Throughout its history, Cambodia has often found itself dependent on other countries. The situation essentially did not change after Cambodia formally achieved freedom in 1953. Indochina turned out to be a zone of global confrontation between the socialist and capitalist systems, and Cambodia inevitably had to choose a “patron” either the USA, or the USSR, or one of the neighboring countries that were in the sphere of influence of these great powers. The people who ruled Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, decided to focus on a third force - China. But this had fatal consequences. The National United Front of Cambodia, created by Sihanouk under the auspices of Beijing, became a convenient screen for the Khmer Rouge, who came to power not under their own leftist slogans, but under the cover of a patriotic call to restore the legitimate government of Sihanouk. However, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot (1925-1988), had no intention of returning power to the former king. Acting largely according to the political recipes of Mao Zedong, Pol Pot conducted, perhaps, the most “pure” in world history, and therefore the most terrible experiment to create, in the shortest possible time in history, an ideal socialist society based on the principles of equal distribution of material goods. In August 1976, Pol Pot announced a four-year plan to build socialism. The revolutionary enthusiasm of the working people had to ensure such a sharp leap. Anyone who was unable to carry out the plan faced the death penalty for sabotage, sometimes right on the job site. Fearing that his social experiment might fail due to the “unwillingness of ordinary people to live in an ideal society,” Pol Pot sought to eradicate any manifestation of “counter-revolution.” The Khmer Rouge used all sorts of brainwashing techniques on their disenfranchised compatriots. Since educated people are less susceptible to zombies, the intelligentsia was subject to extermination. Wearing glasses was often an indicator of “bourgeoisness.” The stories about Pol Pot's regime seem to be taken from a literary dystopia: empty cities; people forced into rural jungle communes; violation of human dignity; massacres; power exercised by the hands of illiterate teenagers in the name of the faceless “Angkor”. It later turned out that it was the Cambodian communist leader Saloth Sar, who called himself Pol Pot. Pol Pot ruled little Cambodia for only four years, having managed to earn himself a reputation as one of the most terrible dictators of all time. The genocide in Cambodia is one of the most terrible events in the history of the 20th century. The Khmer Rouge’s sophistication of methods of physical and moral destruction of people could compete with the German Nazis. Today's Cambodia, tired of wars and fanaticism, is looking for ways to revival.