Final answer:
To understand the enormity of the slaughter during Pol Pot's regime, one must consider the campaign aimed at creating an agrarian utopia, which led to the death of a quarter of Cambodia's population. The educated and professionals were targeted, contributing to a death toll of over two million. The genocide is a significant part of Cambodia's history, with efforts for justice and reintegration continuing past Pol Pot's death in 1998.
Step-by-step explanation:
To grasp the enormity of the slaughter during Pol Pot's regime, one must understand the scale of violence and its impact on Cambodia's society. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge led a campaign to transform Cambodia into an agrarian utopia, which resulted in the extermination of a quarter of the population. The educated and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and anyone deemed an intellectual, were specifically targeted, with the regime viewing even the wearing of eyeglasses as a symbol of subversive intellectualism.
A comparison with other historical genocides, such as those orchestrated by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, highlights the similar ruthless and systematic nature of the Khmer Rouge purges. The Khmer Rouge's destruction was extensive, eliminating all forms of perceived Western influence and attempting to revert the country to 11th-century agricultural practices. This led to mass deaths from executions, forced labor, starvation, and disease. The policy of forced urban evacuation and the erasure of modern Cambodian society, including the genocide of ethnic minorities and the ‘Killing Fields’, became symbols of this brutal period.
Overall, more than two million people lost their lives, and many were forced to flee their home country. Cambodia continues to feel the legacy of the Khmer Rouge, although efforts for reconciliation and justice continue alongside the country's reintegration into the global community. The international response included United Nations-sponsored tribunals that charged numerous Khmer Rouge leaders with crimes against humanity. Pol Pot himself died under house arrest in 1998, leaving behind a tragic and painful history for survivors and the nation to confront.