And after gaining the capital, Pol Pot declared “Year Zero.” Pol Pot created the Cambodia Genocide, to help create his new society. The people that were targeted were: members of the former government, Buddhist monks, Muslims, educated people including university students and teachers, people in contact with Westerners or Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge started out with rejecting higher education, and was purging those who were. And by
According to Youk Chhang, the Executive Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia and also runs the Cambodia Tribunal Center website, claims that a couple days after they had taken control, “ ...the Khmer Rouge forced perhaps two million people in Phnom Penh and other cities into the countryside to undertake agricultural work “ (3). They went door-to-door, demanding people to gather their belongings and to evacuate. If the citizens did not comply, they were shot on the spot. In addition to the two million people that were captured, Youk Chhang also claimed that people panicked and wanted to stay alive but despite wanting that, thousands of people died because of the evacuation itself. Four years later, this massacre ended.
One such confrontation was the thirty-six-year civil war waged from 1960 to 1996 in the small Central American country of Guatemala. The many parties involved in the war would state different reasons for it. A careful scrutiny of the issue, however, reveals that the causes of the Guatemalan Civil War were racism towards and oppression of the native Mayan citizens, disputes regarding the use and ownership of land, and a desire for economic and political power. Mayans have been oppressed and systematically eradicated since Spain conquered Guatemala in 1520 (“Guatemala: A Brief History”). Although cruelty by the Spaniards ceased with Guatemala’s liberation in 1821, new groups arose to continue the oppression.
Ultimately, Diem was a failure as his rule determined that either Vietnam would become communist or face another war. Diem was successful in establishing and consolidating his authoritarian rule. Diem took several measures to ensure the removal of individuals and groups who opposed his rule. This included the expulsion of coup plotters like General Hinh, the destruction of the Binh Xuyen crime syndicate and the attack on the religious sects like the Cao Dai. In 1955 Diem inaugurated a widespread Denunciation Campaign which limited communist influence in the south.
The Chinese district of Cholon suffered with hundreds of civilians killed in the American counter attacks.” (First Battle) “On March 16, 1968, U.S. Army forces conducted a mass murder of hundreds of unarmed citizens in South Vietnam. Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in Charlie Company of Task Force Barker, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 22 villagers. His company herded hundreds of unarmed villagers into a ditch and shot them to death.” (Miller 65) When the My Lai Massacre became public knowledge, it reduced U.S. support at home for the Vietnam War and created an anti-war movement. The anti-war movement became
He announced his plan of “Vietnamization” which was a strategy which replaced American troops with Vietnamese troops. Vietnamization was supposed created so that the responsibility of the war would fall into the hand of South Vietnam. It allowed American troops to return home slowly. In the same year, President Nixon had planned to secretly bomb Cambodia with an effort to eliminate the Communist camps that were present over there. In 1970, troops started to invade Cambodia which infuriated people because Nixon had promised peace.
The American Government leaders were afraid that the Communist forces would take control over Vietnam. If Vietnam fell, it would then lead to nation after nation falling to Communism. The United States strongly opposes to the political and economic system that Communism encompasses. After fighting the war for independence from France, Vietnam was split in half in 1954. After France withdrew from Vietnam, the Vietnamese Communists took over control of North Vietnam.
Fortunately, American forces were able to repel the NVA attack and inflict heavy losses on the viet-cong, but while also taking loses themselves. This tet offensive showed America that it was perhaps in a war that it was not bound to win. Due to the heavy losses of the NVA and viet-cong, President Nixon from 1969 to 1974 was able to begin troop withdrawal and the process of vietnamization. This process of vietnamization meant that there were huge American withdrawals from the north as well as a massive effort to train the south Vietnamese army so they could defend themselves. This whole process finally was at its end on April 29th 1975, with the famous televised withdrawal of the embassy marines form Saigon and the famous footage of helicopter being pushed over the side of a U.S. carrier to make room for
A Dark Moment in History 1,386,734. When people hear a number like this, they think that it means population or money. But this is actually the amount of bodies found that were executed under the Khmer Rouge. In total, there were 1.7- 2.5 million people who died while Cambodia was under rule by the Khmer Rouge. The importance of the Cambodian genocide is seen through the history behind the Khmer Rouge, the activities of the S21 prison and the victims of the S21 prison.
Present Day Cambodia Cambodia, a country located in southern Asia, has a very devastating history. Genocide had occurred under the control of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. From the year 1975 to 1979, an appalling amount of innocent people lost their lives based on their religion and ethnicity. Today, Cambodia struggles to recover from the traumatizing event that affected every person living there. As the country continues to grow, conditions have started to improve in many areas.