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When the Japanese invaded Thailand on 8 December 1941, a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan demanded the right to move troops across Thailand to the Malayan frontier. Phibun accepted Japanese demands after a brief resistance. The government improved relations with Japan by signing a military alliance in December 1941.
The history of Thailand from 1932 to 1973 was dominated by military dictatorships which were in power for much of the period. The main personalities of the period were the dictator Plaek Phibunsongkhram, who allied the country with Japan during the Second World War, and the civilian politician Pridi Banomyong, who founded Thammasat University and was briefly prime minister after the war.
Earlier, in 1932, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, prime minister of Siam, overthrew the king and established his own military dictatorship in the country. He later renamed the country to Thailand, with plans to unify all Tai peoples, including the Lao, under one nation. [2]
Thailand, [i] officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), [ii] is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, [ 8 ] it spans 513,115 square kilometres (198,115 sq mi). [ 9 ]
Siam was allied with Japan during World War II, following numerous pre-war diplomatic exchanges and the beginning of a Japanese invasion of Thailand. The Japanese had won from Phibun a secret verbal promise to support them in an attack on Malaya and Burma. However, the Thai Prime Minister was fickle and he was quite ready to forget this promise ...
Xiān (Chinese: 暹) or Siam (Thai: สยาม) was a confederation of maritime-oriented port polities along the present Bay of Bangkok, [1]: 39, 41 including Ayodhya, Suphannabhum, and Phip Phli [], [1]: 37 as well as Nakhon Si Thammarat (Ligor), which became Siam in the late 13th century. [2]
Siam, however, quickly recovered from the collapse and the seat of Siamese authority was moved to Thonburi-Bangkok within the next 15 years. [25] [27] In foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was called "Siam", [28] but people of Ayutthaya called themselves Tai, and their kingdom Krung Tai (Thai: กรุงไท) meaning 'Tai country' (กรุง ...
Contact between Siam and the West remained sporadic, however, and would not return to the level seen in the reign of King Narai until the reign of King Mongkut in the mid-19th century. [31] Western contacts aside, trade relations with Asian countries remained buoyant, with Siam remaining especially involved in the Sino-Siamese-Japanese trade.