Victory Monument (Bangkok)

Victory Monument (Thai: อนุสาวรีย์ชัยสมรภูมิ, RTGS: Anusawari Chai Samoraphum) is a military monument in Bangkok, Thailand. The monument was erected in June 1941 to commemorate the Thai victory in the Franco-Thai War. The monument is in Ratchathewi District, northeast of central Bangkok, at the center of a traffic circle at the intersection of Phahonyothin, Phaya Thai, and Ratchawithi roads.
Since its erection in 1941, the monument has become a regular spot for protests along with the Democracy Monument, with recent protests taking place in 2022 where protesters attended rallies against Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The monument is entirely Western in design. This is in contrast with another prominent monument of Bangkok, the Democracy Monument, which uses indigenous Thai forms and symbols. The central obelisk, although originally Egyptian, has been frequently used in Europe and the US for national and military memorials, its shape suggesting both a sword and masculine potency. Here it is executed in the shape of five bayonets clasped together. Five statues, representing the army, navy, air force, police, and civilian population, are depicted in Western "heroic" style, familiar in the 1940s in both fascist and communist states. They were created by the Italian sculptor Corrado Feroci, who worked under the Thai name Silpa Bhirasi. The sculptor did not like the combination of his work with the obelisk, and referred to the monument as "the victory of embarrassment". On the obelisk is inscribed the names of 656 civilians and soldiers who lost their lives during the Franco-Thai War.
In 1940–1941, Thailand fought a brief conflict against the Vichy French colonial authorities in French Indochina, this conflict was called the Franco-Thai War, which resulted in Thailand annexing some territories in western Cambodia and northern and southern Laos. These were among the territories which the Kingdom of Siam had ceded to France in 1893 and 1904, and nationalist Thais considered them to belong to Thailand.
The fighting between the Thais and the French in December 1940 and January 1941 was brief and inconclusive. 54 Thai troops were killed, with the French sustaining 421 killed or wounded. In the final territorial settlement was imposed on both parties by Japan, which did not want to see a prolonged war between two regional allies at a time when it was preparing to launch a war of conquest in Southeast Asia. Thailand's gains were less than it had hoped for, although more than the French wished to concede. Nevertheless, the Thai regime of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram celebrated the outcome of the war as a victory, and the monument was commissioned, designed, and erected within a few months.
The monument became an embarrassment in a more political sense in 1945 when the Allies were victorious in the Pacific War they forced Thailand to evacuate the territories it had gained in 1941 and return them to France. Many Thais regard the monument as an inappropriate symbol of militarism and a relic of what they now see as a discredited regime. Nevertheless, the monument remains one of Bangkok's most familiar landmarks.
Victory Monument is considered to be one of the important neighbourhoods of Bangkok. It is the center of Bangkok's bus transportation, because it is both a transit point and the starting point or destination for many bus lines. There is a saying that if you get lost or don't know how to travel in Bangkok, let's start at the Victory Monument.
The area where the monument is located was originally a large field called Thung Phaya Thai. There is a Buddhist temple that was established since the Ayutthaya period nearby, namely Wat Apai Tharam or formerly and still colloquially known as Wat Makok, Khlong Samsen flows in front of the temple. Khlong Samsen is a natural canal that separates from the Chao Phraya River in the Dusit District and flows through this area to the eastern side of Bangkok. In the early Rattanakosin era, King Rama I and his younger brother, Prince Maha Sura Singhanat used to come to the temple by boat via Khlong Samsen to perform a grand celebration ceremony that lasted for seven days and seven nights. At that time, Thung Phaya Thai was still a very sparsely populated outlying area of the city.
During his reign, King Rama V bought land in the Dusit area as part of Bangkok's outward expansion from Rattanakosin Island and built the present Dusit Palace compound along with several roads, two of which are the Phaya Thai and Ratchawithi Roads that both have a starting point here.
During the reign of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram as prime minister, he had policies to create prosperity for the nation in many respects. Area of Victory Monument was therefore significantly developed, Phaholyothin Road was cut as a national highway to the northern region. As a result, the area has become a traffic circle by default. Many hospitals such as Rajavithi, Mother & Child (now Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health), Hospital for Tropical Diseases, as well as Ramathibodi nearby were built. In the past, public health was not fully developed, these hospitals not only serve Bangkok people but also many people in the provinces as well.
In addition, Khlong Samsen was also home to hundreds of boats selling kwaitiao ruea. These were served in small bowls because there was limited selling space. It was very popular among consumers. The period from the 1970s to the early 1980s was considered the heyday of boat noodles in the Victory Monument area. Around the year 1985, when Major General Chamlong Srimuang was the Bangkok governor. He had a policy for boat noodle shops to move up and sell on land for good hygiene and not to encroach on public space. That makes the area around Victory Monument a centre for many boat noodle shops that have been in business for a long time. There were also freak shows to watch while waiting for the bus.
Now, the area is served by the Victory Monument Station (N3) of the BTS skytrain, whose Green Line runs above Phaya Thai Road. Its first day of service began on December 5, 1999.
During the 2020-2021 Thai Protests, protestors regularly battled with police around Bangkok including at the Victory Monument. In October 2020, around 10,000 protestors gathered at the monument and blocked local traffic. On August 7, 2021, a road near the monument was sealed off to prevent protestors from reaching the monument by police by using containers, although protestors had to be forced back with teargas. On August 11, another protest this time organized by Thalufa (also known as Tha Lu Fa) ended with a battle between protestors trying to march on the Prime-minister's residence and police: with the police responding with rubber bullets and teargas, and protestors by setting a police truck on fire and also throwing fireworks which injured 8 officers.
After the Thai Constitutional Court ruled that Prime-minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had not reached his term limit of 8 years in October 2022, the activist group Thalufah organized a protest at the Victory Monument with around 500 protesters attending.
Media related to Victory Monument, Bangkok at Wikimedia Commons
13°45′53″N 100°32′19″E﻿ / ﻿13.76472°N 100.53861°E﻿ / 13.76472; 100.53861