History - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 997

The Khmer Rouge & Year Zero
Upon taking Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most radical and bru-
tal restructurings of a society ever attempted; its goal was to transform Cambodia into a
Maoist, peasant-dominated agrarian cooperative. Within days of the Khmer Rouge coming
to power the entire population of the capital, including the sick, elderly and infirm, was
forced to march out to the countryside. Disobedience of any sort often brought immediate
execution. The advent of Khmer Rouge rule was proclaimed Year Zero. Currency was ab-
olished and postal services were halted. The country was cut off from the outside world.
Counting the Cost of Genocide
It is still not known exactly how many Cambodians died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge
during the three years, eight months and 20 days of its rule. Two million or one-third of the
population is a realistic estimate.
Hundreds of thousands of people were executed by the Khmer Rouge leadership, while
hundreds of thousands more died of famine and disease. Some zones were better than oth-
ers, some leaders fairer than others, but life for the majority was one of unending misery
and suffering. Cambodia had become a 'prison without walls', as some survivors referred
to it at this time.
The Khmer Rouge detached the Cambodian people from all they held dear: their famil-
ies, their food and their faith. Nobody cared for the Khmer Rouge by 1978, but nobody had
an ounce of strength to fight back…except the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese Move In
Repeated attacks on Vietnamese border villages by the Khmer Rouge forced Vietnam to re-
spond. Defying China, Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia on Christmas Day 1978. They
succeeded in driving the Khmer Rouge from power on 7 January 1979 and set up a pro-
Hanoi regime in Phnom Penh.
The demise of the Khmer Rouge proved to be a false dawn, as the country was gripped
by a disastrous famine that killed hundreds of thousands more who had struggled to survive
the Khmer Rouge. Caught in the crossfire of Cold War politics, even the relief effort was
about political point scoring and organisations had to choose whether to work with the UN
and the 'free world' on the Thai border or the Vietnamese and their Soviet allies in Phnom
Penh.