NamePeople's Republic of Thailand
Territory
Image courtesy of @ShyriHead of StateGrand Premier Thornthep Radchawat
The Kingdom of Siam joined the First World War in 1914 as a nominal member of the Allies, initially to gain favor with Britain and France. In response to numerous pleas by the British and French, King Rama VI formed the Siamese Expeditionary Forces, which at first was a single 1,300-strong motor and medical division, but as the war dragged on became a 20,000-strong infantry unit that saw numerous action in offensives into the German and Ottoman Empires. The Royal Siamese Navy also assaulted military installations in German New Guinea, and by May 1921 had almost reclaimed the entire archipelago. The early 1920s were a period of grand military action for Siam, but were also times of civil unrest and anti-Westernization.
King Rama VI, a Western-educated eager young man, was constantly under fire by pro-German elites, pacifist Buddhist groups, and of course, the section of the general populace whose sons were being sent off to die in a place ten thousand miles away from home. Anti-war sentiments increased when towards the late 1910s, the Germans intensified naval warfare in the Pacific. By this time, about 2,300 Siamese had died in the European and Ottoman Fronts, and the promise of reparations by the Allies were becoming a distant memory. All of this was accentuated by the economic recession caused by Central Power navies limiting trade to the Allied European nations. In 1917, Khana Ratsadon, a left-wing revolutionary group, was founded by university students in Bangkok whose main goal was to pull Siam out of its useless war, wrest power from the Westernized elites, and bring it back to the Siamese people through democracy. By 1918, the movement was already organizing large rallies and protests all across Siam.
In late 1919, protests became heated when Royal Siamese Army soldiers fired on protesters outside the royal palace, injuring 13 and killing 3. The three dead protesters, all of them students, became martyrs and figureheads for the revolution. Armed insurrection unofficially began in 1925 in some northern provinces, and back in Europe, members of the Expeditionary Forces were already joining their European comrades in desertion. On December 23 1919, members of the Khana Ratsadon armed with stolen Army rifles attempted to storm the Royal Palace, but were (barely) beaten back by the royal guard with 18 dead.
In February 1921, another coup was launched in the capital and was overwhelmingly successful, with even the royal guards aiding in the attack. The royal family, anticipating this, boarded a private ship for France, and were granted asylum there. The new People’s Republic of Thailand’s first order of the day was, of course, to withdraw all of its troops from the Great War. This was heavily opposed by the Allies, and incidents even occured where French soldiers threatened to fire upon Thai soldiers boarding departing ships, but the new people’s government was adamant in their goals - not a single Thailander would remain in Europe by Easter. By April 1921, this wish was granted.
The People’s Republic quickly set about arresting and detaining members of the ‘elite’ who had supported the war, were ‘cronies’ of the royal family, or had stolen from the Thai people - a practice that still continues somewhat today. In a new constitution, Khana Ratsadon would be the only political party, but elections would be held every four years. The legitimacy of these elections, however, has varied from time to time. As the 20th century marched onward, Thailand set upon establishing trade partnerships with other socialist nations in Southeast Asia and around the globe, and by 1952 had become a formidable economic power in the region. However, the European powers were slow to acknowledge the new Thailand’s very existence, and to this day are still reluctant to even open embassies in the country. The country’s human rights record is sketchy at best, and Western journalists are frequently imprisoned and/or deported. In 1941, under the pretense of foreign saboteurs, Thailand invaded and annexed a European-backed Cambodia, much to the outrage of the global community and causing a slight dip in the economy. In 1960, it frequently skirmishes with Laos over border disputes, has earned the ire of the British Empire over its holdings in Burma and Malaysia, and is known as one of the most belligerent nations in Southeast Asia.
RisingSun
