Permanent historical factsheet

Khmer Rouge

Kampuchea · Politics / Communist Party. Chronological records rendered directly from the World History Database.

21Records
1962–1975Date range
6Named people
3Places

Chronological records

1962

Tou Samouth20 July 1962

Politics / Communist Party

Tou Samouth is murdered by the Kampuchean Government

Pol Pot1962

Politics / Communist Party

Founds the guerrilla movement, Khmer Rouge

1963

Pol PotFebruary 1963

Politics / Communist Party

Tous allies, Nuon Chea and Keo Meas, are removed from the Central Committee and replaced by Son Sen and Vorn Vet. Pol Pot and loyal comrades from his Paris student days control the party centre, edging out older veterans whom they considered excessively proese. At the WPKs second congress, Pol Pot is chosen to succeed Tou Samouth as the party's general secretary

Son SenFebruary 1963

Politics / Communist Party

Tous allies, Nuon Chea and Keo Meas, are removed from the Central Committee and replaced by Son Sen and Vorn Vet

Vorn VetFebruary 1963

Politics / Communist Party

Tous allies, Nuon Chea and Keo Meas, are removed from the Central Committee and replaced by Son Sen and Vorn Vet

Pol PotJuly 1963

Ratanakiri · Politics / Communist Party

Pol Pot and most of the central committee leave Phnom Penh to establish an insurgent base in Ratanakiri Province in the northeast

1964

Pol Pot1964

Politics / Communist Party

The Party declaration also emphasized the idea of "self-reliance" in the sense of extreme Kampuchean nationalism, in the border camps, the ideology of the Khmer Rouge was gradually developed. The party, breaking with Marxism, declared rural peasant farmers to be the true working class proletarian and the lifeblood of the revolution

1965

Pol Pot1965

Politics / Communist Party

Goes to North Vietnam to gain approval for an uprising in Kampuchea against the Government. North Vietnam refused to support any uprising because of agreements being negotiated with the Kampuchean Government. After another wave of repression by Sihanouk in 1965, the Khmer Rouge movement under Saloth grew at a rapid rate, many teachers and students left the cities for the countryside to join the movement

Pol Pot1965

Politics / Communist Party

The region Pol Pot and others move to is inhabited by tribal minorities, the Khmer Loeu, whose rough treatment (including resettlement and forced assimilation) at the hands of the central Government made them willing recruits for a guerrilla struggle

1966

Pol Pot1966

Politics / Communist Party

The party changes its name to the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK)

1967

Pol Pot1967

Politics / Communist Party

Several small-scale attempts at insurgency are made by the CPK but they have little success

1968

Pol Pot1968

Politics / Communist Party

The Khmer Rouge launches a national insurgency across Kampuchea

Pol Pot1968

Politics / Communist Party

Khmer Rouge forces launch a national insurgency across Kampuchea. As the insurgency grows stronger, the party finally openly declares itself to be the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK)

1970

Pol Pot1970

Politics / Communist Party

The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge was increased as a result of the situation created by the removal of Sihanouk as head of state in 1970

Sihanouk1970

Beijing · Politics / Communist Party

The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge is increased as a result of the situation created by the removal of Sihanouk as head of state in 1970. Sihanouk, in exile in Beijing, makes an alliance with the Khmer Rouge and becomes the nominal head of a Khmer Rouge-dominated Government-in-exile (known by its French acronym, GRUNK) backed by the Peoples Republic of China

1973

Pol Pot1973

Politics / Communist Party

Many people in Kampuchea who helped the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol Government thought they were fighting for the restoration of Sihanouk.

Pol Pot1973

Politics / Communist Party

Sihanouks popular support in rural Kampuchea allows the Khmer Rouge to extend its power and influence to the point that by 1973 it exercises de facto control over the majority of Kampuchean territory, although only a minority of its population.

Pol Pot1973

Politics / Communist Party

When the US Congress suspends aid to Kampuchea in 1973, the Khmer Rouge makes sweeping gains in the country.

Sihanouk1973

Politics / Communist Party

Sihanouks popular support in rural Kampuchea allows the Khmer Rouge to extend its power and influence to the point that by 1973 it exercises de facto control over the majority of Kampuchean territory, although only a minority of its population. Many people in Kampuchea who helped the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol Government thought they were fighting for the restoration of Sihanouk

1975

Mol Lon17 April 1975

Phnom Penh · Politics / Communist Party

The communist forces of the Khmer Rouge overthrow the Lon Government after a civil war

Pol Pot17 April 1975

Phnom Penh · Politics / Communist Party

The Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge capture Phnom Penh

Names involved

Mol LonPol PotSihanoukSon SenTou SamouthVorn Vet

Provenance

This factsheet is generated from stored World History Database records matching the country, broad category, detailed category and exact Event value shown above. Duplicate display records are collapsed; database wording is otherwise preserved. Source provenance varies by record, so formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.