Pol Pot

Pol Pot 1925-98, Cambodian political leader, originally named Saloth Sar. Paris-educated, and a Khmer Communist leader from 1960, he led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government of Lon Nol after 1970. In 1975 he proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and served as its premier (1976-79). The systematic murder of members of various groups; the complete destruction of individual rights; forced labor, disease, and starvation in Cambodia's "killing fields" ; the transformation of a developing country into a xenophobic agrarian society; and other horrors that can be ascribed to the cruelty or ineptitude of Pol Pot made him one of the most infamous leaders in modern history. Some 1.5 million out of a total population of about 7 million died during his rule, which ended with an invasion by the Vietnamese in late 1979. Although he retired officially in 1985, Pol Pot continued to control his guerrillas, the strongest antigovernment force, in western jungle areas of Cambodia until factional collapse shortly before his death.

Bibliography: See biographies by D. Chandler (1992, rev. ed. 1999) and P. Short (2005); study by B. Kiernan (2d ed. 2002).

Pol Pot (1928–98) Cambodian ruler. In 1975, he led the communist Khmer Rouge in the overthrow of the US-backed government of Lon Nol. Pol Pot instigated a reign of terror in Cambodia (renamed Kampuchea). Intellectuals were massacred and city-dwellers were driven into the countryside. Estimates suggest that c.2 million Cambodians were murdered. In 1979, a Vietnamese invasion overthrewn Pol Pot, but he continued to lead the Khmer Rouge in guerrilla warfare from a refuge in n Cambodia. In 1997, after a rift in the Khmer Rouge, it was reported that Pol Pot had been sentenced to life imprisonment. He died shortly afterwards, perhaps of heart failure. See also Norodom Sihanouk

Pol Pot (born Saloth Sar) (c.1925–98) Cambodian Communist leader, Prime Minister (1976–79). From 1968 he led the Khmer Rouge, becoming Prime Minister soon after its seizure of power in 1975. During his regime the Khmer Rouge embarked on a brutal reconstruction programme in which more than 2 million Cambodians died. Overthrown in 1979, Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge in a guerrilla war against the new Vietnamese-backed government until his official retirement from the leadership in 1985.