What effect did the “Bringer of Light” have on his world? His legacy: intermittent war from 1945 until 1980 (don’t forget the war with China and the invasion of Cambodia). 35 years of many his countrymen hiding in the shadows, assassinating their fellows directly, or by attacking civilians intentionally in terror attacks. Deaths that no doubt approached a million or more, if you count lost troops, civilian deaths, mass executions, deaths by starvation, and which clearly do get into the millions if one considers that it was the destabilization of Cambodia as a result of the war that enabled Pol Pot to take power.
For that, what? A crappy economy, a secret police that is worse than that of the French, and “independence”. He should go down as one of the greatest criminals of the20th Century, which is a substantial “accomplishment” when one considers the other names on the list.
This fact becomes particularly galling when one considers that he almost certainly could have accomplished BETTER ends had he used a counter-colonial policy of non-violence. The French, sooner or later, would have bowed to public pressure. The colonies never really paid out more in benefits than they required in men and resources to keep, for any of the colonial powers. It was pride that kept them at it.
Yet, he was a Cultural Sadeist. He relished power. He liked being the “Bright Shining One”. And so he led his nation to the slaughter, uselessly.