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Who were the Khmer Rouge?

The Khmer Rouge (or Red Khmer) were Communists headed by Pol Pot (1928?–1998), a ruthless revolutionary leader in Cambodia. (Communism is a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and only one party holds power.) Between 1970 and 1975, Khmer Rouge guerrillas (fighters who employ unplanned military tactics) waged war to topple the U.S.-supported government of Lon Nol (1913–1985) in Cambodia. They were supported by Communists from neighboring Vietnam. Lon Nol's regime fell on April 16, 1975, and the next day the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. Pol Pot became prime minister of Communist Cambodia and instituted a reign of terror. Implementing his plan to turn Cambodia into an agriculture-based society, he had the Khmer Rouge systematically empty the cities, forcibly moving the people onto collective (state-owned) farms where they performed hard labor....

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