Although every single name on this list brings connotations of brutality, terror and murder, Pol Pot's is arguably the most feared due to the apparent arbitrary nature in which his Khmer Rouge regime went about killing upwards of 1.7 million Cambodians. Despite only being in power himself for four years (1975-1979), Pol's regime embarked on a "cleansing" mission to rid Cambodia of what he perceived to be a sickness from which it could not recover following the Communist victory in the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975). With city dwellers made to relocate to the countryside as Pol pushed through socialist reforms including agrarian collectivisation, many died as a result of forced labour, starvation and - unfortunately unsurprisingly - from executions. The seemingly random nature of the executions - often without any obvious reason to speak of - sent fear into the Cambodian population. Such was the utter brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia lost 20 per cent of its population under Pol's leadership and the "Killing Fields" - the 20,000 mass grave sites around the nation which house the bodies of those who fell victim to this horrendous genocide - are a constant reminder of this horrific regime.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
