page_title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)
section_title: Reformer (1868–1910)
hierarchical_section_title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932) / History / Reformer (1868–1910)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of King Chulalongkorn of Siam and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in St. Petersburg in 1897, During King Chulalongkorn's first Grand Tour.
context_page_description: The Rattanakosin Kingdom is the fourth and present kingdom in the history of Thailand. It was founded in 1782 with the establishment of Rattanakosin as the capital city.
  The maximum zone of influence of Rattanakosin included the vassal states of Cambodia, Laos, Shan States, and some Malay kingdoms. The kingdom was founded by Rama I of the Chakri. The first half of this period was characterized by the consolidation of the kingdom's power and was punctuated by periodic conflicts with Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. The second period was one of engagements with the colonial powers of Britain and France in which Siam remained the only Southeast Asian state to maintain its independence.
  Internally the kingdom developed into a modern centralized nation state with borders defined by interactions with Western powers. Economic and social progress was made, marked by an increase in foreign trade, the abolition of slavery and the expansion of formal education to the emerging middle class. However, the failure to implement substantial political reforms culminated in the 1932 revolution and the abandonment of absolute monarchy in favor of a constitutional monarchy.
context_section_description: Rama IV died in 1868, and was succeeded by his 15-year-old son Chulalongkorn, who reigned as Rama V and is now known as Rama the Great. Rama V was the first Siamese king to have a full Western education, having been taught by a British governess, Anna Leonowens – whose place in Siamese history has been fictionalized as The King and I.  At first Rama V's reign was dominated by the conservative regent, Chaophraya Si Suriyawongse, but when the king came of age in 1873 he soon took control. He created a Privy Council and a Council of State, a formal court system and budget office. He announced that slavery would be gradually abolished and debt-bondage restricted.
  At first the princes and conservatives successfully resisted the king's reform agenda, but as the older generation was replaced by younger, Western-educated princes, resistance faded. He found powerful allies in his brothers Prince Chakkraphat, whom he made finance minister, Prince Damrong, who organized interior government and education, and his brother-in-law Prince Devrawongse, foreign minister for 38 years. In 1887 Devrawonge visited Europe to study governmental systems. On his recommendation the king established cabinet government, an audit office, and an education department. The semi-autonomous status of Chiang Mai was ended and the army was reorganized and modernized.
  In 1893 French authorities in Indochina used a minor border dispute to provoke a crisis. French gunboats appeared at Bangkok and demanded the cession of Lao territories east of the Mekong. The king appealed to the British, but the British minister told the king to settle on whatever terms he could get. The king had no choice but to comply. Britain's only gesture was an agreement with France guaranteeing the integrity of the rest of Siam. In exchange, Siam had to give up its claim to the Tai-speaking Shan region of northeastern Myanmar to the British.
  The French, however, continued to pressure Siam, and in 1906–1907 they manufactured another crisis. This time Siam had to concede French control of territory on the west bank of the Mekong opposite Luang Prabang and around Champasak in southern Laos, as well as western Cambodia. The British interceded to prevent more French pressure on Siam, but their price, in 1909 was the acceptance of British sovereignty over of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu under Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909.  All of these "lost territories" were on the fringes of the Siamese sphere of influence and had never been securely under their control, but being compelled to abandon all claim to them was a substantial humiliation to both king and country. Historian David K. Wyatt describes Chulalongkorn as "broken in spirit and health" following the 1893 crisis. It became the basis for the country's name change: with the loss of these territories Great Siam was no more, the king now ruled only the core "Thai lands".
  Meanwhile, reform continued unabated, transforming an absolute monarchy based on traditional relationships of power into a modern, centralized nation state. The process was increasingly under the control of Rama V's European-educated sons. Railways and telegraph lines united previously remote and semi-autonomous provinces. The currency was tied to the gold standard and a modern system of taxation replaced the arbitrary levies and corvee labor of the past. The biggest problem was the shortage of trained civil servants, and many foreigners had to be employed until new schools could be built and Siamese graduates produced. By 1910, when the king died, Siam had become a semi-modern country and continued to escape colonial rule.
caption: King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) with Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in Saint Petersburg 1897.
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