World at War  /  Conflicts  /  Recorded History
World at War

Cambodian Genocide & Civil War

1968–1979 Southeast Asia Status: ended Casualties: ~1.5–2 million (~25% of Cambodian population)

Pol Pot's 'Year Zero' emptied the cities and butchered teachers, doctors, monks, anyone with glasses. The killing fields were ended by Vietnam's invasion of December 1978. The world's most concentrated genocide by share of population in modern times.

Open on the interactive globe →

Belligerents

  • Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot)
  • Khmer Republic
  • Vietnam (invasion 1978)

Casualties

~1.5–2 million (~25% of Cambodian population)

From World at War, an interactive atlas by Jairus Pereira. Figures are approximate, drawn from Wikipedia, UCDP, ACLED and academic sources — a design artefact, not an authoritative register. Contact.