3. Pol Pot (Cambodia)
Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) sought radical social engineering, resulting in the Cambodian genocide. Under his leadership, the Khmer Rouge aimed to transform Cambodia into an agrarian socialist society, leading to the deaths of an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people through executions, forced labor, starvation, and disease. The regime’s policies included the evacuation of urban areas, abolition of currency, and persecution of intellectuals and ethnic minorities. This period remains one of the most brutal genocides in modern history. (history.com)
