Siam (The Southeast Asian Way)

Siam, officially the Kingdom of Siam is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Lan Xang to the northeast, Dai Viet to the southeast and Burma to the west. Its capital and largest city is Bangkok.

General
The history of Siam started when the Thai people migrated into the area in the first millennium. The Thai people established their own country; throughout Siam's history, it was frequently threatened by Burma in the west and Dai Viet to the east; and competition with Lan Xang.

Ayutthaya kingdom
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 Uthong, made two important contributions to Thai history: the establishment and promotion of 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. Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the Taungoo Dynasty of Burma. The Burmese–Siamese War began with a Burmese invasion and a failed siege of Ayutthaya. A second siege led by King Bayinnaung forced King Maha Chakkraphat to surrender in 1564. The royal family was taken to Bago, Burma, with the king's second son Mahinthrathirat installed as a vassal king. In 1568, Mahinthrathirat revolted when his father managed to return from Bago as a Buddhist monk. The ensuing third siege captured Ayutthaya in 1569 and Bayinnaung made Mahathammarachathirat his vassal king.

After Bayinnaung's death in 1581, Uparaja Naresuan proclaimed Ayutthaya's independence in 1584. The Thai fought off repeated Burmese invasions, capped by an elephant duel between King Naresuan and Burmese heir-apparent Mingyi Swa in 1593 during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya in which Naresuan famously slew Mingyi Swa. The Burmese–Siamese War 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 Siam. 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 Bamar people, who had taken control of Lan Na and had also unified their kingdom under the powerful Konbaung Dynasty, launched several blows against Ayutthaya in the 1750s and 1760s. Finally, 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 Rattanakosin kingdoms
The Burmese took control of Ayutthaya for 10 years. Multiple revolutions were made by the Thai to repell Burmese forces. Eventually, Taksin repelled the Burmese forces from Siam and Lan Na. He took power in 1777 and founded the Thonburi kingdom. Just 5 years reigning, Taksin was taken in a coup d'etat and executed and succeeded by his long-time friend Maha Ksatriyaseuk who then assumed the throne, founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the Chakri dynasty, which has since ruled Siam.

Lao front
The Kingdom of Lan Xang was severely weakened by the previous Burmese attacks. The state of the Lan Xang royal court was unstable. Taking advantage of this situation, Taskin wanting to expand in the region, sent diplomats to Lan Xang and demanded them to become a Siamese vassak. Despite the power of the newly rose Siamese kingdom, King Ong Boun of Lan Xang refused to fall under Siamese surzenity. In return, Taksin then launched an attack on Lan Xang in 1779. From the Phitsanulok and Chaiyaphum provinces, Siamese forces marched into Lan Xang. As Siam couldn't attack on the southern front of Laos due to the block of a Cambodian province; they attack on the west to take key cities and most importantly the capital of Vientiane. However, they saw fierce defense by the Laotian. As they couldn't held on, Ong Boun asked for help by the neighboring Dai Viet kingdom. Emperor Lê Dụ Tông saw Siam as a threat and saw that if they managed to liberate Lan Xang, it can be used as a barrier between northern Dai Viet and Siam.

On January of 1780, Dai Viet launched an attack with Viet and Lao troops trained in eastern Lan Xang. By then Vientaine had already fell to the Siamese and the Siamese continued march on westward. Dai Viet sent two units from Hung Hoa and Tran Ninh to Lan Xang to held off the Siamese advance. Another unit starting in Quang Nam would occupy southern Lan Xang and then march northwards to support the other two units to push back the Siamese. The reason was there was little to no Siamese infantry in Southern Lan Xang and the flatter region made it easier for troops to advance than the mountainous north.

The Siamese was surprised by the Dai Viet counter attacks and were heavily pushed back. By two months, they have lost many western provinces and couldn't take Luang Phabrang. The Viet almost liberated Vientiane and all of Lan Xang when another counter-attack by the Siamese was launched to push back the Viet.

Eventually, a peace treaty was signed with both sides claiming victory. The Siamese annexed Vientiane and western provinces of Lan Xang while the rest of Lan Xang became a Viet protectorate.

Modernization and centralization
After the failed war with Dai Viet that made Siam unable to fully control Cambodia, there was the problem of western powers. Maritime Southeast Asia was heavily colonized by western powers, and both Siam and Dai Viet decided to stop all the wars between them and focused on developing the nation to avoid European colonization. Scolars are sent to the west to learn about the industry and techonogy. They opened multiple schools adapting elements from the West. Siam boosted trade with the French and the British while making negociations with them. Eventually, Siam avoid European colonization like Burma and Dai Viet.

In 1917, Siam joined the Allies of World War I and is counted as one of the victors of World War I.

Constitutional monarchy
The bloodless revolution took place in 1932 carried out by the Khana Ratsadon group of military and civilian officials resulted in a transition of power, when King Prajadhipok was forced to grant the people of Siam their first constitution, thereby ending centuries of absolute monarchy. His conflicting view with the government led to abdication. The government selected Ananda Mahidol to be the new king. During World War II, being distanced from the warfare, Siam and other countries in the region focus on producing and exporting food and weapons to combatants. This had helped developing Siamese economy as well as other countries. Siam today is one of the richest countries in Asia.