The Fall of the Khmer Empire, By Angus Dean
The Khmer Empire is one of the most sophisticated empires in the world during its reign. It started in 802CE and fell in the 15th century. Under the Kings rule, Khmer slaves built humongous temples that still today. The capital of Khmer, Angkor, is located in Cambodia, Southeast Asia.
This report will discuss three reasons why the Khmer Empire fell: Climate Change, Invasion, and the complexity becoming too great to keep under control.
Climate Change is believed to be one of the main factors to the decline of the Khmer Empire.
During the mid-1300s and early 1400s “Megadroughts”, occurred, each lasting a roughly a decade. With the accompaniment of lasting monsoons that happen throughout Cambodia to this day. Scientists were able to look in the rings of very old trees to see the effects that the droughts caused. The Monsoons and long-lasting Droughts, the water preservation infrastructure, which is the 1200 square kilometre water management system, that connected the natural lake Tonle Sap to large man-made reservoirs, just could not handle it, and eroded, because of the continuous flooding. And Khmer
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Invaded other states as they did, threatening to overthrow Khmer as their status in power grew, because Khmer was one of the most powerful countries in the Southeast Asia region. With the threat of the Thai army, the Khmer Empire decided to improve their military forces, by taking the slaves who work on the water system and put them in the military. Of course, putting the saves onto the military meant, less slaves on the water management system, making it next-to impossible to repair all the damage on the system. As the Khmer Empire weakened, so did the trading system they had with other surrounding countries, meaning less supplies to sustain the population. Other countries realised this and joined with the new Thai military, and Ayutthaya invaded Khmer in
Cambodia is a small country located in in south-east Asia. In 1975 president Lon Nol of Cambodia was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge (a group of teenage guerrillas), which was led by Pol Pot, in a military coup. Within a matter of days of overthrowing the previous government Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge on a prepared mission: they brutally imposed an idea that stated that Cambodia (now under its Khmer Rouge Name Kampuchea) was to be reconstructed The Same way Tsung Tse did china. The people were forced to leave the cities and to be moved to farms to work as unpaid labourers. Those refused to take part in the exodus or did not move fast enough were eliminated on the spot. Even the young, old and sickly were forced to take part in the exodus. All intellectual men or women or professional men were killed (even those who worked in the army). Civilian deaths during this period of time caused by execution, starvation disease and exhaustion are estimated to be well over two million, this is estimated to be twenty five percent of the population.
Web. The Web. The Web. 13 Apr. 2014. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/cambodian-genocide>.
“The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s Regime”. Mtholyoke.edu. 11 May 2005. Web. 7 May 2014.
Ung (2000) mentions that the Cambodian genocide is a product of a perfect agrarian vision that can be built by eliminating Western influence. More specifically, the Angkar perceives peasants and farmers as “model citizens” because many have not left the village and were not subjected to Western influence (Ung 2000:57). Moreover, the Khmer Rouge emphasized the ethnic cleansing of individuals from other races who were not considered “true Khmer” and represented a “source of evil, corruption, [and] poison” (Ung 2000:92). Lastly, the ideology centered on obtaining lost territory was based on a “time when Kampuchea was a large empire with territories” (Ung 2000:78). In essence, Ung successfully demonstrates that multiple causes encouraged the Cambodian
In 1975, The Khmer Rouge became the ruling political party of Cambodia after overthrowing the Lon Nol government. Following their leader Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of social engineering on Cambodian society. They wanted to form an anti-modern, anti-Western ideal of a restructured “classless agrarian society'', a radical form of agrarian communism where the whole population had to work in collective farms or forced labor projects. The Khmer Rouge revolutionary army enforced this mostly with extreme violence. The book “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers”, written by Luong Ung, is the author’s story of growing up during this time period. She was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came into power. As stated in the author’s note, “From 1975 to 1979, through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor, the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country’s population.”
Upshur, Jiu-Hwa, Janice J. Terry, Jim Holoka, Richard D. Goff, and George H. Cassar. Thomson advantage Books World History. Compact 4th edition ed. Vol. Comprehensive volume. Belmont: Thompson Wadsworth, 2005. 107-109. Print.
The Khmer Rouge years was a period of time that devastated all of the small country Cambodia, a story that was so well told by Loung Ung about the Pol Pot regime. The Khmer Rouge years was from 1975 to 1979 (http://www.cambodiatribunal.org). The Khmer Rouge, otherwise known as Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), conquered Cambodia for four years. The Khmer Rouge forced people to work in the fields including children. To make matters worse, the people that were forced to work were also malnourished and were living in grim conditions (http://www.wcl.american.edu).
The world after Mongol conquest has been shaped and changed significantly by various important history events. These events had huge impacts on nations’ politics, economy and society. Nations were involved in the world rapid modernization process. The country I researched on is Vietnam. In this essay, I will address on the impact of important events happened since the 13th century had on Vietnam history, and the interactions between Vietnam and other parts of the world.
With the high demand for cotton, Southern plantation owners needed more cheap labor, hence the need for slaves.... ... middle of paper ... ... United States forces joined in the fighting and some believe helped the Khmer Rouge to come out victorious and form the Democratic Kampuchea.
Around the years 200 B.C.E two great civilizations emerged as powerful and influential Empires. The Han civilization and the Roman Civilization. Both civilizations contributed to the ancient world, with revolutionary technologies, literature, mathematics, and extensive trade. Although these were powerful nations, the causes of their decline were quite similar. Inept rulers, social discordance, and hostile incursions, are some of the numerous factors that brought about their inevitable downfall.
The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...
Most of the civilizations throughout history have been taken over or replaced by other civilizations due to disunity and chaos. Although an empire might seem prosperous, the decline and fall of empires are sometimes inevitable. Even though an empire might seem invincible, there are many factors that could lead to the sudden decline or fall of an empire. Over many centuries, historians have composed many reasons, such as weak militaries, economic burdens, dynastic successions, and external enemies, which have been known to contribute to the rise and fall of many once successful empires.
“The bones cannot find peace until the truth they hold in themselves has been revealed” This quote, said by Deputy Military Police Chief Nhim Seila, means that the deceased persecutors of the Cambodian Genocide cannot rest well until the reason for their actions has been told to the public. On April 17, 1975, soldiers of a communist group known as the Khmer Rogue, stormed into the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, and attacked the city, forcing all the citizens into the countryside to work vigorously for the Khmer Rouge. The stories of Samnang Shawn Vann and Sisowath Doung Chanto paint a picture of what it was like to live under this cruel group.
Brunner, Borgna. "The Khmer Rouge — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Pearson Education, Inc, 2007. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. .
Settled in the end of the fifth century, two groups established themselves in what is now present day Cambodia. The Champa controlled the central and southern part of Vietnam and the Funan is the southernmost part Vietnam and present-day Cambodia. Influences from both China and India were obvious as dance and music spread throughout the area. Ruling on its own till 1864 when the French absorbed it into French Indochina Along with Laos and Vietnam. For nearly a century, the French exploited Cambodia commercially, and demanded power over politics, economics, and social life. It was not until a leader Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia's independence in 1949 which was later granted in 1953. Cambodia fell into chaos during the 1970’s as General Lon Nol and his connections to the Khmer Rouge brought Cambodia into a genocidal age. For a decade Cambodia was surrounded by despair and carnage until the reign of the Khmer Rouge ended in 1979. Slowly rebuilding of the nation began as outside countries and organization such as the United Nation helped to get Cambodia back on its feet. Plans were made for general elections by 1993 which lead to the constitutional monarchy that the country has today. With its cyclical and oppressive history, Cambodia future is optimistic with the economy growing rapidly due to industries such as tourism, textiles, oil and the traditional farming. Slowly the nation reaches to find its place among the other powerhouses in Southeast Asia and around the world.