Chapter · Thailand · History
The kingdom nobody colonised
From Ayutthaya burned to the end of absolute monarchy
The only country in Southeast Asia nobody colonised. The sentence is true, and it hides what it cost. This chapter follows a capital of a million people razed in a season, an ultimatum sailed up the river, and the morning a handful of men ended six centuries of absolute power. Every lesson starts from the texts and the archives.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 11767, the city the Burmese erasedAyutthaya was the capital for four hundred and sixteen years, a port where every nation had its quarter. Two years of siege erase it in 1767. A provincial governor retakes the ruins, then ends in a way our sources do not agree on.9 min
- 21893, two gunboats come up the riverOn 13 July 1893 two French ships force the river in twenty-five minutes. Siam pays three million, gives up Laos and lets Chanthaburi be occupied. It stays a state: that is all it won, and it is the whole of it.9 min
- 31932, the morning the king stopped being absoluteOn 24 June 1932 a small group takes Bangkok in a morning and has a text read out saying the country belongs to the people. Three days later the king signs: supreme power now belongs to everyone. He stays king, on a list.9 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.