Mao era

Since the 1950s, Pol Pot had made frequent visits to the People's Republic of China, where he received political and military training�"especially on the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat�"from the personnel of the CCP. From November 1965 to February 1966, high-ranking CCP officials such as Chen Boda and Zhang Chunqiao trained him on topics such as the communist revolution in China, class conflicts, Communist International, etc. Pol Pot also met with other officials, including Deng Xiaoping and Peng Zhen. He was particularly impressed by Kang Sheng's lecture on how to conduct a political purge.

Defensive: Resisting or protecting against attack from someone.

Massacre: The cruel killing of a number of helpless or unresisting people.

Torpedo Boats: Small submersible vessels with long wooden spars mounted on the bow for ramming enemy ships. Torpedoes were lashed to the tip of the spar to explode on impact.

Ironclad: A ship protected by iron armor.

Vedette(or vidette): A mounted sentry stationed in advance of a picket line.