Pol Pot

As the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol rose to power in 1975 in the aftermath of the Cambodian civil war. The Khmer Rouge were a radical communist movement in Cambodia. Trying to establish a self-sufficient agrarian utopia, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forced millions into forced labour. The resulting famines and executions due to paranoia led to the Cambodian Genocide that killed one-fourth of Cambodia's population. Pol Pot was toppled in 1979 by Vietnamese troops and died in prison in 1998.