Democratic Kampuchea

Origins

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, known as the Khmer Rouge, grew from a small insurgency in the 1960s to a large army during the civil war against the Khmer Republic. It captured Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 and proclaimed Democratic Kampuchea, with Sihanouk briefly as nominal head of state until 1976.

Rule and society

The regime, led by Pol Pot, emptied the cities, abolished money, markets, schools and religion, and forced the population into agricultural communes. Former officials, intellectuals, ethnic minorities such as the Cham and Vietnamese, and party members accused of treachery were executed, many after torture at the Tuol Sleng prison. Starvation, overwork and disease caused most of the deaths.

Decline and legacy

Border attacks on Vietnam provoked a Vietnamese invasion in December 1978, and Phnom Penh fell on 7 January 1979, when the People's Republic of Kampuchea was established. The Khmer Rouge fought on from the Thai border into the 1990s, and a UN-backed tribunal later convicted surviving leaders of genocide.