For all eternity people around the world shall remember the cruelty of Ivan IV who ruled Russia from 1533-1584 Russia and Pol Pot who ruled Cambodia from 1976-1998. These two men were responsible for the killing of a combined number of over 1 000 000 people are a clear example of history repeating itself. As one looks back at their lives you can see clear examples of what may have driven them to their paths of destruction. Their upper-class childhoods their way of ruling with cruelty their aim to destroy a certain group their secret police forces and their abandoning the government during their rule all are similarities of the two rulers. As you look at their past although they had many similarities one notices differences. Their different rise to power the different forms of government they ruled their foreign policies their death and the fact of whether they would be held accountable for their actions are clear differences of the two rulers. So the mission of this paper is to prove that Pol Pot and Ivan IV of Russia were similar but different.
First Ivan and Pol Pot of Cambodia childhoodęs come to mind as a similarity. Ivan was raised by the boyars or nobles because his parents were dead. He lived a life of luxury was well-educated and was destined to become a monarch. (Butson 15)
Pol Pot also lived an upper class lifestyle. His family was a member of the rural village aristocracy. They were wealthy farmers who owned their own land. Pol Pot was French-educated and later went on to become a teacher in Phnom Penh. The family also had connections to the royal family. Pol Potęs aunt was a concubine of King Monivong and a cousin occupied the post of the kingęs favorite secondary wife. (Stefoff 34)
Both Pol Pot and Ivan IV ruled with cruelty. Ivan IV attacked and murdered thousands of boyars and common peasants whom he felt were against him for the family of his wife the Romanovs having to much influence on the government. He murdered priests when they wouldnęt give his marriages a blessing and he hung people on hooks as a form of torture. His reign however was remarkable for the persecution and death of two people. Ivan IV killed his son and heir Ivan V during a discussion about a war going on between Livonia and Russia. Tsarevich Ivan said –(Wealth) is meaningless unless the state was unable to hold it.” Ivan took this as an affront about his conduct in the war. In an angry rage he killed his son from a blow on the temple with his iron staff. (Butson 85)
Prince Andrei Kurbsky was another person who lived in fear of the crue;ty of Ivan. Kurbsky was a high-ranking noble who led an attack in the nearby country of Kazan in 1552. Kurbsky was the man responsible for destroying the power of the Tartar Muslims in Russia and nearby areas. Ivan was so filled with rage at the nobles that he overlooked all the good things Kurbsky had done and Kurbsky was forced to flee to Lithuania to escape death because he had criticized Ivanęs reign and the ongoing war with Livonia. (Troyat 65-66)
Pol Pot also ruled through cruelty. Pol Potęs government and army the Khmer Rouge ruled with supreme power over the country. If someone disobeyed an order they would be escorted to another area and killed. The body was then put in plastic bags. This was until the bags ran out. Soon the bodies were flung into pits or the killing fields. When ammunition was gone victims were ordered to kneel at the edge of these pits and struck at the back of the neck with a metal bar. Later Pol Pot even killed 16 000 of his own army because he thought they were traitors. (TIME 41) Not only did Pol Pot kill people outright as a result of his reign tens of thousands died because of starvation and disease.(Getlin and Hall 19)
Both Pol Pot and Ivan IV had a certain group they wanted to destroy. Ivanęs main aim was the boyars. Ivan blamed them for the death of his wife Anastasia Romanov whom he felt the boyars had poisoned. As a result he killed every boyar he found and killed any common people whom he felt sympathized with the boyars or just got in the way. (Butson 54)
Pol Pot killed to create a pure communism. He wanted everyone to be similar and have the same looks and characteristics. As a result everyone was interned in slave labor camps to kill of anyone who was different. Teachers merchants and doctors were referred to as parasites and then later killed. He killed everyone who lived in a city because he felt his government would best be received in the rural sections of Cambodia or what he liked to call Democratic Kamphucea. Anyone who questioned this system. spoke a foreign language or wore glasses was also executed. Pol Pot felt wearing glasses was a sign of weakness. Therefore he destroyed everyone who had such a weakness.(TIME 41)
Both Pol Pot and Ivan the Terrible had a type of secret police force. Ivan created a sub-division within Russia in 1571 that he called the Oprichniki. Many of these people were robbers and murderers whom Ivan had appointed to kill boyars. They rode around dressed all in black rode black horses that had a black harness. These harnesses each had a dogęs head embroidered in it. These people however did not just kill boyars. They looted the city raped women and killed anyone they wanted to without question. Ivan himself would often go around with the Oprichniki and do these things.(Butson 53)
Pol Pot had a secret army called the Khmer Rouge. Though not so secret they were teenage boys who went around killing people. They exemplified Pol Potęs cruelty and as said above if someone disobeyed they were killed. They did the dirty work of Pol Pot and like Ivan and his Oprichniki were never questioned.(Stefoff 90)
The final similarity of these two mass murderers was that they both left the government at one point during their rule. Ivan abdicated the throne in 1561. He moved his home from the Kremlin or palace to Alexandrora Sloboda. He stated that only unless he was given absolute power would he rule. Boyars were sent to persuade Ivan to return which he did with a promise of absolute power no criticism and compensation for having to move his house.(Butson 40)
Pol Pot also left the government. In 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge fled to the surrounding areas. Most of the Khmer Rouge fled to Thailand while Pol Pot fled to Beijing China staying in the mountains between the two countries so he could not be apprehended by the Vietnamese.(Stefoff 86)
Though these leaders had many similarities they also had some differences. Among these are their different rises to power the different forms of government they led their foreign policies their death and the fact of whether they would be held accountable for their actions also changed their lives.
First these two leaders had a different rise to power. Ivan the terrible was born into a family in which he was destined to become monarch. His father Vasili II was monarch and before him Ivan III. Ivan ruled by birthright and mandate of heaven.(Butson 10)
Pol Pot on the other hand led a very different rise to power. Pol Pot began his political activities during his college years in Paris France. Here he joined the French Communist Party and later the Independent Communist Party. When Cambodia received independence from France in 1953 a king named Norodom Sihanouk came into power. This king was then ousted by Pol Potęs party named the Phnom Penh communists who until then had been working in secret underground. From there still fighting with the people who wanted to bring the king back Pol Pot grew through the ranks of the army or Khmer Rouge from the communist party. He gained much backing from the countryside poor whom he promised equality. Finally even with the United States backing the king and bombing the communist party the Khmer Rouge won control of the capital thus beginning Pol Pot and his reign of terror.(Stefoff 69-77)
The forms of government also had differences. Ivan ruled as Czar or the ruler of all Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. He was a monarch who had supreme power and little opposition coming only from a few select boyars.(Butson 10 -45)
Pol Pot and his government were designed to be communistic combining all the ideas of Vladimir Lenin Karl Marx and Mao Zedong. He turned the clock back on Cambodia to the year 0. He decided to empty all the cities and turn his focus to the countryside where he had the most power. Though he sought a communist party it turned into a military dictatorship with only the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot having power.(Stefoff 63)
The foreign policy of these two leaders also differed. Ivan sought to reach out to other countries in Europe such as England. He saw that the technology of other nations could build military strength for Russia and make it into a world power.(Butson 44-45)
Pol Pot in keeping with the communist ideas set up an isolation policy for his government. All food and medical supplies were only from Cambodia and the country tried to become self-sufficient. He renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea and won a seat on the United Nations. Soon everything belonged to the government creating small wealth for the poor and making the once wealthy poor.(Stefoff 72)
The deaths of these two leaders also were different. Ivan died still in power on March 18 1584. He was entombed in the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel in the Kremlin in a large grand ceremony.(Butson 89)
This is totally different from Pol Pot who died with little power in 1998. He died in a hut after he was taken under house arrest by his own party. The party then denounced communism and sought to bring democracy to Cambodia. There are doubts about his death. Some people say that a person who looked much like him was cremated to look like Pol Pot had died and in reality the real Pol Pot may have escaped. Others say that his party killed him so they would not be brought to trial for war crimes. If Pol Pot was dead he could not go before the International Commission of Justice and give valuable information that might incriminate his former comrades. Even so we will never know because no autopsy was performed. (CNN 1-5)
Finally there was a difference in that Ivan was not held accountable for his actions while Pol Pot was. Ivan killed thousands of boyars without any thought that he was to be held accountable for his crimes. He was a monarch who after he had abdicated returned with the promise of absolute power. Another factor was that there was no International Commission of Justice that would hold him accountable for his actions in those days. Besides he was seen to rule with the mandate of heaven and therefore could not be wrong.(Butson 10)
Pol Pot however was going to be brought to trial by the commission and faced imprisonment. There had been great controversy on how he was to be tried and who was to bring him to trial. Cambodia and the United Nations both wanted to bring him up on charges. We will never know unfortunately because he died before he could be tried.(Boston Globe A10)
In conclusion both of these leaders were similar but different. They were similar in that they had the same type of upper class childhood they both ruled cruelly killing nobles and all opposition they both aimed to destroy a certain groups nobles for Ivan and anyone who was different or opposed his rule for Pol Pot. They both also left the government Pol Pot escaping through the jungle to Beijing and Ivan abdicating for a time. Differences however also occurred during Pol Potęs life and the life of Ivan. Both Pol Pot and Ivan had different rises to power with Ivan receiving power as a birthright and Pol Pot getting power from working his way up the party ladder. Foreign policy differed in that Ivan saw the potential foreign could do for Russia while Pol Pot saw a future in isolation for Cambodia. Their deaths also were different in that Ivan died still with power in a large ceremony and Pol Pot died with no power in a small little hut waiting for an international trial that would bring him punishment for his actions. Finally Ivan was never going to be punished for his actions while Pol Pot was waiting for the International Commission of Justice trial.
Bibliography
Butson Thomas Ivan the Terrible New York: Chelsea New House Publishers 1987
Getlin Josh Hall Kari Ren¦. Beyond the Killing Fields.Bangkok Thailand: Arpeture Book Inc. 1992
Reviled Pol Pot cremated by Khmer Rouge comrades. CNN 18 April 1998. 1-6
Stefoff Rebecca. Pol Pot New York: Chelsea New House Publishers 1987
The Butcher of Cambodia Time May 1998 41-42.
Troyat Henri. Ivan the Terrible New York: E.P. Dutton Inc 1984
US Seeks Khmer Rouge trials. The Boston Globe 1 May 1998.