Genocide in Cambodia
INTRODUCTION
Cambodia, which is in South East Asia, has few people, but large land area and used to be peaceful and nonaligned. However, this all changed when Pol Pot’s desire to purify Cambodian society of all western influence and his rise to power following the US withdrawal from Vietnam, destabilized the region which led to genocide in Cambodia. Genocide occurred in Cambodia between 1975-1979. The genocide occurred by surprise as “the dead are crying out for justice. Their voices must be heard. It is the responsibility of the survivors to speak out for those who are unable to speak, in order that the genocide and holocaust will never happen again in this world” (Pran). The terror shrouded the country and silently influenced …show more content…
The conflict between Vietnam and the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam was a political cause of the Cambodian genocide. In 1970, the US army and South Vietnam army invaded Cambodia in order to eradicate North Vietnam troops, and “the Khmer Rouge went to civil war with the U.S. backed “Khmer Republic,” under lieutenant-general Lon Nol. Lon Nol’s government assumed a pro-Western, anti-Communist stance, and demanded the withdrawal of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces from Cambodia”(Cambodian Genocide), but there were still some organizations in Cambodia that did not like the US. Lon Nol now faced enemies in Khmer Rouge and needed the US to support their financial system in Cambodia. However, the American bombings destroyed the relationship by trying to kill the Communist base camps everywhere in Indochina. Because of the withdrawal of US troops and the corrupt government in Cambodia, Pol Pot seized power, and thus the door for genocide was …show more content…
Cambodian Genocide, which was one of the most tragic historical events and people could not bear to recall. According to statistics, “during which time nearly two million people were killed outright or died as a result of torture, disease overwork and starvation” (Selvakumar). There were a lot of people died because of the conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, “from 1969 until 1973, the U.S. intermittently bombed North Vietnamese sanctuaries in eastern Cambodia, killing up to 150,000 Cambodian peasants” (Pol Pot). After that, Pol Pot wanted to change the country and start his politic system “Year Zero” and the society was about to be purified. The facts showed the violence, “between 1975-1979, an estimated 1.5-2 million people or ¼ of the country’s population died due to starvation, disease, forced labor, torture and genocide”(Cambodia Quick) and “the Khmer rouges killed the alleged political foes: the leaders of the preceding regime and the army officers (82,6%), the policemen (66,7%) and above all the judges, 99% of whom were killed”(Pran). Cambodian genocide killed a lot of people, reversed class order, and destroyed the economic system, and it was one event which worth studying for the ages, not for what it accomplished, but for what it
INTRODUCTION
Cambodia, which is in South East Asia, has few people, but large land area and used to be peaceful and nonaligned. However, this all changed when Pol Pot’s desire to purify Cambodian society of all western influence and his rise to power following the US withdrawal from Vietnam, destabilized the region which led to genocide in Cambodia. Genocide occurred in Cambodia between 1975-1979. The genocide occurred by surprise as “the dead are crying out for justice. Their voices must be heard. It is the responsibility of the survivors to speak out for those who are unable to speak, in order that the genocide and holocaust will never happen again in this world” (Pran). The terror shrouded the country and silently influenced …show more content…
The conflict between Vietnam and the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam was a political cause of the Cambodian genocide. In 1970, the US army and South Vietnam army invaded Cambodia in order to eradicate North Vietnam troops, and “the Khmer Rouge went to civil war with the U.S. backed “Khmer Republic,” under lieutenant-general Lon Nol. Lon Nol’s government assumed a pro-Western, anti-Communist stance, and demanded the withdrawal of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces from Cambodia”(Cambodian Genocide), but there were still some organizations in Cambodia that did not like the US. Lon Nol now faced enemies in Khmer Rouge and needed the US to support their financial system in Cambodia. However, the American bombings destroyed the relationship by trying to kill the Communist base camps everywhere in Indochina. Because of the withdrawal of US troops and the corrupt government in Cambodia, Pol Pot seized power, and thus the door for genocide was …show more content…
Cambodian Genocide, which was one of the most tragic historical events and people could not bear to recall. According to statistics, “during which time nearly two million people were killed outright or died as a result of torture, disease overwork and starvation” (Selvakumar). There were a lot of people died because of the conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, “from 1969 until 1973, the U.S. intermittently bombed North Vietnamese sanctuaries in eastern Cambodia, killing up to 150,000 Cambodian peasants” (Pol Pot). After that, Pol Pot wanted to change the country and start his politic system “Year Zero” and the society was about to be purified. The facts showed the violence, “between 1975-1979, an estimated 1.5-2 million people or ¼ of the country’s population died due to starvation, disease, forced labor, torture and genocide”(Cambodia Quick) and “the Khmer rouges killed the alleged political foes: the leaders of the preceding regime and the army officers (82,6%), the policemen (66,7%) and above all the judges, 99% of whom were killed”(Pran). Cambodian genocide killed a lot of people, reversed class order, and destroyed the economic system, and it was one event which worth studying for the ages, not for what it accomplished, but for what it