History of Thailand

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The

The country's designation as Siam by Westerners likely came from the Portuguese. Portuguese chronicles noted that Borommatrailokkanat, king of Ayutthaya, sent an expedition to the Malacca Sultanate, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, in 1455. Following their conquest of Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese sent a diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya. A century later, on 15 August 1612, The Globe, an East India Company merchantman bearing a letter from King James I, arrived in "the Road of Syam".^[2] "By the end of the 19th century, Siam had become so enshrined in geographical nomenclature that it was believed that by this name and no other would it continue to be known and styled."^[3]

to avoid conflicts between their colonies. After the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand endured sixty years of almost permanent military rule before the establishment of a democratically elected government.

Prehistory

Initial states and Indianized states

There are many sites in present-day Thailand dating to the Bronze (1500–500 BCE) and Iron Ages (500 BCE–500 CE). Areas comprising what is now Thailand participated in the

The oldest known records of a political entity in Indochina are attributed to Funan—centered in the Mekong Delta and comprising territories inside modern-day Thailand.^[11] Chinese annals confirm Funan's existence as early as the first century CE. Archaeological documentation implies an extensive human settlement history since the fourth century BCE.^[12]

The region also hosted a number of indigenous Austroasiatic-speaking and Malayo-Sumbawan-speaking civilisations. However, little is known about Thailand before the 13th century, as literary and concrete sources are scarce, and most of the knowledge about this period is gleaned from archaeological evidence. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, starting with the Kingdom of Funan, around the first century, until the Khmer Empire.^[13] These "Indianised kingdoms" are composed of Dvaravati, Srivijaya, and the Khmer Empire.^[14] E. A. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Thailand from India at the time of the Indian emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire and into the first millennium.^[14] Later, Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire.^[14]

Central Thailand

The

Pallava dynasty.

The religion of Dvaravati is thought to be

Dvaravati was a network of city-states paying tribute to more powerful ones according to the

. The culture lost power around the tenth century when they submitted to the more unified Lavo-Khmer polity.

Around the tenth century, the city-states of

(later styled "Isan"), constructing many temples.

Suryavarman, however, had no male heirs and again Lavo was independent. After the death of King Narai of Lavo, however, Lavo was plunged into bloody civil war and the Khmer under

".

Southern Thailand

Below the Kra Isthmus was the place of Malay civilisations. Primordial Malay kingdoms are described as tributaries to Funan by second-century Chinese sources, though most of them proved to be tribal organisations instead of full-fledged kingdoms.

Pattani Province

.

Southern Thailand was the centre of

^: 866

Northern Thailand

Main article:

Hariphunchai

According to the

.

Hariphunchai was the centre of Theravada in the north. The kingdom flourished during the reign of King Attayawong who built

Chiang Saen. Weakened by Tai invasions, Hariphunchai eventually fell in 1293 to Mangrai, king of Lan Na

, the successor state of the Ngoenyang Kingdom.

Arrival of the Tais

Further information: Khun Borom, Tai languages, and Tai peoples

The most recent and accurate theory about the origin of the

Nanchao, and in the aftermath, some 30,000 of them were beheaded.^[22][23] In the 1040s, a powerful matriarch-shamaness by the name of A Nong, her chiefly husband, and their son, Nong Zhigao, raised a revolt, took Nanning, besieged Guangzhou for fifty seven days, and slew the commanders of five Chinese armies sent against them before they were defeated, and many of their leaders were killed.^[22] As a result of these three bloody centuries, the Tai began to migrate southwestward.^[22]

The Simhanavati legend tells us that a Tai chief named

Chiang Saen around 800 CE. For the first time, the Tai people made contact with the Theravadin Buddhist kingdoms of Southeast Asia. Through Hariphunchai, the Tais of Chiang Saen embraced Theravada Buddhism and Sanskrit royal names. Wat Phrathat Doi Tong

, constructed around 850, signified the piety of Tai people on the Theravada Buddhism. Around 900, major wars were fought between Chiang Saen and Hariphunchai. Mon forces captured Chiang Saen and its king fled. In 937, Prince Prom the Great took Chiang Saen back from the Mon and inflicted severe defeats on Hariphunchai.

Around 1000 CE, Chiang Saen was destroyed by an earthquake with many inhabitants killed.[24]^{[failed verification]} A council was established to govern the kingdom for a while, and then a local Wa man known as Lavachakkaraj was elected king of the new city of Chiang Saen or Ngoenyang. The Lavachakkaraj dynasty would rule over the region for about 500 years.

Overpopulation might have encouraged the Tais to seek their fortune further southwards. By 1100 CE, the Tai had established themselves as Po Khuns (ruling fathers) at

Sawankhalok, and Chakangrao on the upper Chao Phraya River

. These southern Tai princes faced Khmer influence from the Lavo Kingdom. Some of them became subordinates to it.

Sukhothai Kingdom (1238–1438)

Main articles: Sukhothai Kingdom and Lan Na

Sukhothai Kingdom

Spheres of influence in mainland Southeast Asia, end of 13th century CE.

Phra Achana, Wat Si Chum, Sukhothai Historical Park.

The ruins of Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park.

Thai city-states gradually became independent of the weakened

Thai alphabet, but after his death in 1365, Sukhothai fell into decline and became subject to another emerging Thai state, the Ayutthaya Kingdom

in the lower Chao Phraya area.

Another Thai state that coexisted with Sukhothai was the eastern state of Lan Na centred in Chiang Mai. King Mangrai was its founder. This city-state emerged in the same period as Sukhothai. Evidently, Lan Na became closely allied with Sukhothai. After the Ayutthaya Kingdom had emerged and expanded its influence from the Chao Phraya valley, Sukhothai was finally subdued. Fierce battles between Lan Na and Ayutthaya also constantly took place and Chiang Mai was eventually subjugated, becoming Ayutthaya's vassal.

Lan Na's independent history ended in 1558, when it finally fell to the Burmese. It was dominated by Burma until the late-18th century. Local leaders then rose up against the Burmese with the help of the rising Thai kingdom of Thonburi of King Taksin. The "Northern City-States" then became vassals of the lower Thai kingdoms of Thonburi and Bangkok. In the early 20th century they were annexed and became part of modern Siam, the country that is now called "Thailand".

Ayutthaya period (1351–1767)

Main article: Ayutthaya Kingdom

Ayutthaya Kingdom

Ayutthaya

.

The city of Ayutthaya was on a small island, encircled by three rivers. Due to its defensible location, Ayutthaya quickly became powerful, politically, and economically. Ayutthaya's name is derived from Ayodhya, an Indian holy city.

The first ruler of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, King

Theravada Buddhism as the official religion to differentiate his kingdom from the neighbouring Hindu kingdom of Angkor and the compilation of the Dharmaśāstra

, a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The Dharmaśāstra remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century.

In 1511 Duke

Latin America, Spaniards and Mexicans

joined the Filipinos in trading at Thailand.

The Ayutthaya Period is known as the golden age of Thai literature, Art and Trade with the eastern and western world. The Ayutthaya period was also considered as "a golden age of medicine in Thailand" due to progress in the field of medicine at that time.^[29]

Burmese wars

Main article: Burmese–Siamese wars

Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the

Mahathammarachathirat his vassal king.^[31]

After Bayinnaung's death in 1581, Uparaja

Burmese–Siamese War (1594–1605) was a Thai attack on Burma, resulting in the capture of the Tanintharyi Region as far as Mottama

in 1595 and Lan Na in 1602. Naresuan even invaded mainland Burma as far as Taungoo in 1600, but was driven back.

Ayutthaya expanded its sphere of influence over a considerable area, ranging from the Islamic states on the Malay Peninsula, the Andaman seaports of present-day India, the Angkor kingdom of Cambodia, to states in northern Thailand. In the 18th century, the power of the Ayutthaya Kingdom gradually declined as fighting between princes and officials plagued its politics. Outlying principalities became more and more independent, ignoring the capital's orders and decrees.

In the 18th century, the last phase of the kingdom arrived. The

in 1767, after several months of siege, the Burmese broke through Ayutthaya's outer and inner walls, sacked the city, and burned it down. The royal family fled the city and Ayutthaya's last king, Ekkathat

, died of starvation ten days later while in hiding.

Thonburi and Early Rattanakosin period (1767–1851)

Main articles:

Rattanakosin Kingdom

Unification under Taksin

Main article: Taksin's reunification of Siam

After more than 400 years of power, in 1767, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya was brought down by invading

Chinese descent, Taksin, a capable military leader. Initially based at Chanthaburi in the southeast, within a year he had defeated the Burmese occupation army and re-established a Siamese state with its capital at Thonburi

on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, 20 km from the sea. In 1767 he was crowned as King Taksin (now officially known as "Taksin the Great").

Aruṇa

. Its main prang was constructed later in the Rattanakosin period.

After the sacking of Ayutthaya, the country fell apart due to the lack of a central authority. Besides King Taksin, who had organised his force in the southeastern provinces, four other claimants and warlords had seized power and set up their own sphere of influence.

Uttaradit Province). Previously, He had pursued Buddhist studies at Ayutthaya with such excellent results that he had been appointed the chief monk of Sawangburi by King Boromakot. In the southern provinces as far north as Chumphon, a Pra Palad who was the acting Governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat

declared his independence and raised himself to a princely rank.

Having firmly established his power at Thonburi, King Taksin set out to reunify the old kingdom, crushing regional rivals. After a temporary repulse by the Governor of Phitsanulok, he concentrated on the defeat of the weakest warlord first: Prince Thepphiphit of Phimai was subjugated and executed in 1768. Chao Narasuriyawongse, one of Taksin's nephews, replaced Thepphiphit as governor. The last so-called ruler who still challenged the King was the Prince of Sawangburi (Ruan) or Chao Pra Fang, as he had just annexed Phitsanulok on the death of its Governor. King Taksin himself led an expedition against him and took it, but the prince disappeared. In dealing with the Prince of Nakhon Si Thammarat, who was taken prisoner by the loyal Governor of

Pattani, the king not only pardoned him but also favoured him with a residence at Thonburi.^[32]

In the Thonburi period, the beginning of the Chinese mass immigration fell to Siam. Through the availability of Chinese workers, trade, agriculture and craftsmen flourished. However, the first Chinese rebellions had to be suppressed. However, later due to stress and many factors, King Taksin supposedly suffered mental breakdowns. After a coup d'état removing Taksin from power, stability was restored by General Chakri (later becoming Rama I). Taksin was sentenced to death on Wednesday, 10 April 1782.^[33]

Restoration under Rama I

Rattanakosin period

Temple of the Emerald Buddha, one of the king's many construction projects.

Greatest extent of Rattanakosin's orbit (c. 1805)

Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha as seen from the Outer Court of Grand Palace.

Hanuman on his chariot, a mural scene from the Ramakien

in Wat Phra Kaew.

A noble of

Siam, as it was then called. Lan Na also became free of Burmese occupation, but was reduced to the Kingdom of Chiang Mai. The king of the new dynasty was installed as a tributary ruler of the Chakri monarch

.

Main articles:

Burmese–Siamese War (1785–86) and Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút

It is probable that

usurpers

in Thai history.

The new dynasty moved the capital of Thonburi to

Chao Phraya river and was known among the foreign traders as the 'key to Siam'. New palaces and temples were built: construction of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, where the Emerald Buddha

is held, began. The king's goal was to transfer the old splendor of Ayutthaya to the new capital. In his new capital, Rama I crowned himself in 1785 in a splendid ceremony.

During the reign of Rama I, the foreign policy was still focused on the threat of Burma. In 1786, Burma's new king

Tenasserim

.

At the time of Rama I, Cambodia was practically administered as a province of Siam, as rival Vietnam had to deal with internal problems. Only when the new Vietnamese emperor Gia Long had ascended to the throne was the influence of Siam in Cambodia again contested. Relations with Vietnam took on a prominent place in this epoch, as there was yet to be significant relations with the European colonial powers during the reign of Rama I.

One of the most important achievements of Rama I was the codification of all the country's laws into a work of 1,700 pages called the Three Seals Law. This law remained valid in its basic traits until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Siam also had a high level of cultural achievement. The Buddhist canon (

Ramakian

epic were produced. Additionally, works from Chinese, Mon, Javanese, Persian, and Indian languages were translated into Thai.

Although Rama I continued the traditions of Ayutthaya in many respects, the new empire was more centralized than its predecessors. A particularly important innovation was the stronger emphasis on rationality in the relationship between the monarch and his subjects. Rama I was the first king in the history of the country who justified his decisions before the highest officials.

Maintaining the status quo under Rama II and Rama III

Main articles:

Siamese–Vietnamese War (1841–45)

See also: Sunthorn Phu

King

Rama II (Phra Phutthaloetla) was the son of Rama I. His accession to the throne was accompanied by a plot, during which 40 people were killed. The calmness of the interior and the exterior, which during the reign of Rama II and his successor Rama III

(Phra Nang Klao), prevailed mainly through giving in to conflicts and building good relations with influential clans in the country.

During Rama II's reign, the kingdom saw a cultural renaissance after the massive wars that plagued his predecessor's reign; particularly in the fields of arts and literature. Poets employed by Rama II included Sunthorn Phu the drunken writer (Phra Aphai Mani) and Narin Dhibet (Nirat Narin).

Foreign relations were initially dominated by relations with the neighbouring states, while those with European colonial powers started to enter in the background. In Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam gained the supremacy, a fact which Rama II initially accepted. When a rebellion broke out in Vietnam under Rama III in 1833–34, he tried to subdue the Vietnamese militarily, but this led to a costly defeat for the Siamese troops. In the 1840s, however, the Khmer themselves succeeded in expelling the Vietnamese, which subsequently led to the greater influence of Siam in Cambodia. At the same time, Siam kept sending tribute to China.

There was a serious touch with British colonial interests when Siam conquered the Sultanate

Robert Hunter ("discoverer" of the conjoined brothers Chang and Eng, the original "Siamese twins") or James Hayes, but also missionaries from Europe and the United States like Jacob Tomlin, Karl Gützlaff, Dan Beach Bradley and Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix became active in Siam. In 1825 an agreement was signed with British emissary Henry Burney; Siam recognised British colonial possessions on the Malay Peninsula and made commercial concessions. This agreement was due not least to the rapid British success in the First Anglo-Burmese War

.

A potentially dangerous event occurred with the

Anouvong's Rebellion in 1827, when the troops of the tributary King Anouvong of the Kingdom of Vientiane advanced towards Bangkok. They were, however, destroyed, which strengthened the position of Siam in Laos. The Lao-population of the areas west of the Mekong were relocated to Thai provinces in Isan

.

Under Rama II and Rama III, culture, dance, poetry and above all the theatre reached a climax. The temple Wat Pho was built by Rama III, known as the first university of the country.

The reign of Rama III. was finally marked by a division of the aristocracy with regard to foreign policy. A small group of advocates of the takeover of Western technologies and other achievements were opposed by conservative circles, which proposed a stronger isolation instead. Since the kings Rama II and Rama III, the conservative-religious circles largely stuck with their isolationist tendency.

The death of Rama III in 1851 also signified the end of the old traditional Siamese monarchy: there were already clear signs of profound changes, which were implemented by the two successors of the king.

Modernization under Rama IV and Rama V (1851–1910)

When King Mongkut ascended the Siamese throne, he was severely threatened by the neighbouring states. The colonial powers of Britain and France had already advanced into territories which originally belonged to the Siamese sphere of influence. Mongkut and his successor Chulalongkorn (Rama V) recognised this situation and tried to strengthen the defence forces of Siam by modernisation, to absorb Western scientific and technical achievements, thus avoiding colonisation.

The two monarchs, who ruled in this epoch, were the first with Western formation. King Mongkut had lived 26 years as a wandering monk and later as an abbot of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara. He was not only skilled in the traditional culture and Buddhist sciences of Siam, but he had also dealt extensively with modern western science, drawing on the knowledge of European missionaries and his correspondence with Western leaders and the Pope. He was the first Siamese monarch to speak English.

The colonial encroachment in the 1880s in Burma to the West by the British Empire and Indochina to the East by the French caused anxiety amongst the Siamese elites including the British-educated Prince Prisdang who put forward a proposal alongside eleven other senior dignitaries to King Chulalongkorn to strengthen Siamese institutions following the European model. Some of these reforms reflect need to keep up with European convention of liberal statecraft and justice to maintain legitimacy. Prisdang suggested that the following reforms should be carried out:

1. Change the absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy,
2. Establish a cabinet system or ministerial government,
3. Distribute power to the heads of departments,
4. Promulgate a law of royal succession,
5. Change the payment system for the bureaucracy from the commission system to a salary system,
6. Promote equality under the law,
7. Reform the legal system on the Western model,
8. Promote freedom of speech, and
9. Establish a merit system for the bureaucracy.^[36]

The majority of these reforms were implemented decades after Chulalongkorn's death.

As early as 1855,

Western powers in the following years, such as in 1862 with Prussia and 1869 with Austria-Hungary. From the Prussian emissary Count Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg comes a much-respected travel report about Siam. The survival diplomacy, which Siam had cultivated abroad for a long time, reached its climax in this epoch.^[37]

The integration into the global economy meant to Siam that it became a sales market for Western industrial goods and an investment for Western capital. The export of agricultural and mineral raw materials began, including the three products rice, pewter and

teakwood, which were used to produce 90% of the export turnover. King Mongkut actively promoted the expansion of agricultural land by tax incentives, while the construction of traffic routes (canals, roads and later also railways) and the influx of Chinese immigrants allowed the agricultural development of new regions. Subsistence farming in the Lower Menam Valley developed into farmers actually earning money with their produce.^[38]

Mongkut's son,

Somdet Chaophraya Sri Suriwongse

, but when the king came of age in 1873 he soon took control. He created a Privy Council and a Council of State, a formal court system and budget office. He announced that slavery would be gradually abolished and debt-bondage restricted.

Western colonialism and cession of protectorates

See also: 1893 Franco-Siamese crisis

Further information: Western imperialism in Asia and Entente Cordiale

Franco-Siamese crisis was the cession of Laos (medium purple) to France in 1893.

Occupation of Trat by French troops (1904).

Siam right before the cession of the Mekong territory in the RS112 incident.

Two kings, Mongkut and Chulalongkorn, witnessed the expansion of both

extraterritorial

rights in these areas to the new conquerors.

The construction of

Franco-Siamese crisis. In the same year, Siam was compelled to conclude a treaty with France, in which the territory of Laos, located east of the Mekong, was annexed to French Indochina. The French forced Siam to refrain from any influence on its former vassal state. In 1887, the Indo-Chinese Union was founded. In 1896, British and French concluded a treaty which made a border between their colonies, with Siam defined as a buffer state

.

After the French crisis of 1893, King Chulalongkorn realised the threat of the western colonial powers, and accelerated extensive reforms in the administration, military, economy and society of Siam, completing the development of the nation from a traditional feudalist structure based on personal domination and dependencies, whose peripheral areas were only indirectly bound to the central power (the King), to a centrally-governed national state with established borders and modern political institutions.[39]

The

Menam's basin; in turn, the French recognised British influence over the territory to the west of the Menam basin. Both parties disclaimed any idea of annexing Siamese territory.^[40]

The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 defined the modern border between Siam and British Malaya. The treaty stated that Siam relinquished their claims over Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis to Great Britain, which were previously part of the semi-independent Malay sultanates of Pattani and Kedah. A series of treaties with France fixed the country's current eastern border with Laos and Cambodia.

In 1904, 1907 and 1909, there were new border corrections in favour of France and Great Britain. When King Chulalongkorn died in 1910, Siam had achieved the borders of today's Thailand. In 1910 he was peacefully succeeded by his son Vajiravudh, who reigned as Rama VI. He had been educated at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and University of Oxford and was an anglicised Edwardian gentleman. Indeed, one of Siam's problems was the widening gap between the Westernised royal family and upper aristocracy and the rest of the country. It took another 20 years for Western education to extend to the rest of the bureaucracy and the army.

Nation formation under Vajiravudh and Prajadhipok (1910–1932)

See also: Palace Revolt of 1912

The successor of King Chulalongkorn was King Rama VI in October 1910, better known as

school education

was introduced for all 7 to 14-year-olds.

King Vajiravudh was a favour of literature, theatre, he translated many foreign literatures into Thai. He created the spiritual foundation for a kind of Thai nationalism, a phenomenon unknown in Siam. He was based on the unity of nation, Buddhism, and kingship, and demanded loyalty from his subjects to all these three institutions. King Vajiravudh also took refuge in an irrational and contradictory anti-Sinicism. As a result of the mass immigration, in contrast to previous immigration waves from China, women and entire families had also come into the country, which meant that the Chinese were less assimilated and retained their cultural independence. In an article published by King Vajiravudh under a pseudonym, he described the Chinese minority as Jews of the East.

King Vajiravudh also created some new social associations, for example, the

Scout movement

.

In 1912, a

ancien régime and replacing it with a modern, Westernised constitutional system, and perhaps to replace Rama VI with a prince more sympathetic to their beliefs.,^[43]

^: 155 but the king went against the conspirators, and sentenced many of them to long prison sentences. The members of the conspiracy consisted of military and the navy, the status of the monarchy, had become challenged.

World War I

Main article:

Siam during World War I

In 1917 Siam declared war on

unequal treaties

and the restoration of full Siamese sovereignty. The United States obliged in 1920, while France and Britain followed in 1925. This victory gained the king some popularity, but it was soon undercut by discontent over other issues, such as his extravagance, which became more noticeable when a sharp postwar recession hit Siam in 1919. There was also the fact that the king had no son. He obviously preferred the company of men to women (a matter which of itself did not much concern Siamese opinion, but which did undermine the stability of the monarchy due to the absence of heirs).

Thus when Rama VI died suddenly in 1925, aged only 44, the monarchy was already in a weakened state. He was succeeded by his younger brother Prajadhipok.

By 1925–1926, Siamese

extraterritorial rights were restored a period of five years thereafter.^[44]

Early years of constitutional monarchy (1932–1945)

Revolution and difficult compromise

Main article: Siamese revolution of 1932

A small circle from the rising bourgeoisie of former students (all of whom had completed their studies in Europe – mostly Paris), supported by some military men, seized power from the absolute monarchy on 24 June 1932 in an almost nonviolent revolution. This was also called the "

Khana Ratsadon

or sponsors, gathered officers, intellectuals and bureaucrats, who represented the idea of the refusal of the absolute monarchy.

The Khana Ratsadon installed a

") as a fourth pillar.

In the following period it became clear how heterogeneous the group of Khana Ratsadon was, and it fell into several rival wings, especially those of the high officers, the younger officers and the civilians. From the liberal and civilian wing,

, opposed the plan.

Fearing that Pridi's liberal wing, who had the majority in the National Assembly, would decide to take action, Phraya Manopakorn dissolved the parliament in April, imposed an emergency, and rescinded the constitution, which had not yet been a year old. He imposed a law against Communist activities, which was directed not so much against the almost insignificant

as Siam's second prime minister.

Khana Ratsadon's rise

After the fall of Phraya Manopakorn, Phraya Phahon became the new Prime Minister. Pridi Phanomyong was expelled from the charge of communism, but his economic plan was largely ignored. Only a few of his ideas, such as the expansion of primary schools and industrialisation with state enterprises, were gradually implemented. In 1933, Pridis founded the

).

The many unsettled constitutional roles of the crown and the dissatisfaction with Khana Ratsadon, especially Pridi's post in the new government, culminated in October 1933 in a reactionary

.

After the Boworadet rebellion and some other disagreements with Khana Khana Ratsadon thereafter, King Prajadhipok abdicated the throne and exiled himself. He was replaced as king by his nine-year-old nephew Prince Ananda Mahidol (King Rama VIII), who at that time was attending school in Lausanne, Switzerland. Plaek Phibunsongkhram's popularity increased from his role in leading anti-rebellion forces.

During this time, Pridi played an important role in modernising Thai public administration: completed Thai legal codes, created the local government system.

Dictatorship of Phibunsongkhram

When Phibulsonggram succeeded Phraya Phahon as Prime Minister in September 1938, the military and civilian wings of Khana Ratsadon diverged even further, and military domination became more overt. Phibunsongkhram began moving the government towards

around himself.

The defeat of France in the Battle of France was the catalyst for the Thai leadership to begin an attack on French Indochina. This began with smaller conflicts in 1940 and resulted in the Franco-Thai War in 1941. It suffered a heavy defeat in the sea battle of Ko Chang, but it dominated on land and in the air. The Empire of Japan, already the dominant power in the Southeast Asian region, took over the role of mediator. The negotiations ended the conflict with Thai territorial gains in the French colonies of Laos and Cambodia.

By 1942, he had issued a series of cultural decrees ("ratthaniyom") or Thai cultural mandates, which reflected the desire for social modernisation, but also an authoritarian and exaggerated nationalist spirit. First, in 1939, he changed the country's name of

: มหาอาณาจักรไทย). Other decrees urged the citizens to embrace Western-style modernisation.

World War II

After the Franco-Thai war ended, the Thai government declared

The Thais and Japanese agreed that

Burma

in 1945.

The

At war's end, Phibun was put on trial at Allied insistence on charges of having committed

Cold War period

Allied occupation of Thailand (1946)

After Japan's defeat in 1945, British, Indian troops, and US observers landed in September, and during their brief occupation of parts of the country disarmed the Japanese troops. After repatriating them, the British left in March 1946.

In early September the leading elements of Major General

returned from Washington to succeed Tawee as prime minister. It was the first time in over a decade that the government had been controlled by civilians. But the ensuing factional scramble for power in late 1945 created political divisions in the ranks of the civilian leaders that destroyed their potential for making a common stand against the resurgent political force of the military in the post-war years.

Following the signature by Thailand of the Washington Accord of 1946,

Moreover, the post-war accommodations with the Allies weakened the civilian government. As a result of the contributions made to the Allied war effort by the Free Thai Movement, the United States, which unlike the other Allies had never officially been at war with Thailand, refrained from dealing with Thailand as an enemy country in post-war peace negotiations. Before signing a peace treaty, however, Britain demanded war reparations in the form of rice shipments to Malaya. An Anglo-Thai Peace Treaty was signed on 1 January 1946, and an Australian–Thai Peace Treaty on 3 April. France refused to permit admission of Thailand to the United Nations until Indochinese territories annexed during the war were returned. The Soviet Union insisted on the repeal of anti-communist legislation.

Democratic elections and the return of the military

Elections were held in January 1946. These were the first elections in which political parties were legal, and Pridi's People's Party and its allies won a majority. In March 1946 Pridi became Siam's first democratically elected prime minister. In 1946, after he agreed to hand back the Indochinese territories occupied in 1941 as the price for admission to the United Nations, all wartime claims against Siam were dropped and substantial US aid was received.

In December 1945, the young king Ananda Mahidol had returned to Siam from Europe, but in June 1946 he was found shot dead in his bed, under mysterious circumstances. Three palace servants were tried and executed for his murder, although there are significant doubts as to their guilt and the case remains both murky and a highly sensitive topic in Thailand today. The king was succeeded by his younger brother, Bhumibol Adulyadej. In August Pridi was forced to resign amid suspicion that he had been involved in the regicide. Without his leadership, the civilian government foundered, and in November 1947 the army, its confidence restored after the debacle of 1945, seized power. After an interim Khuang-headed government, in April 1948 the army brought Phibun back from exile and made him prime minister. Pridi, in turn, was driven into exile, eventually settling in Beijing as a guest of the PRC.

Phibun's return to power coincided with the onset of the

, Phibun was nearly killed when the ship where he was held hostage was bombed by the pro-government air force.

Although nominally a constitutional monarchy, Thailand was ruled by a series of military governments, most prominently led by Phibun, interspersed with brief periods of democracy. Thailand took part in the Korean War. Communist Party of Thailand guerrilla forces operated inside the country from the early-1960s to 1987. They included 12,000 full-time fighters at the peak of movement, but never posed a serious threat to the state.

By 1955 Phibun was losing his leading position in the army to younger rivals led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat and General Thanom Kittikachorn, the Sarit's army staged a bloodless coup on 17 September 1957, ending Phibun's career for good. The coup beginning a long tradition of US-backed military regimes in Thailand. Thanom became prime minister until 1958, then yielded his place to Sarit, the real head of the regime. Sarit held power until his death in 1963, when Thanom again took the lead.

Thailand during the Indochina wars and communist insurgency

The regimes of Sarit and Thanom were strongly supported by the US. Thailand had formally become a US ally in 1954 with the formation of the

Agent Orange, a herbicide and

US Vietnam-era veterans whose service involved duty on or near the perimeters of military bases in Thailand anytime between 28 February 1961, and 7 May 1975, may have been exposed to herbicides and may qualify for VA benefits.[58]

A declassified US Department of Defense report written in 1973 suggests that there was a significant use of herbicides on the fenced-in perimeters of military bases in Thailand to remove foliage that provided cover for enemy forces.^[58]

Between 1962 and 1965, 350 Thai nationals underwent an eight-month training course in North Vietnam. In the first half of 1965, the rebels smuggled approximately 3,000 US-made weapons and 90,000 rounds of ammunition from Laos.^[59]

Between 1961 and 1965, insurgents carried out 17 political assassinations. They avoided full scale guerrilla warfare until the summer of 1965, when militants began engaging Thai security forces. A total of 13 clashes were recorded during that period.^[59] The second half of 1965 was marked by a further 25 violent incidents,^[59] and starting in November 1965, Communist Party of Thailand insurgents began undertaking more elaborate operations.

The insurgency spread to other parts of Thailand in 1966, although 90 percent of insurgency-related incidents occurred in the northeast of the country.^[59] On 14 January 1966, a spokesman representing the Thai Patriotic Front called for the start of a "people's war" in Thailand. The statement marked an escalation of violence in the conflict.^[60] The insurgency had come to an end only by 1983.^[61]

The Vietnam War hastened the modernisation and Westernisation of Thai society. The American presence and the exposure to Western culture that came with it had an effect on almost every aspect of Thai life. Before the late 1960s, full access to Western culture was limited to a highly educated elite in society, but the Vietnam War brought the outside world face to face with large segments of the Thai society as never before. With US dollars pumping up the economy, the service, transportation, and construction industries grew phenomenally as did

The traditional rural family unit was broken down as more and more rural Thais moved to the city to find new jobs. This led to a clash of cultures as Thais were exposed to Western ideas about fashion, music, values, and moral standards.

The population began to grow explosively as the standard of living rose, and a flood of people began to move from the villages to the cities, and above all to Bangkok. Thailand had 30 million people in 1965, while by the end of the 20th century the population had doubled. Bangkok's population had grown tenfold since 1945 and had tripled since 1970.

Educational opportunities and exposure to mass media increased during the Vietnam War years. Bright university students learned more about ideas related to Thailand's economic and political systems, resulting in a revival of student activism. The Vietnam War period also saw the growth of the Thai middle class which gradually developed its own identity and consciousness.

Economic development did not bring prosperity to all. During the 1960s many of the rural poor felt increasingly dissatisfied with their condition in society and disillusioned by their treatment by the central government in Bangkok. Efforts by the Thai government to develop poor rural regions often did not have the desired effect in that they contributed to the farmers' awareness of how bad off they really were. It was not always the poorest of the poor who joined the anti-government insurgency. Increased government presence in the rural villages did little to improve the situation. Villagers became subject to increased military and police harassment and bureaucratic corruption. Villagers often felt betrayed when government promises of development were frequently not fulfilled. By the early 1970s rural discontent had manifested itself into a peasant's activist movement.

In 1972, hundreds of peasants, perhaps more than 3,000, suspected of supporting the communist rebellion, were massacred by the armed forces in Phattalung province in southern Thailand. Until then, communist suspects arrested by the army were usually shot and their bodies left behind. This time, the "red barrel" method was introduced to eliminate any possible evidence. Suspects were beaten into semi-consciousness before being thrown into barrels containing gasoline and burned alive.[63]

The 1973 democracy movement

Democracy Monument in Bangkok, built in 1940 to commemorate the end of the absolute monarchy

in 1932, was the scene of massive demonstrations in 1973, 1976, 1992 and 2010.

With the dissatisfaction of pro-US policies of Military administration that allowed the US forces for using the country as a military bases, the high rate of prostitution problems, the freedom of press and speech were limited and influx of the corruption that lead to inequality of social classes. Student demonstrations had started in 1968 and grew in size and numbers in the early 1970s despite the continued ban on political meetings. In June 1973, nine Ramkhamhaeng University students were expelled for publishing an article in a student newspaper that was critical of the government. Shortly after, thousands of students held a protest at the Democracy Monument demanding the re-enrolment of the nine students. The government ordered the universities to shut, but shortly afterwards allowed the students to be re-enrolled.

In October another 13 students were arrested on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government. This time the student protesters were joined by workers, businessmen, and other ordinary citizens. The demonstrations swelled to several hundred thousand and the issue broadened from the release of the arrested students to demands for a new constitution and the replacement of the current government.

On 13 October, the government released the detainees. Leaders of the demonstrations, among them Seksan Prasertkul, called off the march in accordance with the wishes of the king who was publicly against the democracy movement. In a speech to graduating students, he criticised the pro-democracy movement by telling students to concentrate on their studies and leave politics to their elders [military government].

As the crowds were breaking up the next day (14 October), many students found themselves unable to leave because the police blocked the southern route to Rajavithi Road. Cornered and overwhelmed by the hostile crowd, the police responded with teargas and gunfire.

The military was called in, and tanks rolled down

had the army withdrawn from the streets.

The king condemned the government's inability to handle the demonstrations and ordered Thanom, Praphas, and Narong to leave the country, and notably condemned the students' supposed role as well. At 18:10 Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn resigned from his post as prime minister. An hour later, the king appeared on national television, asking for calm, and announcing that Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn had been replaced with Dr. Sanya Dharmasakti, a respected law professor, as prime minister.

The 1973 Uprising brought about the most free era in Thai recent history, called an "age when democracy blossomed" and a "democratic experiment," which ended in the

and a coup on 6 October 1976.

Democratisation and setbacks

Post-1973 has been marked by a struggle to define the political contours of the state. It was won by the king and General Prem Tinsulanonda, who favoured a monarchial constitutional order.

The post-1973 years have seen a difficult and sometimes bloody transition from military to civilian rule, with several reversals along the way. The revolution of 1973 inaugurated a brief, unstable period of democracy, with

for two years.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2018)

Political conflicts since 2001

Main article:

History of Thailand since 2001

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2014)

Thaksin Shinawatra period

The populist

(PAD).

On 19 September 2006, after the dissolution of parliament, Thaksin became head of a provisional government. While he was in New York for a meeting of the UN, Army Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General

, as a successor to Thai Rak Thai.

2006 coup d'état

Without meeting much resistance, a

In this interim constitution draft, the head of the junta was allowed to remove the prime minister at any time. The legislature was not allowed to hold a vote of confidence against the cabinet and the public was not allowed to file comments on bills.

on 23 December 2007. Š

2008–2010 political crisis

See also:

2008–2010 Thai political crisis

The People's Power Party (Thailand) (PPP), led by Samak Sundaravej formed a government with five smaller parties. Following several court rulings against him in a variety of scandals, and surviving a vote of no confidence, and protesters blockading government buildings and airports, in September 2008, Sundaravej was found guilty of conflict of interest by the Constitutional Court of Thailand (due to being host of a TV cooking program),^[69] and thus, ended his term in office.

He was replaced by PPP member Somchai Wongsawat. As of October 2008, Wongsawat was unable to gain access to his offices, which were occupied by protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy. On 2 December 2008, Thailand's Constitutional Court in a highly controversial ruling found the Peoples Power Party (PPP)^[70] guilty of electoral fraud, which led to the dissolution of the party according to the law. It was later alleged in media reports that at least one member of the judiciary had a telephone conversation with officials working for the Office of the Privy Council and one other person. The phone call was taped and has since circulated on the Internet. In it, the callers discuss finding a way to ensure the ruling PPP party would be disbanded. Accusations of judicial interference were levelled in the media but the recorded call was dismissed as a hoax. However, in June 2010, supporters of the eventually disbanded PPP were charged with tapping a judge's phone.

Immediately following what many media described as a "judicial coup", a senior member of the armed forces met with factions of the governing coalition to get their members to join the opposition and the Democrat Party was able to form a government, a first for the party since 2001. The leader of the Democrat Party, and former leader of the opposition, Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed and sworn in as the 27th Prime Minister, together with a new cabinet, on 17 December 2008.

In April 2009, protests by the

About a year later, a set of new Red Shirts protests resulted in 87 deaths (mostly civilian and some military) and 1,378 injured.^[73] When the army tried to disperse protesters on 10 April 2010, the army was met with automatic gunfire, grenades, and fire bombs from an opposition faction in the army. This resulted in the army returning fire with rubber bullets and some live ammunition. During the time of the Red Shirt protests against the government, there were numerous grenade and bomb attacks against government offices and the homes of government officials. Gas grenades were fired at Yellow Shirt protesters who were protesting against the Red Shirts and in favour of the government, by unknown gunmen killing one pro-government protester, the government stated that the Red Shirts were firing the weapons at civilians.^{[74][75][76][77]} Red Shirts continued to hold a position in the business district of Bangkok and it was shut down for several weeks.^[78]

On 3 July 2011, the opposition

2013–2014 political crisis

Main article:

2013–14 Thai political crisis

Protests recommenced in late 2013, as a broad alliance of protesters, led by former opposition deputy leader Suthep Thaugsuban, demanded an end to the Thaksin regime. A blanket amnesty for people involved in the 2010 protests, altered at the last minute to include all political crimes, including all convictions against Thaksin, triggered a mass show of discontent, with numbers variously estimated between 98,500 (the police) and 400,000 (an aerial photo survey done by the Bangkok Post), taking to the streets. The Senate was urged to reject the bill to quell the reaction, but the measure failed. A newly named group, the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) along with allied groups, escalated the pressure, with the opposition Democrat party resigning en masse to create a parliamentary vacuum. Protesters demand variously evolved as the movement's numbers grew, extending a number of deadlines and demands that became increasingly unreasonable or unrealistic, yet attracting a groundswell of support. They called for the establishment of an indirectly elected "people's council", in place of Yingluck's government, that would cleanse Thai politics and eradicate the Thaksin regime.^[80]

In response to the protests, Yingluck dissolved parliament on 9 December 2013 and proposed a new election for 2 February 2014, a date that was later approved by the election commission.^[81] The PDRC insisted that the prime minister stand down within 24 hours, regardless of her actions, with 160,000 protesters in attendance at Government House on 9 December. Yingluck insisted that she would continue her duties until the scheduled election in February 2014, urging the protesters to accept her proposal: "Now that the government has dissolved parliament, I ask that you stop protesting and that all sides work towards elections. I have backed down to the point where I don't know how to back down any further."^[82]

In response to the Electoral Commission (EC)'s registration process for party-list candidates—for the scheduled election in February 2014—anti-government protesters marched to the Thai-Japanese sports stadium, the venue of the registration process, on 22 December 2013. Suthep and the PDRC led the protest, which security forces claimed that approximately 270,000 protesters joined. Yingluck and the Pheu Thai Party reiterated their election plan and anticipated presenting a list of 125 party-list candidates to the EC.^[83]

On 7 May 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that Yingluck would have to step down as the prime minister as she was deemed to have abused her power in transferring a high-level government official.^[84] On 21 August 2014 she was replaced by army chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha.^[85]

2014 coup d'état

On 20 May 2014 the Thai army declared martial law and began to deploy troops in the capital, denying that it was a coup attempt.

The rise of fascism in Thailand began around the coup, first coined by James Taylor of University of Adelaide in 2011,[96] after the junta took control, academics and political commentators started to identify a political system by fascism. Pithaya Pookaman and James Taylor called it 'New Right' consisting of ultraconservatives, reactionaries, semi-fascists, pseudo-intellectuals and former leftists.^[97] John Draper, an academic and political commentator, noted that the rise of fascism in Thailand began in 2014.^[98] The King's sufficient economy was mentioned that it serves as one of the ideological foundations of the military regime, and reminiscent of fascist regimes in Europe in the 1930s.^[99]

Military Junta (2014–2019)

The ruling junta led by Prayuth Chan-o-cha promised to hold new elections, but wanted to enact a new constitution before the elections were held. An initial draft constitution was rejected by government officials in 2015. A national referendum, the first since the 2014 coup, on a newly drafted constitution was held on 7 August 2016.^[100] There was a 55% turnout of which around 61% voted in favour of the constitution.^[101] Under the new constitution an unelected person other than a member of parliament can be appointed as Prime Minister, which would open the post to a military official.^[102] The new constitution also gives the National Council for Peace and Order the authority to make all the appointments to the 250-member Senate in the next government.^[103]

Maha Vajiralongkorn reign (2016–present)

Maha Vajiralongkorn

.

On 13 October 2016, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died at the age of 89, in Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. On the night of 1 December 2016, the fiftieth day after the death of Bhumibol, Regent Prem Tinsulanonda led the heads of the country's three branches of government to an audience with Vajiralongkorn to invite him to ascend to the throne as the tenth king of the Chakri dynasty.^[104] In April 2017, King Vajiralongkorn signs the new constitution which will aid in the return to democracy.^[105]

In May 2017, Bangkok hospital was bombed, wounding 24 people on the third anniversary of the military coup of 2014.^[106]

In June 2019, both houses of Thailand's parliament elected Prayuth Chan-ocha, retired general and former military junta leader, as the country's next prime minister. The vote officially restored civilian rule in Thailand. The opposition complained of voting irregularities in the March 24 elections.^[107]

In February 2020, pro-democracy party Future Forward, the third largest party in the parliament with 80 seats, was disbanded. The ruling was made by the Constitutional Court, because of a donation the party's founder,Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, made for the party.^[108]

In September 2022, Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha can stay in office. The opposition had challenged him, because the new constitution limits the term for prime minister as a total period of eight years in office. The Constitutional Court's ruling was that his term in office began in April 2017, simultaneously with the new constitution, although General Prayuth had ruled as the leader of the government since the 2014 military coup.^[109]

In May 2023, Thailand's reformist opposition,the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) and the populist Pheu Thai Party, won the general election, meaning the royalist-military parties that supported Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha lost power.^[110] Initially, the opposition parties attempted to form a government together with MFP's Pita Limjaroenrat as prime ministerial candidate. This failed despite a majority in the lower house, as under the 2017 constitution the junta-appointed Senate also voted for the prime minister along with the elected lower house.^[111] Pheu Thai then dissolved its coalition with MFP and allied instead with the royalist-military parties, which allowed the new coalition to garner votes in the military-dominated Senate. On 22 August 2023, its candidate Srettha Thavisin became Thailand's new prime minister, while the Pheu Thai party's billionaire figurehead Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand after years in self-imposed exile.^[112]

See also

• Dhamma Society Fund
• History of Bangkok
• History of Southeast Asia
• History of Isan
• History of the Thai Forest Tradition
• List of Kings of Thailand
  • Monarchs' family tree
• List of prime ministers of Thailand
• Peopling of Thailand
• Politics of Thailand
• Reactions to the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej
• Siam Society
• Thai cultural mandates
• Thai studies
• Thaification
• South Thailand insurgency

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

• Thailand Country Study for the Library of Congress, 1987. Barbara Leitch LePoer, editor. This text comes from the Country Studies Program. The series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.
• Thailand profile – Timeline at the BBC News Online