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Introduction to Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh's Recent History

Some understanding of Phnom Penh's recent history is necessary to understand the city. The Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla group in Cambodia, began forming in the 1960s with largely communist ideals. In 1970, Prince Sihanouk was deposed in a military coup and sought the support of the Khmer Rouge. As Cambodia descended into civil war, the Khmer Rouge presented itself as a peacemaker and gained support in the countryside. In the early days, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot envisioned a society without money or education and aimed to bring that to the entire country.

And so, on April 17, 1975, Pol Pot's guerrillas rolled tanks into Phnom Penh, unleashing chaos. They began by destroying homes, separating families, arming children, and shipping the city's residents to rural labor camps across the country. The Khmer Rouge then targeted doctors, lawyers, artists, professors and intellectuals who might have rebelled against the new regime. Killing them, the Khmer Rouge ruled for four years. By 1979, 2 million people had been slaughtered under the regime. It was in 1979 that Vietnamese soldiers invaded and the Khmer Rouge were driven back into the jungles of Cambodia. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge until 1997, when he was arrested after killing one of his closest advisers. He died in a village in 1998, never facing any charges.

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