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In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare

In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare

By: Lachlan Peters
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Summary

 A comprehensive, long-form history podcast about Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot Regime. Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary True Crime World
Episodes
  • S1 Ep1: An Introduction to the Khmer Rouge, the Killing Fields and the 'Cambodian Genocide'

    S1 Ep1: An Introduction to the Khmer Rouge, the Killing Fields and the 'Cambodian Genocide'
    Jan 28 2018
    How would you react to being forced out of your home at gunpoint, ordered to leave all of your belongings behind, and instructed to walk for days, weeks and months, to an unknown fate in the countryside?

    And that is just the beginning of the nightmare.
    ​
    The first episode of the series is intended to be a very basic introduction to the the complex set of circumstances that Cambodia faced midway through the 1970s.

    ​The conquest of Cambodia by the Communist Party of Kampuchea, known to the world as the Khmer Rouge, would usher in one of the most destructive and murderous regimes of the 20th century. This limited series is an attempt to provide a detailed narrative history of Cambodia, with a focus on explaining the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the reasons why their utopian visions ended with more than one quarter of the population dying in just under four years. More than two million Cambodians, as well as various ethnic minorities, will perish at the hands of their own government. Explaining this story requires time, research and explanation of historical forces in Cambodia as well as the wider world. Not just dates, numbers and names.

    Join Lachlan Peters, a long-time student of Cambodian history as he shares the story of one of the most fascinating countries in the world, and the long path toward its darkest period.


    Sources
    Pin Yathay Stay Alive My Son
    David Chandler A History of Cambodia and Voices From S-21
    Philip Short Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare
    Roland Neveu The Fall of Phnom Penh
    Elizabeth Becker When the War Was Over
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    53 mins
  • S1 Ep2: The Rise of the Khmer and Angkor (Part One)

    S1 Ep2: The Rise of the Khmer and Angkor (Part One)
    Apr 19 2018

    Watch The Full YouTube Documentary Here: https://youtu.be/RfEnSrw-hMU

    This is part one of a new three part introduction to Angkor and Khmer civilisation, if you are a long-time listener, please make sure to re-download this episode.

    Time Period Covered: Pre-history – 850 CE

    Who are the Khmer people, and where did they come from? What is the Tonle Sap, and why does it make Angkor possible? And why does almost everything written about early Cambodia need to be revised?

    In this episode, Lachlan introduces the landscape, the people, and the deep history of the Khmer civilisation before the era of god-kings. The great lake that reverses its own river. The monsoon cycle that defines everything. The animist world of spirits and sacred hills that underlies all the religions that come later.

    We examine what archaeology and inscriptions actually tell us about the pre-Angkorean period, and why the old frameworks of Funan and Chenla — borrowed from Chinese chronicles and repeated for a century — don't quite hold up. We look at the religions that shaped Khmer society: the local animism and neak ta spirit traditions, the arrival of Hinduism and Buddhism, and the way these traditions layered on top of each other rather than replacing each other.

    The episode ends on Phnom Kulen, the sacred mountain, where a king named Jayavarman II performs a ceremony that declares him the universal monarch — the king above all kings — and sets in motion five centuries of Khmer greatness.

    Sources
    David Chandler A History of Cambodia
    Coe and Evans Angkor and the Khmer Civilization

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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • S1 Ep3: The Rise of the Khmer and Angkor (Part Two)

    S1 Ep3: The Rise of the Khmer and Angkor (Part Two)
    Jul 18 2018

    Time Period Covered: 802 – 1296 CE

    How do you build the largest city in the medieval world? What does it actually take to construct Angkor Wat? And what happens when the greatest king in Khmer history dies and leaves an empire stretched to its limits?

    In this episode, Lachlan traces the rise of the Khmer Empire from Jayavarman II's ceremony on Phnom Kulen to the death of Jayavarman VII, the most prolific builder in Angkorean history. The three-step blueprint of the early kings — waterworks, ancestral temple, state temple. The building of Yasodharapura and the East Baray. The interlude at Koh Ker and why it failed. The mystery of Suryavarman I's blood oath and the patronage networks that held the empire together.

    We cover Suryavarman II and the construction of Angkor Wat in detail — the labour, the materials, the corbelled architecture, the astronomical alignments, and the sheer organisational achievement of moving and placing millions of tonnes of stone. Then Jayavarman VII: the Cham sacking, the comeback, the building programme that outstripped every king before him combined, and the contradiction at the heart of his reign between compassion and extraction.

    Sources
    Chandler A History of Cambodia
    Coe and Evans Angkor and the Khmer Civilization Hendrickson
    Stark and Evans (eds) The Angkorian World
    Tully A Short History of Cambodia

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    1 hr and 28 mins
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All stars
Most relevant
I found this podcast after visiting the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh and wishing that there had been more context on how the Khmer Rouge had come to power. Well in this podcast Lachlan provides as much context as anyone could wish for, starting all the way back at the Khmer Empire. The story so far is thoroughly researched, well told and filled with insightful commentary from Lachlan, his sources and interviews.

Very well told and comprehensive look at Cambodian history and the Khmer Rouge

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