A country of rich history, Thailand encompasses some of the oldest settlements in the world. The Thais pride themselves on having maintained their independence as unlike its neighbours within the Southeast Asian region, the country avoided colonisation by Western powers.
Yet it goes without saying that the country has had its fair share of struggles, especially in its journey towards democracy. From kingdoms to military coups and internal corruption, Thailand has fought tooth and nail to achieve democracy, but even now, the battle is not over.
SIAM, as Thailand was formerly known, had not always existed as a single kingdom. Instead, it used to be several different kingdoms. The Kingdoms of Lan Na in the north of Thailand, Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya in the central region, as well as the Malay states in the south that later became a part of Thailand, all existed separately. Unsurprisingly, these kingdoms were constantly at war. They were frequent and bloody, and kingdoms rose and fell at rapid speeds. During the mid-18th century, the Kingdom of Lan Na (which was founded by Mangrai in the northern region of present-day Thailand and had Chiang Mai as its capital) and Ayutthaya fell to Burmese forces. General Phraya Taksin was determined to work towards reunification of the provinces in order to create an army to back against the Burmese forces to take Ayutthaya back.
At this point, the Burmese were no longer showing serious interest in holding the capital of Siam. They only had a handful of troops left under General Suki as many of their men left Siam to fight the Chinese back in Burma. With their own capital threatened and with not enough troops to fight against General Taksin, the Burmese forces withdrew from Ayutthaya.
Ayutthaya was then abandoned as the capital in favour of a small fishing village along the Chao Phraya River, named Thonburi. Here, General Taksin was crowned king. Under King Taksin the Great, Siam was raised from the ashes of Ayutthaya and by 1770, he had brought the rival kingdoms in Phimai, Fang, Phisanulok, and Nakhon Si Thammarat together. After establishing this unification, he set out to secure the northern and southern regions to prevent the Burmese from invading the country again. By 1779, the borders of Thailand were secure.
King Taksin was relentless in his pursuit of the nation’s independence and unfortunately, this was his undoing. He began suffering from delusions of grandeur, considering himself a deity with supernatural powers and punishing those who refused to acknowledge it. His generals believed that Taksin had gone mad, and they led a coup d’état to remove him from the throne, seizing the capital for themselves.
1782
The Birth OF BANGKOK
General Chao Phraya Chakri, who had joined the service of
