Who is pole pot

He lashed out, and made the error of picking a fight with Vietnam, which then had one of the toughest armies in the world. The Khmer Rouge struggle continued. The beginning of the end came in , when war-weary veterans began defecting.

Sections U. Science Technology Business U. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. During its reign, which ended in , Pol Pot oversaw the deaths of an estimated one to two million people from starvation, overwork or execution. The mass graves he commanded his people to dig were often referred to as "the killing fields. He was the eighth of nine children born to relatively prosperous parents who owned 50 acres of rice paddies.

Saloth was initially educated at a monastery in the capital city of Phnom Penh and later attended a French Catholic school. He eventually studied carpentry and then received a government scholarship which sent him to Paris to study radio technology in When his scholarship was withdrawn, he returned to Cambodia, intent on building a revolution there.

In , Pol Pot became his party's secretary general. Afraid he would be arrested, he fled Phnom Penh the following year. After a civil war, which included heavy U. The Khmer Rouge was one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century. More than two million people were evacuated from Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge took power.

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By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. On January 7, , the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team travels 48 miles west from Chicago to play their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. The Globetrotters were the creation of Abe Saperstein of Chicago, who took over coaching duties for a team of African American players The confessed Colorado cannibal Alferd Packer is released from prison on parole after serving 18 years.

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