condemned Vietnam’s actions agents Cambodia with exception to the Soviet Union which favoured Vietnam. The US and China lead many of the complaints agents Vietnam as well the two countries began to support anti-communist groups (US) and the Khmer Rouge (China). -
Additional Notes
When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia the Khmer Rouge had been unsuccessful in their defence partly because they expected the people of Cambodia to fight and resist the Vietnamese although some may have followed, many others found the Vietnamese like liberators. The reason that many people found this was the brutal dictatorship that the Khmer Rouge had put them under. -
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Dealing with Resistance
Vietnam performed many sweeps of Cambodia hunting for the Khmer Rouge and anti-communist groups many of which were favoured by the people. As they many hid in Thailand, the Vietnamese soldiers were unable to completely destroy their enemy’s. -
Additional Notes
When Vietnam invaded Cambodia many of the countries both communist and capitalists were angered with Vietnam’s invasion. This might have been because many of the countries found that Vietnam would be a destabilising to many of the other countries interests if they were to annex Cambodia. If Khmer Rouge had pushed for better relations with their neighbouring communist countries instead of rushing the centralization of Cambodia the invasion might not have happened as it might have lowered the tens -
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Building for the Future
After many years the invasion of Cambodia had cost Vietnam too much and had declared they would pull out. As the Vietnamese moved out the UN moved in and disarmed the various groups in Cambodia and set up democratic elections allowing for the country to recover from the genocide. This was not a time without bloodshed over this time 14,000 civilians died due to further internal conflicts in Cambodia. -
Khmer Rouge Nolonger Recognised
from 1979 on the Khmer Rouge was Recognised by the UN as the only legitimate goverment of Cambodia until 1990 -
Why Was there More Bloodshed
During this time after the Vietnamese had left Cambodia much of the violence persisted until the UN had completely disarmed the various groups that tried to take over Cambodia. This is due to the fact that without the Vietnamese army it left a power-vacuum, this vacuum was fought by Khmer Rouge and many of the US anti-communist groups and the UN had great difficulty getting these groups to disarm and work towered a fair election. -
End of the Khmer Rouge
In 1999 the Khmer Rouge was dispanded and its leaders arrested. -
The Trials of Criminals
In1994 the UN called for tribunals to be held, the trials themselves started in2004 and had gone on for many years finishing in 2010 with some convitions, Pol Pot who lead the genocide was arrested in 1997, convicted and died 1 year after. In the following year the Khmer rouge was disbanded. -
Work Sited
"GENOCIDE - CAMBODIA." GENOCIDE - CAMBODIA. P E A C E P L E D G E U N I O N, n.d. Web. 9 May 2014. http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia.html. "Genocide in Cambodia." Genocide in Cambodia. Holocaust Museum Houston, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. https://www.hmh.org/ed_Genocide_Cambodia.shtml. "Khmer Rouge History." Cambodia Tribunal Monitor. Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, n.d. Web. 19 May 2014. http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/. Kislenko, Arne. "ABC-
