Siam in World War I

Siam, now known as Thailand, is possibly one of the least well-known participants in World War I. Siam did not content itself with a purely notional declaration of war on the Central Powers but made an active contribution - whatever the actual military value - to one of the most gruelling and critical campaigns of the War, with an Expeditionary Force dispatched to France, to serve on the Western Front.

Siam entered the war in July 1917, declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Following acclimatisation - both military and meteorological - and specialist training, the Siamese contingent began operations on the Western Front in the middle of September 1918. The war ended soon afterwards but, following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Thai troops also contributed to the initial occupation of Germany, when they took over the town of Neustadt an der Haardt.

Background

The First World War had no direct impact on Siam, due to its great distance not only from Europe, but even from Germany's colonial territories in the Pacific and on the China Coast. However, the war did provide an opportunity for King of Siam, Rama VI, to strengthen his country's position in the international arena, and to strengthen the position of the monarchy within the Thai state.

Though it had been successful in maintaining its independence from the European colonial powers, Siam had been forced to cede Laos, Cambodia, plus its own four southernmost provinces, at the height of imperialism between 1889 and 1909, and had also had to grant extraterritorial rights to foreign citizens. Rama VI hoped to revise these unequal treaties by taking the side of the Allied Powers.

He also used the war as a means to promote the concept of the Thai nation and to confirm the supremacy of the King as the head of the nation, a status which had been challenged by elements of the military in the Palace Revolt of 1912.

At War

On 22 July 1917, Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Twelve German vessels docked in Siamese ports were immediately seized. The crews and other Central Power nationals were detained and sent to India, to join fellow-citizens in British India's existing civilian internment camps.

Siam was the sole country in Southeast Asia to maintain full independence from the great Empires during the colonial era. It was the only state in this region to enter the conflict entirely of its own free will, as an equal of the European powers rather than as part of their imperial contingents.

As a clear symbol of the new twin-track strategy, of active association with the world Powers and of renewal and restructuring within the nation, the King authorised a re-design of the national flag. The new flag had an extra colour, blue, and was arranged in stripes, said to represent the three elements of the nation: Creed, Crown and Community. Noticeably, representation of the Military was subsumed between the Monarch and the People. It appeared no coincidence, however, that the new colours of blue, white and red, also sat comfortably alongside the flags of Serbia, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States. The new flag appeared on the 28 September 1917. Initially, two variants were common: the current minimalist five horizontal bands and a variant maintaining the continuity and prestige of the old flag, with the traditional White Elephant symbol on a red disc, from the old flag, superimposed over the new stripes; a variant that is still the flag of the Royal Thai Navy. When the Siamese Expeditionary Force marched in the 1919 Victory Parade, it was behind this hybrid flag.

In September 1917, a volunteer expeditionary force was assembled, consisting of medical, motor transport, and aviation detachments. By early 1918, 1,284 men were selected from thousands of volunteers. The force, commanded by Major-General Phraya Bhijai Janriddhi, was destined to be sent to France. On 30 July 1918, the Siamese landed in Marseilles. Some 370 pilots and ground-crew were sent to air schools in Istres, Le Crotoy, La Chapelle-la-Reine, Biscarosse, and Piox for retraining, as the pilots were deemed incapable of withstanding high altitude air combat.

The Siamese Expeditionary Force during the 1919 Paris Victory Parade.

The medical and motor transport detachments were sent to the front lines in the middle of September, taking part in the 1918 Champagne and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. Siamese airmen had not finished training by the time the Armistice was signed. The ground forces, on the other hand, had distinguished themselves under fire and were awarded the Croix de Guerre and Order of Rama decorations. The ground forces participated in the occupation of Neustadt an der Haardt in the Rhineland region of Germany and also took part in the 1919 Paris Victory Parade.

At the end of the war, Siam participated in the Versailles Peace Conference and became a founding member of the League of Nations. By 1925, the United States, Britain, and France had abandoned their extraterritorial rights. Siam was also rewarded with the previously confiscated German merchant ships.

Siamese casualties during the war amounted to 19 dead. Two soldiers died before their departure to France, while the remainder perished due to accidents or disease. The World War Volunteers Memorial honoring the Siamese soldiers who died in the conflict opened on 22 July 1921, in Sanam Luang, central Bangkok. The last surviving member of the Siamese Expeditionary Corps, Yod Sangrungruang, died on 9 October 2003.

See also

• Siamese Expeditionary Forces