Born May 19, 1925 as Saloth Sar in Prek Sbauv in Kompong Thom province. His father is a prosperous farmer and his family has connections to the royal family.

1949 Pol Pot wins a government scholarship to study radio electronics in Paris. He fails to obtain a degree but becomes extremely interested in writings on Marxism and revolutionary socialism and he bonds with other likeminded young Cambodians studying in Paris, including Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Khieu Ponnary and Song Sen. The members of this so-called 'Paris student group' became the leaders of the Khmer Rouge.
1953 After having his scholarship revoked, Pol Pot returns to Cambodia to work for the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), the Cambodian communist party. He supports himself by teaching history and geography at a private school, where he was well liked by his students.

1966 He makes his first visit to China, where the 'Cultural Revolution' has just been launched. He is influenced by the leading radicals supporting the movement and by Mao Zedong's concept of a continuous revolution.

1967 Pol Pot takes refuge in the northeast of Cambodia. He lives with a hill tribe and is impressed by their simple, non-material way of life, seeing it as a realization of communist ideals.

1968 The Khmer Rouge establish the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea in January. Aided by the US, the army launches a small and unsuccessful insurgency campaign.

	Pol Pot before he died and his Creamation in side the jungle in 1998

1969 US President Nixon and national security adviser, Henry Kissenger, authorize secret and illegal bombing raids on Vietnamese communist sanctuaries and supply routes inside Cambodia. By 1973, US dropped a total of 539,129 tons of bombs in Cambodia and 600,000 Cambodians were killed. A military failure for the US during its war with Vietnam, the bombings served to increase support for the Khmer Rouge among Cambodians that were outraged at the US bombings.

1975 Khmer Rouge wins the civil war and controls Phnom Penh, beginning the Killing Fields.

1979 Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot goes into hiding after Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, ending the Killing Fields.

1998 Pol Pot escapes justice and dies of natural causes, at 73 years old, on April 15 in the Cambodian jungles.