In 1975, Cambodia, then engulfed in civil war, saw the rise of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge movement, who promised a radical transformation of the country. As communist forces approached Phnom Penh, the capital, the population initially greeted their advance with cautious optimism. However, the optimism quickly faded as Pol Pot announced what he called “Year Zero,” signaling a complete societal reset aimed at creating an egalitarian agrarian utopia by eliminating all vestiges of Cambodia’s recent past.

Pol Pot’s vision involved abandoning cities and modern life, which he believed had corrupted Cambodian society. As part of this plan, over two million people were forcibly evacuated from urban centers, including patients removed from hospital beds. The regime eliminated currency, closed schools, emptied religious temples, and compelled millions to labor under brutal conditions in collective rice fields. The Khmer Rouge’s radical policies targeted intellectuals and anyone associated with modern or Western influences; owning glasses or being literate often led to arrest or execution.

The regime’s approach amounted to one of the most devastating social experiments in the 20th century, resulting in widespread famine, forced labor, and systematic killings. Within four years, approximately two million people—around a quarter of Cambodia’s population—died from execution, starvation, or disease under Pol Pot’s rule.

The Khmer Rouge’s ideology was based on an extreme form of agrarian communism that sought to dismantle traditional societal structures. By forcing Cambodians into agricultural communes and imposing relentless labor, it aimed to create a classless society of peasants, dubbed “Khmer” in the local language. Instead, the policies unleashed profound human suffering and demographic collapse, marking one of the darkest chapters in Cambodia’s history.

Pol Pot’s regime ended in 1979, but the catastrophic human toll and social disruption of his rule continue to shape Cambodia’s national memory and development.