The term Year One in political history usually refers to the institution of radical, revolutionary change. This usage dates from the time of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror by Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobin Club. Following the abolition of the French monarchy on 21 September 1792, the National Convention sought to eradicate all traces of the ancien régime. The Convention introduced the French Revolutionary Calendar (or the Republican Calendar), which was retroactively set to begin on 22 September 1792 — designated as "1 Vendémiaire" ("Year I"). This date marked the first day of the French Republic, coinciding with the autumn equinox. The establishment of Year I corresponds to the onset of the most radical and violent phase of the Revolution, with the Committee of Public Safety, dominated by Robespierre, taking power to enforce revolutionary "virtue" through terror. The adoption of Year One occurred during a time of extreme radicalization, following the September Massacres in 1792 that lead up to the Execution of Louis XVI in 1793. The Khmer Rouge leadership (the "Paris Student Group") including Saloth Sâr ("Pol Pot") had found their ideological footing in France during their time there in Paris at the banks of the River Seine (October 1949 – December 1952) exposed them to a specific brand of Stalinism and Maoism through the French Communist Party, but they were also deeply enamoured with the Jacobin ideal of total societal transformation. He left France in December 1952 aboard the ship from Marseille, which arrived and docked in Saigon as the primary port of French Indochina within 28 days later on 13 January 1953. Upon his return, he entered Cambodia immediately following his arrival in Saigon, which coincided a period of political turmoil under King Sihanouk to disband the National Assembly and began ruling by decree. Sâr had move to Phnom Penh to meet his fellow members of the Cercle Marxiste. By August 1953, Sâr joined the Viet Minh (later known as the Viet Cong) to fight against French colonial rule. After Cambodia's independence from France on 9 November 1953, Saloth Sâr’s political ideology was deeply shaped by the radicalism of the French Revolutionary tradition, specifically the concept of "Year Zero" and the purge of the old order, by his version of "primitive communism" involved forcibly relocating urban dwellers ("New People") to the countryside to live and work alongside peasants ("Old People"). This was aimed at erasing class distinctions and returning Cambodian society to a basic, agrarian, and "untainted" existence. Saloth Sâr and others met in September–October 1960 and established a new party, often referred to as the "Workers' Party of Kampuchea" (WPK). This was an underground, independent communist party separate from the previous pro-Vietnamese organization. After visiting Beijing and adopting a more radical Maoist ideology, the party was renamed the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). This name change was kept secret from lower-ranking members and the public at the time. It refers to the Khmer people (Cambodia's dominant ethnic group) and Rouge (the French word for red), the international color of communism, now known as the Khmer Rouge, meaning "Cambodian Reds", during the Cambodian Civil War (1967–1975), the Khmer Rouge had received significant support from North Vietnam (led by Ho Chi Minh until 1969) and the Viet Cong as well as PAVN troops. The US-led Operation Menu bombings in eastern Cambodia, and the subsequent 1970 by the South Vietnamese incursion, the Communist Vietnamese forces moved deeper into Cambodia, bolstering the Khmer Rouge troops. In March 1970, Sihanouk was deposed by Lon Nol, who established the pro-American Khmer Republic. Following his exile in Pyongyang and later Beijing, a coalition that significantly increased rural support for the communist insurgency. Also in 1970, Saloth Sâr adopted the pseudonym "Pol Pot", a name for "Politique Potentielle" as the contraction of French phrase, when he rose to power as the leader of the Khmer Rouge. Operation Chenla II became a major offensive by the Khmer Republic aimed at clearing Route 6 and reopening communications with Kompong Thom. Initially successful, it ended in a catastrophic defeat when the PAVN and Khmer Rouge counterattacked in late 1971, annihilating government forces and passing the strategic initiative to the communists. An earlier, crucial victory for the Khmer Rouge at Kampot, where they captured the port city, signaling the declining military capability of the Khmer Republic in 1974. By early 1975, the capital was isolated and entirely dependent on US aerial resupply. The Khmer Rouge, having gained strength through Chinese support, systematically surrounded Phnom Penh, cutting it off from the rest of the country, preparing for the evacuation. Following the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops in 1973, North Vietnam launched a final, massive offensive in March 1975, which caused a rapid collapse of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in the Central Highlands and northern provinces. After the fall of the strategic town of Neak Luong on 1 April 1975, the southern approach to the capital was open. Following the resignation of Lon Nol and a failed peace negotiation, he fled first to Indonesia, Hawaii and then Fullerton in California, the Khmer Rouge forces overran the last defenses of the capital. The Khmer Rouge finally entered and captured Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 when Angkar (The Organization) came to power. Almost immediately, they ordered the total, forced evacuation of the city's two million residents into the countryside to begin their radical agrarian revolution of what will become known as "Year Zero". The ARVN 18th Division conducted a valiant final defense at Xuân Lộc, holding the North Vietnamese for 11 days before being overwhelmed on 21 April 1975. This victory allowed North Vietnamese forces to completely encircle Saigon. On 30 April 1975, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace. The South Vietnamese President Dương Văn Minh announced an unconditional surrender, as the Viet Cong troops had enter the city, marking the official end of the Vietnam War. When Pol Pot became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), the Khmer Rouge formally adopted the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January 1976. The flag of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) had resembled to the Vietnamese flag, with the red background symbolized the revolutionary movement, the "resolute and valiant struggle of the Kampuchean people for the liberation, defense, and construction of their country" which has represented the bloodshed for the revolution, while the yellow three towered temple represented the national traditions of the Kampuchean people, specifically their efforts to build a prosperous nation. The choice of a simple, yellow emblem on a solid red field closely mirrored other communist banners of the era, such as Vietnam (a yellow star on red), reflecting the regional influence and alignment with the international communist movement which completely breaks away from the past, specifically both French colonialism and American imperialism, as the Khmer Rouge idealized the 12th-century Angkor Empire, once established by Jayavarman II, believed that if their ancestors could build the "stupendous marvel" of Angkor Wat, the new revolutionary people could achieve anything, as a peak of the Khmer achievement, intending to surpass it in building their new socialist society with Marxist-Leninist ideology. The city of Saigon (the former capital of South Vietnam) was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the late leader of the "Communist Party of Vietnam" (CPV). On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were officially reunified to form the "Socialist Republic of Vietnam", establishing Hanoi as the capital of the unified nation, which was also part of a national holiday. [1]
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