The Khmer Rouge leadership (the "Paris Student Group") including
Saloth Sâr ("Pol Pot") had found their ideological footing in
France during their time there in
Paris at the banks of the
River Seine (October 1949 – December 1952) exposed them to a specific brand of
Stalinism and
Maoism through the
French Communist Party, but they were also deeply enamoured with the Jacobin ideal of total societal transformation. He left France in December 1952 aboard the ship from
Marseille, which arrived and docked in
Saigon as the primary port of
French Indochina within 28 days later on 13 January 1953. Upon his return, he entered
Cambodia immediately following his arrival in Saigon, which coincided a period of political turmoil under
King Sihanouk to disband the National Assembly and began ruling by decree. Sâr had move to Phnom Penh to meet his fellow members of the Cercle Marxiste. By August 1953, Sâr joined the
Viet Minh (later known as the
Viet Cong) to fight against
French colonial rule. After
Cambodia's independence from France on 9 November 1953, Saloth Sâr’s political ideology was deeply shaped by the radicalism of the French Revolutionary tradition, specifically the concept of "
Year Zero" and the
purge of the old order, by his version of "
primitive communism" involved forcibly relocating urban dwellers ("New People") to the countryside to live and work alongside peasants ("Old People"). This was aimed at erasing class distinctions and returning
Cambodian society to a basic,
agrarian, and "untainted" existence. Saloth Sâr and others met in September–October 1960 and established a new party, often referred to as the "Workers' Party of Kampuchea" (WPK). This was an underground, independent communist party separate from the previous pro-
Vietnamese organization. After visiting
Beijing and adopting a more radical
Maoist ideology, the party was renamed the
Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). This name change was kept secret from lower-ranking members and the public at the time. It refers to the Khmer people (Cambodia's dominant ethnic group) and Rouge (the French word for red), the international color of
communism, now known as the
Khmer Rouge, meaning "Cambodian Reds", during the
Cambodian Civil War (1967–1975), the Khmer Rouge had received significant support from
North Vietnam (led by
Ho Chi Minh until 1969) and the Viet Cong as well as
PAVN troops. The
US-led
Operation Menu bombings in eastern Cambodia, and the subsequent 1970 by the
South Vietnamese incursion, the
Communist Vietnamese forces moved deeper into Cambodia, bolstering the Khmer Rouge troops. In March 1970, Sihanouk was
deposed by
Lon Nol, who established the pro-American
Khmer Republic. Following his exile in
Pyongyang and later Beijing, a coalition that significantly increased rural support for the communist insurgency. Also in 1970, Saloth Sâr adopted the pseudonym "Pol Pot", a name for "Politique Potentielle" as the contraction of French phrase, when he rose to power as the leader of the Khmer Rouge.
Operation Chenla II became a major offensive by the Khmer Republic aimed at clearing Route 6 and reopening communications with
Kompong Thom. Initially successful, it ended in a catastrophic defeat when the PAVN and Khmer Rouge counterattacked in late 1971, annihilating government forces and passing the strategic initiative to the communists. An earlier, crucial victory for the Khmer Rouge at
Kampot, where they captured the port city, signaling the declining military capability of the Khmer Republic in 1974. By early 1975, the capital was isolated and entirely dependent on US aerial resupply. The Khmer Rouge, having gained strength through Chinese support, systematically surrounded Phnom Penh, cutting it off from the rest of the country, preparing for the
evacuation. Following the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops in 1973, North Vietnam launched a final, massive
offensive in March 1975, which caused a rapid collapse of the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in the Central Highlands and northern provinces. After the fall of the strategic town of Neak Luong on 1 April 1975, the southern approach to the capital was open. After the resignation of
Lon Nol and a failed peace negotiation, he fled first to
Indonesia,
Hawaii and then
Fullerton in
California, the Khmer Rouge forces overran the last defenses of the capital. The Khmer Rouge finally entered and captured
Phnom Penh on
17 April 1975 when Angkar (The Organization) came to power. Almost immediately, they ordered the total, forced evacuation of the city's two million residents into the countryside to begin their radical agrarian revolution of what will become known as "Year Zero". The ARVN 18th Division conducted a valiant
final defense at
Xuân Lộc, holding the North Vietnamese for 11 days before being overwhelmed on 21 April 1975. This victory allowed North Vietnamese forces to completely encircle Saigon. On 30 April 1975, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the
Presidential Palace. The South Vietnamese President
Dương Văn Minh announced an unconditional surrender, as the Viet Cong troops had
enter the city, marking the official end of the
Vietnam War. When Pol Pot became
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), the Khmer Rouge formally adopted the
Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January 1976. The flag of
Democratic Kampuchea (DK) had resembled to the
Vietnamese flag, with the red background symbolized the revolutionary movement, the "resolute and valiant struggle of the Kampuchean people for the liberation, defense, and construction of their country" which has represented the bloodshed for the revolution, while the yellow three towered temple represented the national traditions of the Kampuchean people, specifically their efforts to build a prosperous nation. The choice of a simple, yellow emblem on a solid red field closely mirrored other communist banners of the era, such as
Vietnam (a yellow star on red), reflecting the regional influence and alignment with the international communist movement which completely breaks away from the past, specifically both French colonialism and American imperialism, as the Khmer Rouge idealized the 12th-century
Angkor Empire, once established by
Jayavarman II, believed that if their ancestors could build the "stupendous marvel" of Angkor Wat, the new revolutionary people could achieve anything, as a peak of the Khmer achievement, intending to surpass it in building their new socialist society with Marxist-Leninist ideology. The city of Saigon (the former capital of South Vietnam) was officially renamed
Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the late leader of the "Communist Party of Vietnam" (CPV). On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were officially
reunified to form the "Socialist Republic of Vietnam", establishing
Hanoi as the capital of the unified nation, which was also part of a
national holiday. ==See also==