Khmer Rouge Seize Phnom Penh
On April 17, 1975, twelve days before the fall of Saigon, Khmer Rouge forces marched into Phnom Penh and ended the five-year Cambodian Civil War. The Lon Nol government surrendered and Pol Pot's cadres began one of the most radical social revolutions in history within hours: the entire urban population — approximately two million people — was ordered to evacuate the city on foot. Money was abolished, schools and hospitals closed, and Cambodia was renamed 'Democratic Kampuchea.' The country was effectively sealed from the outside world as the Khmer Rouge imposed their 'Year Zero' — the complete erasure of modern society and return to an agrarian utopia. The takeover began four years of radical agrarian communism under Pol Pot, during which the Khmer Rouge killed between 1.5 and 2 million people — roughly a quarter of Cambodia's population — through execution, forced labour, starvation, and disease.
- Year: 1975 CE
- Category: Military
