Thailand History - Nationalism and Constitution (1910-1932)

King Vajiravudh chose to work on issues and problems that appealed to his personal interests, largely in the literary, educational, and ideological fields. The King was also keenly interested in military affairs and formed his own paramilitary organization, the "Wild Tiger Corps," to inculcate nationalism and promote national unity. When the First World War broke out, he was determined to join the Allies in their struggle against Germany. His decision in 1917 to send Thai troops to fight in Europe was a felicitous piece of timing: although the Thai expeditionary force did not see much action. Siam's participation in the war on the Allied side earned the country and its king much praise and recognition from the international community.

The major achievements of King Vajiravudh, however, lay in the area of education and related legislation.

In 1913, he compelled his subjects by law to use surnames and thus be no different from the Western nations. As a measure of his personal commitment to this idea, he himself coined hundreds of family names.

In 1921, the King issued a law on compulsory primary education, which was the first step in Siam 5 path towards universal primary education. Two of present-day Thailand's most prestigious educational establishments were founded by King Vajiravudh, Chulalongkorn University, Siam's first Western-style University, named in honour of King Chulalongkorn, and Vajiravudh College, a boarding school for boys modeled upon the English public school.

The death of King Vajiravudh in 1925 meant that Prince Prajadhipok, his younger brother, succeeded to the throne since King Vajiravudh had no male heir. The new king (also known as Rama VII) began his reign at an unenviable juncture of both Thai and world history. The global economic depression of the late 1920's and early 1930's forced the Thai government to make economic measures that led to some discontentment. As for Siam's internal development, the dilemma about when or whether to institute wide-ranging political reforms became more acute during this reign.

King Prajadhipok was a liberal and a conscientious man. A soldier by training, he nevertheless worked hard in addressing himself to Siam's problems, and his comments on various matters of government and administration in the state papers of this reign reveal him to be an admirable ruler in many ways. He was well aware of the desirability of establishing Siam in the international political community as a country with a "modern" and "liberal" constitutional system of government. The King, however, was still in the process of trying to convince the more conservative of his relatives in the Supreme State Council about the need to promulgate a constitution when matters were taken out of his hands by the bloodless "revolution", or coup d'etat, of 24 June 1932.

The 1932 coup d'etat put an end to absolute monarchy in Siam. Prior to this event, there had been an increased political awareness among the middle-ranking military officers and civilian officials who were to become the major figures in the coup group, which called itself the People's Party. Many of these men had been educated abroad, principally in France and Britain. There had also been a degree of discontent within the military and civilian bureaucracy resulting from. the royal government's retrenchment program, which in turn had been dictated by the worldwide economic depression. Government expenditures had been cut by one-third in early 1932, salaries were also cut, and many government officials lost their jobs. All these factors were instrumental in motivating the coup group of 1932 to initiate a new system of government. A formal constitution was promulgated and a National Assembly set up. Siam thus became a constitutional monarchy without any bloodshed or wholesale changes in its society and economy.