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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey everyone, I'm Eves and welcome back to

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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class, a podcast where we unwrap

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Speaker 1: a piece of history candy. Every day. Today is January seven.

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Speaker 1: The day was January seventh. Nineteen seventy nine, Vietnamese troops

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Speaker 1: occupied Pnom Pin, the capital of Cambodia, and overthrew Pole

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Speaker 1: Pot's regime. Under pole pots administration, millions of Cambodians died

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Speaker 1: through forced labor or genocide. The communist movement in Cambodia

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Speaker 1: emerged in nineteen thirty when Cambodia was a French protectorate

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Speaker 1: and part of French Indo China. The Indo Chinese Communist

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Speaker 1: Party was active across French Indo China and in Cambodia.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, the party set up the Camere

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Speaker 1: People's Revolutionary Party or kp r P. Leaders of the

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Speaker 1: Khmer Rock or the Anti colonial Resistance movement helped found

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Speaker 1: the KPRP. Cambodia gained independence in nineteen fifty three. In

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty the KPRP was renamed the Workers Party of Campuchea,

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Speaker 1: and six years later it was renamed the Communist Party

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Speaker 1: of Campuchea. Nuancea and sell Off Sar later known as

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Speaker 1: pol Pot emerged as leaders in the party. Followers of

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Speaker 1: the party became known as a Khmer Rouge, a term

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Speaker 1: coined by the Prince of Cambodia, Nara dam Suke. Driven

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Speaker 1: by communist ideals, the Khmer Rouge army operated mainly in remote,

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Speaker 1: jungle and mountain areas in northeast Cambodia. They advocated for

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Speaker 1: an agrarian society, one party rule, and abolition of private property.

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Speaker 1: They also rejected urban and western influences and encourage nationalism.

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Speaker 1: The camer Rouge led resistance efforts against Sianuke, whose authoritarian

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Speaker 1: rule inspired some opposition, but Sianuke also had plenty of

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Speaker 1: supporters and was popular among people in the countryside, and

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Speaker 1: the camer Rouge initially made little headway in their insurgent efforts.

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Speaker 1: At the time, Vietnam, one of Cambodia's neighboring countries, was

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Speaker 1: embroiled in war, an influence in Cambodia was sought after

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Speaker 1: by the communists and anti communist powers. Cambodia was officially

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Speaker 1: non aligned regarding the Vietnam War, but in the nineteen sixties,

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Speaker 1: Sienu cut ties with the US and the North Vietnamese Army,

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Speaker 1: and South Vietnamese insurgents operated from Cambodian border areas and

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Speaker 1: the port of Sianukeville. At this point, the pretense of

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Speaker 1: Cambodia neutrality clearly dissolved. The US ordered a bunch of

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Speaker 1: bombing attacks in Cambodia in the late nineteen sixties, targeting

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Speaker 1: the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army. In nineteen seventy,

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Speaker 1: pro American Cambodian politician Lawnnall and Sien Nukes other opponents

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Speaker 1: had the prince deposed as head of state. The US

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Speaker 1: back Camere Republic, led by Lawnall, was proclaimed later that year.

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Speaker 1: Siennu aligned with the Camere Rouge, and support for the

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Speaker 1: Camere Rouge began to pick up. War broke out in Cambodia.

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Speaker 1: US air strikes continued throughout the early nineteen seventies, killing

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Speaker 1: combatants and civilians alike, while Vietnamese communists aided the Cahmeer

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Speaker 1: Rouge and capturing the countryside. The US stopped the aerial

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Speaker 1: attacks in nineteen seventy three, but continued aiding law Noll's government.

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Speaker 1: Civil war between the Camere Rouge and government forces continued

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Speaker 1: until nineteen seventy five, when the Camere Rouge entered Panompin

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Speaker 1: and over threw the pro Us military regime. Pol Pot

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Speaker 1: became the government's prime minister. As soon as the Khmer

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Speaker 1: Rouge took power, they evacuated cities and forced people into

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Speaker 1: the countryside to start agricultural work. Whole Pot admired the

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Speaker 1: way the tribes on the outskirts of Cambodia's jungles lived,

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Speaker 1: and he set about a brutal overhaul of Cambodian society.

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Speaker 1: The country was renamed Democratic Campuchea. The Khmer Rouge shut

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Speaker 1: down banks and abolished the national currency and free markets.

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Speaker 1: Buddhism and other religions were denounced. Artwork was destroyed, Families

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Speaker 1: were broken up, Foreigners were expelled. People who worked in

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Speaker 1: the rural farming communes forced to cultivate rice died from disease, starvation,

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Speaker 1: and abuse. Intellectuals, people in the middle class, people associated

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Speaker 1: with the previous government, and ethnic and national minorities were killed.

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Speaker 1: Lack of food, drugs, and medical care in the country

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Speaker 1: led to more deaths. It's estimated that the Khmer Rouge

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Speaker 1: killed between one and two million people during their rule.

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Speaker 1: The Khmer Route also launched incursions into Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.

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Speaker 1: On January seventh, nineteen seventy nine, Vietnamese troops responded by

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Speaker 1: capturing Panompin, toppling Pol Pot's regime and establishing a moderate

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Speaker 1: communist government. The Camere Rouge fled, but re established forces

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Speaker 1: in Thai territory. Survivors of the Camere Rouge called for

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Speaker 1: reparations in justice, but war and turmoil continued in Cambodia.

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Speaker 1: Vietnamese troops withdrew from Cambodia in nineteen eighty nine. Pol

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Speaker 1: Pot continued to leave the Camere Rouge as an insurgent

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Speaker 1: movement until nineteen. After he died in the movement crumbled.

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Speaker 1: Some of the movements other leaders were convicted of war crimes,

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Speaker 1: crimes against humanity, and genocide in trials by the Camere

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Speaker 1: Route Tribunal. I'm Eves jeffco and hopefully you know a

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Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did it yesterday.

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