When you think of the Axis-aligned states of World War II, Thailand likely isn't the first
that springs to mind. We've covered some other lesser-known Axis sympathisers in previous videos,
so it only makes sense that we explore this next piece of the puzzle. In this video, we delve into
Thailand's contribution to the Second World War, which was likely more complicated than you know.
By late 1938, Thailand, known then as Siam, was under the dictatorial rule of Plaek
Phibunsongkhram, or just Phibun, who held the title of Prime Minister and Commander
in Chief of the Royal Thai Army. In January the following year, to consolidate his power,
Phibun arrested 40 of his monarchist and democratic political opponents under the guise
of quelling the so-called Songsuradet rebellion. Eighteen of these men were tried and executed.
Following that, Phibun looked to Europe for inspiration.
At this time, the Nazi Party was in power, and war was on the horizon. As Hitler and his chief
propagandist, Goebbels, spread pro-Nazi propaganda throughout Germany, Phibun and his propagandist,
Luang Wichitwathakan, did so too. Where Hitler hoped to unite the Germanic peoples,
so too did Phubin hope to unite Thailand, Burma, Malaya, Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam, and parts of South China into a greater Thai state, a greater Kingdom of Thailand.
In June 1939, he renamed Siam Thailand, meaning something like "land of the free";
though, with the nation under military rule, it was anything but.
Phibun actively crushed any aspects of Thai culture he didn't like,
enforcing 12 cultural mandates between 1939 and 1942. As a part of Mandate 1, for instance,
organisations with the word "Siam" in their name had to get rid of it; this accounted for
the vast majority of the country's business, industries, and political groups and such.
Part of Mandate 4 read, "When seeing the national flag raised or lowered according to government
custom, or hearing the sound of the salute bugle or whistle, honor the flag according to regulation
or custom." Thais were also instructed to admonish anyone who didn't properly honour the flag.
Mandate 10 stipulated that people had to dress to Phibun's standards,
while Mandate 11 forced people to divide their lives into three distinct portions: "one for work,
one for personal activities, and one for rest and sleeping."
It even dictated when and for how long they had to sleep and exercise, and when they should eat.
In June 1940, France surrendered to Germany. This got Phibun excited because France's defeat
had weakened the French globally, including in French Indochina, and Phibun wanted Indochina
for himself. He couldn't take it alone, however, so when the Imperial Japanese government showed
interest in Indochina (namely to use it as a launchpad for future offensives in the Pacific),
Phibun got even more excited, and started cultivating a strong relationship with
Japan. On the 12th of June, Thailand and Japan signed a treaty stipulating that
they would respect each other's sovereignty, work together on "matters of common concern,"
i.e. Indochina, and provide no aid to any third party attacking either signee.
In late September, the Japanese invaded French Indochina,
ultimately leading to a weird joint occupation of Indochina, where the Indochinese government
was puppeteered by the Vichy French, who were in turn puppeteered by the Japanese.
In October, emboldened by the Japanese, Phibun incited border skirmishes between his forces
and the Vichy French along the Mekong River. For now, the Japanese would sit back and watch,
employing a "let them fight" attitude. All in all, Phibun boasted some 60,000 troops,
compared to the French figure of 50,000, and his soldiers were better equipped and trained.
Where the French had just 20 tanks, Phibun bore down on them with over 130. In the air,
Phibun had a numerical advantage, with his 140 planes flying against 100 French aircraft.
Where the French had him, however, was in the sea, deploying the light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet
and four sloops against Phibun's two coastal defence ships, 12 torpedo boats, and four
Japanese-made submarines. In January 1941, Phibun launched offensives on Laos and Cambodia,
steamrolling the French in the former but running into greater resistance in the latter. It looked
like he had it in the bag, but then the French navy stepped up in the Battle of Ko Chang, issuing
the Thai dictator a swift defeat which drew Japan's attention and had the Japanese sweating.
In late January, Japan stepped in to mediate an armistice between Phibun's forces and the
Vichy French. As a part of this, the French had to cede some of Cambodia and Laos' provinces
to Phibun, but this amounted to just a quarter of the land Phibun wanted, and the arrangement put
pressure on his relationship with Japan. Fearing the Japanese would turn on him next, he started
fostering relationships with Britain and America and adopted a neutral stance in the war at large.
At 11 at night on the 7th of December 1941, the Japanese gave the Thai government
an ultimatum: allow the Japanese to enter Thailand unopposed, or face their wrath.
Receiving no response from Phibun within the two-hour window they had allowed him,
the Japanese invaded Thailand from the Gulf of Thailand and overland from Cambodia on the 8th.
The fighting lasted just five hours, after which Phibun called a ceasefire and allowed
the Japanese to march through Thailand to Burma and Malaya. A week later, and in secret, Phibun
agreed to support Japan's invasions of Burma and Malaya. A week after that, he put his signature
on an alliance between Thailand and Japan. On the 25th of January 1942, after the Allies had
started their bombardment of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, Phibun declared war on the US and UK.
While Thailand and Japan's new alliance was far from smooth, Thailand made major contributions
to the Japanese war effort throughout the Second World War. As well as allowing the
Japanese to launch their invasions of Burma and Malaya from Thailand, the Thai armed
forces supported these offensives directly. Some 35,000 troops of the Thai Phayap Army
fought in Burma between 1942 and 1943, invading and annexing Shan State and Karenni State,
while the Royal Thai Police staved off a British invasion of southern Thailand,
codenamed Operation Krohcol. Phibun also granted the Japanese access to Thai military bases,
weapons, railways, roads, and warehouses, and let them build the Burma Railway through Thailand.
As a reward for his good behaviour, the Japanese gave Phibun more land,
including four northern states in British Malaya. This was a far cry from the greater Thai state
that Phibun saw each night in his dreams, however, and the dictator started to comprehend that,
if the Japanese had their way, it might never become a reality. To make matters worse,
a wet season deluge flooded swaths of Thailand, including the capital, in September 1942,
significantly reducing agricultural output and forcing Thailand to rely on Japanese imports.
The Thai people weren't happy, and resistance against Imperial Japan and Phibun grew.
Said resistance was largely organised by Seri Thai or the Free Thai Movement,
which had been conceived by the Thai ambassador in Washington, Seni Pramoj,
shortly after Phibun declared war on the United States. Working with the American OSS and British
SOE, the Free Thai Movement trained Thais living in the US and UK to parachute into
Thailand and prepare Thai resistance fighters for underground activities. The Free Thai Movement
grew to include some 50,000 Thai guerrillas and was championed by the Regent of Thailand
(and former Minister of Foreign Affairs), Pridi Banomyong, who went by the codename "Ruth" and
organised the resistance out of his office in Bangkok's Thammasat University. Throughout the
war, the guerrillas provided vital intel to the Allies and sabotaged the Japanese while
Pridi waged war on a political front, turning the Thai people against the dictatorial Phibun.
As the war went on, the scales tipped against the Japanese, and Phibun made some proclamations
that accelerated his fall from power. One of such proclamations was to relocate the Thai capital and
government to Phetchabun, where much of the Thai Army was stationed. This infuriated the Japanese
and inspired many officials in the Thai government to turn on Phibun, who was ousted in August 1944.
Phibun had made Pridi's job easy for him, and the Thai politician Khuang Abhaiwongse,
a member of Seri Thai, replaced him as prime minister. Khuang collaborated with the Japanese
only on the surface, maintaining this illusion to protect the Free Thai Movement.
When the guerrillas were strong enough, they would overthrow their nation's occupiers.
But a large-scale offensive never came to pass, as Imperial Japan capitulated before
the guerrillas could strike. At the war's end, Pridi worked to distance Thailand from Japan,
claiming that Phibun's declaration of war had been illegal. Due to the efforts of the Free
Thai Movement, Thailand wasn't treated as an Axis ally, and Thailand ultimately returned the
land it had annexed during the war. But that was far from the end of our boy Phibun, who carried
out a successful coup d'état in November 1947 and remained in power for the next 10 years.
Had you heard his story before today, though? What about the story of Thailand
in the Second World War as a whole? Do you know anything about World War II-era Thailand that
we didn't cover in this video? Please feel share your thoughts in the comments below.