# The Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot's Reign of Terror

An episode of [Dan Snow's History Hit](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1042631089), 19 Oct 2026, 1 h 01 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/dansnowshistoryhit/e/6ad218439b01a2afaecc910f/media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=dsQ5-V4-c6eAU5aBa-1oXd8cx_cUlUaJya6JpLPYEs4

When the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh in April, 1975, they immediately declared 'Year Zero' - a ruthless ideological crusade to reset history, and forge Pol Pot's vision for a communist utopia. Over the next four years, the regime carried out a genocide that killed nearly two million people - almost a quarter of Cambodia's population. Dan Snow is joined by Ben Kiernan, author of 'How Pol Pot Came to Power' and 'The Pol Pot regime'. Together, they trace how the turmoil of the Vietnam War fuelled the rise of the Khmer Rouge, detailing the horror of their reign and their eventual downfall in 1979. Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Tim Arstall. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com. Dan Snow's History Hit is a History Hit podcast. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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