1. An Introduction

​How would you react to being forced out of your home at gunpoint,  ordered to leave all of your belongings behind, and instructed to walk for days, weeks and months, to an unknown fate in the countryside? 
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This first episode of the series is intended to be a brief introduction into some of the context and themes that are at the centre of this 'Khmer Rouge Podcast' or 'Cambodian Genocide Podcast'. An introduction to the complex set of circumstances that Cambodia faced midway through the 1970s, including internal forces and external, had conspired to engulf the country in chaos, misery and war. But that was just the beginning of the nightmare.

​The conquest of Cambodia by the Communist Party of Kampuchea, known to the world as the Khmer Rouge, would usher in one of the most destructive and murderous regimes of the 20th century. This limited series is an attempt to provide a detailed narrative history of Cambodia, with a focus on explaining the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the reasons why their utopian visions ended with more than one quarter of the population dying in three years, eight months and twenty days. More than two million Cambodians, as well as various ethnic minorities, will perish at the hands of their own government. This story requires time, research and explanation of both historical factors in Cambodia as well as the wider world, and the idea of a journey in time and place between Angkor and Tuol Sleng will be set out methodically. 

Sources
Pin Yathay Stay Alive My Son
David Chandler A History of Cambodia and Voices From S-21
Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
Roland Neveu The Fall of Phnom Penh
Elizabeth Becker When the War Was Over

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