French protectorate of Laos
Kingdom of Luang Prabang ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກຫລວງພະບາງ Phrà Ràaj Aanaachak Luang Pràabàng Royaume de Luang Prabang (1893–1945; 1946–1947) Kingdom of Laos ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ Phra Raja A-na-chak Lao Royaume du Laos (1945–1946; 1947–1953) | |||||||||||||||||||
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1893–1945 1946–1953 | |||||||||||||||||||
King of Luang Prabang | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1868–1895 | Oun Kham | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1895–1904 | Zakarine | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1904–1953 | Sisavang Vong | ||||||||||||||||||
Resident-Superior | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1894–1895 (first) | Auguste Pavie[a] | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1954–1955 (last) | Michel Breal[b] | ||||||||||||||||||
Phetsarath | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1951–1953 (last) | Souvanna Phouma | ||||||||||||||||||
Legislature | None ( Geneva Conference | 21 July 1954 | |||||||||||||||||
Currency | Piastre | ||||||||||||||||||
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The French protectorate of Laos (
The protectorate of Luang Prabang was nominally under the rule of
Establishment of a protectorate
After the acquisition of
By the end of 1886, Auguste Pavie was named vice-consul to Luang Prabang and was in charge of expeditions occurring in Laotian territory, with the possibility of turning Laos into a French territory. In 1888, outlaws from China known as the Black Flag Army attacked Siam and its vassal state of Luang Prabang by sacking its capital. Pavie and French forces later intervened and evacuated the Lao royal family to safety. Additional French troops from Hanoi later arrived to expel the Black Flags from Luang Prabang. Following his return to the city, King Oun Kham requested a French protectorate over his kingdom. Pavie later sent Oun Kham's request to the French government in Paris. The bill designating Luang Prabang a protectorate of France was signed on 27 March 1889 between both sides despite a Siamese protest.[3]
After an ultimatum was given by Pavie, now resident minister to Siam in Bangkok,[4] in August 1892[citation needed] to the Siamese government, a diplomatic crisis took place in 1893, culminating in the Paknam incident when France, contrary to promises it had made to Great Britain, entered Bangkok with warships.[5] The kingdom was forced to recognise French control over the eastern side of the Mekong River. Pavie continued to support French expeditions in Laotian territory and gave the territory its modern-day name of Laos. Following Siam's acceptance of the ultimatum, to cede the lands east of the Mekong including its islands, the Protectorate of Laos was officially established and the administrative capital moved from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. However, Luang Prabang remained the seat of the royal family, whose power was reduced to figureheads while the actual power was transferred over to French officials including the vice consulate and Resident-General.[6] In January 1896, France and the United Kingdom signed an accord recognising the border between French Laos and British Burma.
Administrative reorganisation
In 1898, Laos was fully integrated into the
In 1902, a treaty with Siam forced the kingdom to also surrender lands on the western side of the Mekong River. These lands now form the province of
French plans to expand the territory of Laos ended in 1907, after Siam began co-operating with the British to control French expansion in
Colonialism in Laos
Having been unsuccessful in their grand plan to annex Siam and with Laos being the least populated of its Indochinese possessions (the population was estimated to be 470,000 in 1900) and lacking seaports for trade, the French lost much interest in Laos, and for the next fifty years it remained a backwater of the French empire in Indochina. Officially, the Kingdom of Luang Prabang remained a protectorate with internal autonomy, but in practice it was controlled by French residents while the rest of Laos was governed as a colony. King Sisavang Vong, who became King of Luang Prabang in 1904, remained conspicuously loyal to the French through his 55-year reign.
Economically, the French did not develop Laos to the scale that it had in Vietnam and many Vietnamese were recruited to work in the government in Laos instead of the Laotian people, causing some conflicts between locals and the government. Economic development occurred very slowly in Laos and was initially fuelled primarily by rice cultivation and distilleries producing
Social reforms also occurred under French administration, such as the suppression of banditry, abolishment of slavery, and ending the legal discrimination of the
Revolts
In 1901, a revolt broke out in the south of Laos in the Bolaven Plateau among groups of Lao Theung led by Ong Keo, who was a self-proclaimed phū mī bun (holy man) who led a messianic cult. The revolt challenged French control over Laos and was not fully suppressed until 1910, when Ong Keo was killed. However, his successor and lieutenant, Ong Kommandam would become an early leader in the Lao nationalist movement.[16][17]
Between 1899 and 1910, political unrest in the northern
Instability continued in the north of Laos in 1919 when Hmong groups, who were the chief opium producers in Indochina, revolted against French taxation and special status given to the Lao Loum, who were minorities in the highlands, in a conflict known as the
Despite the unrest among minority hill tribes in the north, the central and southern portions of Laos saw a more favourable comparison under French rule versus Siamese rule and a considerable re-migration of Lao from the Isan area of northeastern Siam to Laos boosted the population and revived trade. Mekong valley cities such as Vientiane and Savannakhet grew considerably and the founding of Pakse fully asserted French rule over southern Laos, although cities still largely contained significant Vietnamese and Chinese minorities.[20]
To compete with Siamese trade, the French proposed a railway linking Hanoi with Vientiane but the plans were never approved. Nevertheless, infrastructure did improve for the first time in Laos as French colonists constructed Route nationale 13, linking Vientiane with Pakse and the road continues to remain the most important highway in Laos today. In 1923, a law school opened in Vientiane to train local Laotians interested in participating in the government; however, a large portion of students at the school were Vietnamese, who continued to dominate political offices.[20]
Although tin mining and coffee cultivation began in the 1920s, the country's isolation and difficult terrain meant that Laos largely remained economically unviable to the French. More than 90% of the Lao remained subsistence farmers, growing just enough surplus produce to sell for cash to pay their taxes.
Although the French did impose an assimilation program in Laos as in Vietnam, they were slow to fully enforce it due to the isolation and lack of economic importance in the colony. Schools were found primarily in major cities and it was not until the 1920s that rural areas began to be exposed to French education. By the 1930s, literacy rates among the Lao Loum and populations in the lowlands had increased considerably and Laotian students began to receive higher education in Hanoi or Paris. However, progress was stagnant in the highlands, where hill tribes were either too isolated to reach or refused to adopt the education system that was based on the foreign French language.
Most of the French who came to Laos as officials, settlers or missionaries developed a strong affection for the country and its people, and many devoted decades to what they saw as bettering the lives of the Lao. Some took Lao wives, learned the language, became Buddhists and "went native"—something more acceptable in the French Empire than in the British. With the racial attitudes typical of Europeans at this time, however, they tended to classify the Lao as gentle, amiable, childlike, naïve and lazy, regarding them with what one writer called "a mixture of affection and exasperation".
French contribution to Lao nationalism, apart from the creation of the Lao state itself, was made by the oriental specialists of the French School of the Far East (École Française d'Extrême-Orient), who undertook major archaeological works, found and published Lao historical texts, standardised the written Lao language, renovated neglected temples and tombs and in 1931, founded the Independent Lao Buddhist Institute in Vientiane, where Pali was taught so that the Lao could either study their own ancient history or Buddhist texts.
Laos during World War II
Laos might have drifted along as a backwater of the French Empire indefinitely had it not been for dramatic outside events that heavily impacted the nation from 1940 onwards.
On 22 September 1940 Japanese forces entered French Indochina. This was done with reluctant cooperation from the Vichy French authorities, who had been put into position following the French defeated by Germany a few months earlier. The subsequent occupation then occurred gradually, with Japanese garrisons being stationed across Indochina which was still administered by the French.[21]
Earlier, in 1932,
The loss of the territories was a massive blow to French prestige in Indochina. The dominant Laotian province of Luang Prabang (the previous, and now mostly formal,
To maintain support and expel Thai influence
Japanese puppet state
In 1944, the
After Japan's surrender in August, Prince Phetsarath moved to unite the southern provinces with the now independent Luang Prabang. This put him at odds with King Sisavong and the royal court, the King had already agreed with the French that he intended to have the country resume its former status as a French colony. Prince Phetsarath urged the King to reconsider and sent telegrams to all Laotian provincial governors notifying them that the Japanese surrender did not affect Laos' status as independent and warned them to resist any foreign intervention. On 15 September he declared the unification of the Kingdom of Laos with the southern regions; this caused the King to dismiss him from his post as Prime Minister on 10 October.[23]
French restoration
In the ensuing power vacuum of neither French or Japanese control, the dismissed Prince Phetsarath and other Lao nationalists formed the Lao Issara (Free Laos) which on 12 October 1945 took control of the government and reaffirmed the country's independence. Katay Don Sasorith, finance minister in the new government, wrote after the war that while the return of the status quo was perhaps desirable to Crown Prince Savang "who had never worked in his life and who had never been concerned with the needs and aspirations of the Lao people" it was a "total misunderstanding of the evolution of our sentiments and views since the Siamese aggression of 1940 and the Japanese action of 1945. We could not allow it".[23] The Lao Issara government asked the King to step down and await a decision regarding the future of the monarchy and on 10 November a group of 30 armed men led by Prince Sisoumang Saleumsak and Prince Bougnavat marched on the palace and put the royal family under house arrest.[23]
The situation had become chaotic in overall Indochina, the Chinese 93rd division of General Lu Han occupied and disarmed the Japanese in the northern half of the colony while the British, under General Douglas Gracey, did the same in the south. The British facilitated the French restoration while the Chinese obstructed it. All the while, the communist Viet Minh began rising against the new occupiers and the French return in Vietnam. Sympathies to all involved factions; French, Thai, Vietnamese, Royal, Nationalist, could be found in Laos and the political situation became extremely confused.[23] The monarchy of Luang Prabang had the promises of a united Kingdom of Laos assured by de Gaulle and continued their support for French protection. They were also worried about perceived Chinese and Vietnamese threats due to their inability to in any way defend themselves. Worries about the Viet Minh were also prevalent among the Lao Issara supporters and Prince Phetsarath; in his appeal to the alles in October 1945 he said that the Lao "had become, on their own soil, a poor and backward minority" in reference to the Vietnamese majority in all major towns in Laos (aside from Luang Prabang).[23]
The Lao Issara government started to lose control of the country by early 1946. They had fast ran out of money and could not rely on any foreign support due to Allied support for the return of the French. The main weakness of the Lao Issara has been cited to be that it always remained a small urban-based movement, failing to connect with the rural population of Laos. In a last desperate attempt to legitimize their government the Lao Issara asked King Sisavang Vong to re-ascend the throne as constitutional monarch, to which he agreed.[23] The withdrawal of the Chinese led to the French, under Colonel Hans Imfeld of the provisional French government, entering the capital of Vientiane towards the end of April 1946, freeing French prisoners with a French-Lao force supported by Prince Boun Oum of Champasak. By May they had reached Luang Prabang and the Lao Issara fled in exile to Thailand.[23][25]
End of colonialism in Laos
As the French administration was reestablished they found Laos had changed more than they had realized. Even the pro-French Laotians only saw the return of the French as temporary, although necessary, step on the road to full independence. On 27 August 1946 an agreement was signed that a unified Kingdom of Laos would become a constitutional monarchy within the French Union. To ensure that the royal house of Luang Prabang was to ascend to the ruling position in this agreement; a secret protocol had Prince Boun Oum renounce the claims of the house of Champasak in return for becoming Inspector-General of the new Kingdom for life. The provinces annexed by Thailand in 1941 were returned to their respective nations in November after France threatened to block Thai entry into the United Nations. Elections were held in December for a new Constituent Assembly which met in March 1947 and endorsed a new constitution, giving birth to the Kingdom of Laos on 11 May 1947, still a member of the somewhat reorganized Indochinese Federation.[26] The constitution introduced a bicameral parliament.
The exiled Lao Issara meanwhile started to fracture. They had conducted small guerrilla raids against the French with the help of the Viet Minh, but after Thailand started shifting towards a pro-French policy in 1947, Lao Issara had to cease their military activities from the country. Prince Souphanouvong, who had previously been alienated during the group's ruling period in 1945–46 due to his strong support for the Viet Minh now argued that they fully relocate to inside Viet Minh controlled territory and continue their operations there. When this was rejected he resigned from the Lao Issara and fully joined the Viet Minh. He would become the leader of the communist Pathet Lao.[23]
Meanwhile, greater autonomy for Laos was granted in July 1949 from both internal and external pressure, this satisfied the Lao Issara who dissolved the group and gradually returned to Laos under amnesty. Laos could at this point join the United Nations even though their foreign affairs and national defense was still controlled by France.[23] Following world-wide anti-colonial sentiment and France's loss of control of Indochina during the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh, the Kingdom of Laos was granted full independence in the Franco-Lao Treaty of 1953, reaffirmed in the 1954 Geneva Conference which ended French control of all of Indochina.[27][28]
See also
- History of Laos since 1945
- List of administrators of the French protectorate of Laos
- Lao rebellion (1826–1828)
References
- ^ "Brief Chronology, 1959–1963". Foreign Office Files: United States of America, Series Two: Vietnam, 1959–1975 ; Part 2: Laos, 1959–1963. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
October 22 Franco-Lao Treaty of Amity and Association
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 60–64
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 66–67
- ^ "Auguste Pavie, l'Explorateur aux pieds nus".
- ^ "Auguste Pavie, L'explorateur aux pieds nus". pavie.culture.fr.
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 67–68
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 69–72
- ISBN 0-521-59235-6, p. 30
- ^ Pierre Montagnon, La France coloniale, tome 1, Pygmalion-Gérard Watelet, 1988, p. 180
- ISBN 0-521-59235-6
- ^ Laos under the French, U.S. Library of congress
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 72–76
- ISBN 978-8-776-94023-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-59746-3.
- ^ Paul Lévy, Histoire du Laos, PUF, 1974, p. 83
- ^ Stuart-Fox pp. 34–36
- ^ Paul Lévy, Histoire du Laos, PUF, collection Que sais-je ? 1974, pp. 83–85
- ^ Stuart-Fox, pp. 37–38
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 76–77
- ^ a b Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, p. 77
- ^ a b c d Levy, pp. 89–90
- ^ Fall, Bernard B. (2018). Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina. Stackpole Books. p. 22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Evans, Grant (2002). A Short history of Laos, the land in between (PDF). Allen & Unwin.
- ^ Pinnith, p. 87
- ^ Philippe Franchini, Les Guerres d'Indochine, tome 1, Pygmalion-Gérard Watelet, 1988, p. 250
- ^ "Library of Congress – Laos – The Kingdom of Laos". loc.gov. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ Jean Deuve, Guérilla au Laos, L'Harmattan, 1997 (1ere édition en 1966, sous le nom de Michel Caply), p. 226
- ^ Carine Hahn, Le Laos, Karthala, 1999, pp. 88–89
Sources
- Kenneth Conboy, War in Laos 1954–1975, Squadron/Signal publications 1994
- Marini, G.F. de. (1998). A New and Interesting Description of the Lao Kingdom (1642–1648). Translated by Walter E. J. Tips and Claudio Bertuccio. Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press.
- Moppert, François. 1981. Le révolte des Bolovens (1901–1936). In Histoire de l'Asie du Sud-est: Révoltes, Réformes, Révolutions, Pierre Brocheux (ed.), pp. 47–62. Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille.
- Murdoch, John (1974) "The 1901–1902 Holy Man's Rebellion", Journal of the Siam Society 62(1), pp. 47–66.
- Ngaosrivathana, Mayoury & Breazeale, Kenon (ed). (2002). Breaking New Ground in Lao History: Essays on the Seventh to Twentieth Centuries. Chiangmai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.
- Phothisane, Souneth. (1996). The Nidan Khun Borom: Annotated Translation and Analysis, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Queensland. [This is a full and literal translation of a Lān Xāng chronicle]
- Stuart-Fox, Martin. "The French in Laos, 1887–1945." Modern Asian Studies (1995) 29#1, pp. 111–139.
- Stuart-Fox, Martin. A history of Laos (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
External links
- Jon Fernquest (2005) "The Flight of Lao War Captives From Burma Back to Laos in 1596: A Comparison of Historical Sources," SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005, ISSN 1479-8484