On April 17, 1975, Khmer Rouge soldiers marched into Phnom Penh, killing those who worked for the former regime and forcing the rest of the inhabitants into the countryside to labor in the fields. In attempting to turn the country into a classless, agrarian society, the Khmer Rouge eliminated schools, money, markets, the press, the post office, religion, private property, and freedom of movement. Over the next nearly four years, at least a quarter of Cambodia’s population died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.