Southeast Asia · The modern states
Khmer Rouge
Communist one-party state · 1975–1979
The label "Khmer Rouge" was coined by Prince Sihanouk in the 1960s for Cambodia's communists, whose roots lay in the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (1951) and a group of Paris-educated students — Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon and Son Sen. Pol Pot took control of the movement in the 1960s and launched an insurgency in 1968.
- Type
- Communist one-party state
- Existed
- 1975–1979
- Shown on the map
- 1976–1978
- Peak area
- 186k km²
- Region
- Southeast Asia
Origins & foundation
The label "Khmer Rouge" was coined by Prince Sihanouk in the 1960s for Cambodia's communists, whose roots lay in the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (1951) and a group of Paris-educated students — Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon and Son Sen. Pol Pot took control of the movement in the 1960s and launched an insurgency in 1968. After Lon Nol's 1970 coup, the Khmer Rouge allied with the exiled Sihanouk in the GRUNK coalition, absorbed US bombing and civil-war radicalisation, and captured Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975.
Political history & notable leaders
The cities were immediately emptied. Renamed Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January 1976, the state under "Brother Number One" Pol Pot abolished money, markets, religion and formal education, and drove the population into rural collectives in a "Super Great Leap Forward" towards autarky.
Economy, culture & society
The regime's four years killed an estimated 1.5–2.2 million people — roughly a quarter of the population; demographer Ben Kiernan's estimate is 1.7 million, or 21% — through execution, starvation, overwork and disease. Ethnic Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese were targeted for extermination; the S-21 prison at Tuol Sleng became the emblem of the killing machine.
Territorial extent & key events
Democratic Kampuchea held Cambodia's 181,035 km² but waged escalating border war with Vietnam (raiding Phu Quoc as early as May 1975 and massacring villagers at Ba Chúc). Over 90% of its foreign aid came from China.
Conflicts & turning points
Vietnam invaded on 22 December 1978 and took Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979. The Khmer Rouge retreated to the Thai border, yet — with Chinese, American and ASEAN backing — retained Cambodia's UN seat through the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (1982, with Sihanouk's FUNCINPEC and Son Sann's KPNLF). The movement renounced communism in 1981; Ieng Sary's 1996 defection, Pol Pot's death in 1998 and the final surrenders of 1999 ended it.
Legacy & present-day status
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia convicted S-21 chief Duch (2010) and sentenced Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan to life (2014). "Khmer Rouge" remains a byword for genocidal utopianism.
Common questions
- What was Khmer Rouge?
- The label "Khmer Rouge" was coined by Prince Sihanouk in the 1960s for Cambodia's communists, whose roots lay in the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (1951) and a group of Paris-educated students — Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon and Son Sen. Pol Pot took control of the movement in the 1960s and launched an insurgency in 1968.
- When did Khmer Rouge exist?
- Khmer Rouge existed 1975–1979. On this map it is drawn 1976–1978.
- How large was Khmer Rouge?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Khmer Rouge covered about 186,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- Where was Khmer Rouge?
- Democratic Kampuchea held Cambodia's 181,035 km² but waged escalating border war with Vietnam (raiding Phu Quoc as early as May 1975 and massacring villagers at Ba Chúc). Over 90% of its foreign aid came from China.
- Who ruled Khmer Rouge?
- The cities were immediately emptied. Renamed Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January 1976, the state under "Brother Number One" Pol Pot abolished money, markets, religion and formal education, and drove the population into rural collectives in a "Super Great Leap Forward" towards autarky.
- How did Khmer Rouge end?
- The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia convicted S-21 chief Duch (2010) and sentenced Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan to life (2014). "Khmer Rouge" remains a byword for genocidal utopianism.
- What did the economy and culture of Khmer Rouge rest on?
- The regime's four years killed an estimated 1.5–2.2 million people — roughly a quarter of the population; demographer Ben Kiernan's estimate is 1.7 million, or 21% — through execution, starvation, overwork and disease. Ethnic Cham, Vietnamese and Chinese were targeted for extermination; the S-21 prison at Tuol Sleng became the emblem of the killing machine.
Sources
Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.
- Wikipedia: Khmer Rouge en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
- hmh.org — genocide-in-cambodia-guide hmh.org/library/research/genocide-in-cambodia-guide/
- modeldiplomat.com — invmun-2026 modeldiplomat.com/conferences/mun/invmun-2026
This entry was written from the sources above and last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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