The Khmer Rouge, the French phrase for "Red Khmers" was a label given to the Cambodian communist movement by Prince Norodom Sihanouk in the 1960s. The movement was later dominated by a group of French educated, Cambodian Marxists led by Pol Pot. With Vietnamese advice, the movement did not openly challenge Sihanouk’s government with arms. After the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970 by Lon Nol, the movement began open, armed resistance. With support from rural peasants and appeals from Norodom Sihanouk, who joined the movement under a united front, the Khmer Rouge defeated the US backed Lon Nol government in April 1975. From 1975 to 1978, the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot’s leadership put into place its utopian socialist revolution in Cambodia, a revolution that resulted in the death of more than 1.5 million people and the near total destruction of Cambodia.