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Killing Fields: Death to Capitalists
Who comes into your mind when you think of brutal dictators? Adolf Hitler? Joseph Stalin? Mao Zedong? or perhaps Kim Jong Un. All of these men have committed unspeakable atrocities that we remember to this day.
But what about Pol Pot?
Not many remember or even know about the man who exterminated 1/7 of the entire population of Cambodia over the span of 4 years. This 4 year span of mass killing and the sites that these killings took place are named Killing Fields. Estimated 1.3 million people have lost their lives and this is not accounting for deaths by starvation or diseases.
So who is Pol Pot and why did he commit such terrible crimes?
How Pol Pot Rose to Power
Cambodia was an independent monarchy situated in the Indo-China peninsula between Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. During the Vietnam War, many North Vietnamese militants escaped American airstrikes through underground tunnels to Cambodia, while the king of Cambodia turned blind eyes to them. The United States then planned a coup to over throw the monarch through Lon Nol, who was the king’s right hand man.
