Khmer Rouge Seize Phnom Penh: Cambodia's Dark Era Begins
A man named Lon Nol fled the capital just hours before the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. They didn't stop at the palace; they forced two million people to march out of the city, stripping them of shoes and watches. Families were separated in the chaos, sent to die in rice fields or execution pits within months. That surrender didn't end a war; it started a four-year nightmare that erased a nation's soul. You won't remember the date, but you'll never forget the silence of a country that stopped breathing.
April 17, 1975
51 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Cambodia
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Khmer Rouge
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Phnom Penh
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Cambodian Civil War
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Cambodian government forces
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Cambodian Civil War
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Cambodian genocide
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Khmer Rouge
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Fall of Phnom Penh
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Phnom Penh
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Khmer National Armed Forces
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Cambodia
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Pol Pot
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Geschichte Kambodschas
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Norodom Sihanouk
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Democratic Kampuchea
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Lon Nol
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What Else Happened on April 17
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Teutonic knights breached the walls of Kaunas Castle after a brutal month-long siege, capturing the Lithuanian stronghold and seizing its commander, Vaidotas. T…
A poet named Chaucer didn't just read to King Richard II; he gambled his reputation on a ragtag group of pilgrims in 1397. While the court dined, Chaucer introd…
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