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The Fall of Phnom Penh
- On April 17, 1975, black-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers entered Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
- The soldiers, many young and unfamiliar with city life, acted strangely, drinking from toilets and eating toothpaste.
Cambodia's Descent
- Pol Pot's regime, from 1975 to 1979, resulted in the deaths of roughly a quarter of Cambodia's population.
- He enforced a brutal form of rural communism, displacing millions and orchestrating mass murders.
Pol Pot's Upbringing
- Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot, was born in 1925 in Prek Sbauv, Cambodia, to a relatively affluent family.
- Despite later claims of peasant hardship, his family owned substantial land and had royal connections.