Outside Influence Leading to Genocide
In Cambodia, glasses marked people for death. Glasses were seen as a sign of outside influence, something the Khmer Rouge wanted to eliminate. While studying the Cambodian genocide, key elements such as outside influence, such as from colonization and from the Vietnam War seem to have lead the perpetrators to commit genocide. Colonization by France left lasting psychological effects and an unstable government. The actions by the U.S. taken during the Vietnam War lead Cambodians to want to distance themselves from Capitalism. These events that lead Cambodians to commit genocide started over a hundred years ago.
The French colonized Cambodia in 1863, but it took 90 years until Cambodia received true independence. However before Cambodia achieved independence it went through multiple changes in power, Cambodia was occupied by Japan during World War I and then the French regained power until finally in 1953 the French were forced out by guerrilla warfare. This left Cambodia without a completely stable government. In fact, it seems as though, all new …show more content…
The United States claimed that North Vietnamese communists were hiding in Cambodia and ‘endangering American lives’. Official Cambodian statistics state that before May 1969, which six years before the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and allies had a total of 1864 border violations, 5149 air violations, 293 Cambodian deaths, and wounding 690 Cambodians. At the end of the war, the United States bombed over half of the country, and was responsible for 100 000 deaths and two million people becoming homeless. This impact of this was that many Cambodians now wanted to distance themselves from western culture, because in their eyes, western culture meant bombs and death. Cambodians wanted to distance themselves as much as possible even if it meant supporting a radical left wing communist party such as the Khmer
In Cambodia, glasses marked people for death. Glasses were seen as a sign of outside influence, something the Khmer Rouge wanted to eliminate. While studying the Cambodian genocide, key elements such as outside influence, such as from colonization and from the Vietnam War seem to have lead the perpetrators to commit genocide. Colonization by France left lasting psychological effects and an unstable government. The actions by the U.S. taken during the Vietnam War lead Cambodians to want to distance themselves from Capitalism. These events that lead Cambodians to commit genocide started over a hundred years ago.
The French colonized Cambodia in 1863, but it took 90 years until Cambodia received true independence. However before Cambodia achieved independence it went through multiple changes in power, Cambodia was occupied by Japan during World War I and then the French regained power until finally in 1953 the French were forced out by guerrilla warfare. This left Cambodia without a completely stable government. In fact, it seems as though, all new …show more content…
The United States claimed that North Vietnamese communists were hiding in Cambodia and ‘endangering American lives’. Official Cambodian statistics state that before May 1969, which six years before the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and allies had a total of 1864 border violations, 5149 air violations, 293 Cambodian deaths, and wounding 690 Cambodians. At the end of the war, the United States bombed over half of the country, and was responsible for 100 000 deaths and two million people becoming homeless. This impact of this was that many Cambodians now wanted to distance themselves from western culture, because in their eyes, western culture meant bombs and death. Cambodians wanted to distance themselves as much as possible even if it meant supporting a radical left wing communist party such as the Khmer