Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: , pronounced Khmaey Krahom or {{IPA|/kʰmaːe kɾɒːhɒːm/}}; French: Khmer Rouge in the masculine singular, Khmers Rouges in the plural) was a Communist organization which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The term "Khmer Rouge," meaning "Red Khmer" in French, was coined by francophone former king, later prime minister Norodom Sihanouk and was adopted in English. The official name of the Khmer Rouge was the Communist Party of Cambodia, later the Party of Democratic Kampuchea. It was also known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the Khmer Communist Party and the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea.

Establishment

The Indochinese Communist Party was founded in 1931, and a separate Cambodian Communist Party was founded in 1951, although later the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, insisted that the party was founded in 1960. In its early years the party remained subordinate to the Communist Party of Vietnam. From the mid 1960s the Cambodian Communists conducted a low-level insurgency along the Vietnamese border, mainly in support of the Vietnamese Communists in their war with the United States.

Related Topics:
1931 - 1951 - Pol Pot - 1960 - Communist Party of Vietnam - Vietnam - United States

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In the 1970s the Party became known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and in the 1980s and 1990s as the Party of Democratic Kampuchea, but it became commonly known by the French name Khmer Rouge, a name originally given by Norodom Sihanouk in the 1950s.

Related Topics:
1970s - 1980s - 1990s - French - Norodom Sihanouk

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The Standing Committee of the Khmer Rouge's Central Committee ("Party Center") during its period of power consisted of:

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• Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) "Brother number 1" the effective leader of the movement, General secretary beginning February 1963 until his death, March 15, 1998
• Nuon Chea "Brother number 2" Prime Minister (alive)
• Ieng Sary "Brother number 3" Deputy Prime Minister (Pol Pot's brother-in-law) (alive)
• Khieu Samphan President of the Khmer Rouge (alive)
• Ta Mok (Chhit Chhoeun) "Brother number 7" Final Khmer Rouge leader, Southwest Regional Secretary (alive)
• Son Sen Defense Minister (dead), also;
• Yun Yat (dead), Ke Pauk "Brother number 13" Former secretary of the Nothern zone (dead) and Ieng Thirith (alive).

The leadership of the Khmer Rouge was largely unchanged between the 1960s and the mid-1990s. The Khmer Rouge leaders were mostly from middle-class families and had been educated at French universities. The great majority of Khmer Rouge fighters were from poor peasant families and many were conscripted. The Khmer Rouge was funded by Vietnam in the 1950s, supplied with small arms, explosives, military weapons and support from China in the 1980s and had approximately 8,000 guerillas.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1990s - Peasant - Conscripted - Vietnam - 1950s - China - 1980s

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