Siam

Siam, or the Kingdom of Siam is an monarchist, southeast Asian nation that borders Laos and Vietnam to the west, British Burma to the east and the various Chinese cliques to the north.

## **Forced Modernization And 20th Century Start**

Siam had a rough start to the 20th century. They had to constantly give up more and more land to the white powers in Asia, and they felt disrespected. In 1917 by the end of the Great War though Siam ended up joining the entente for fear they might be punished for being neutral. Although they considered joining the central powers to regain indochinese and colonial British territories they lost decades before, they realized what a futile position they would be in.

## **Cairo War and Siamese Participation**

But as the UK was desperately holding onto its colonies in Africa and Arabia in 1919 Siam realized what a powerful position they were in. They decided to attack, and quickly took territory from Burma they claimed but they were soon stopped by Indian and British forces. But they were able to slowly take Malaysia, taking Kuala Lumpur and soon Singapore fell to the Siamese which was a massive defeat for the British. The British simply couldn’t supply enough resources with the fall of the Suez Canal, and anti British Indian guerillas undermined the pro British Indian and British forces. When they surrendered, Siamese delegates were brought to Malta. Similarly to most nations, Siam got exactly what they wanted. Although they still held Cambodia as claimed territory, they decided the best course was to create a subject state out of Malaysia, including Singapore, but the city would become demilitarized as no Siamese troops could enter.

## **Post Cairo War And Its Effects**

After 1919 though at first Siam grew. The fact that they had one of the biggest cities in east Asia, and they controlled part of the malacca strait made Siam very rich through trade. But this only grew to divide the country, with wealthy elites growing while the rest of the population either shrunk or stayed the same. Another problem is that because of these territorial gains, many Siamese don’t feel the need to modernize the country, especially due to the wealthy elite influencing the countries’ politics, and the wealthy never wanted to industrialize or modernize. Not to mention, nationalist Burmans have been calling and pressuring the British to go to war over Siam to retake lost Burman territory. Although Siam has become richer from their territorial gains, it also poses a challenge. Bamar people continually rise up against Siam as well as Malaysians and non-Siamese Singaporeans.

## **Collapse of Inochina and the Siamese land grab**

In 1933, the French were kicked out of Indochina by a successful uprising in Hanoi. The French would try, in vain to retake Indochina but to no avail. While the Indochinese were fighting the French, the Siamese pondered what to do. The French were kicked out, and the Entente alliance had faded. But upon hearing the brutality of Vietnamese guerillas, Siam stayed neutral for the moment, until in Hanoi Vietnamese Syndicalists declared independence. Siam saw this as an opportunity to easily take land without having to fight too hard for it. And so, 1 month later in May, Siamese troops cross into the Cambodian border to "protect the bordering provinces". They faced almost no resistance, especially due to the fact that the French were still at sea failing. The most problems Siam faced was from the resistance movement in the country, but Siam could handle it. But the problem occurred when Siam was stopped by a Communist Laos insurrection in Vientiane, while Syndicalist forces and Siamese forces began to meet up at the border as Indochina completely collapsed. Again, not wanting a full on war, Siam was willing to enter negotiations with the Syndicalists, and also just because they already received the lands they wanted. In Phnom Penh, Vietnamese and Siamese leaders divided up Indochina as follows: *Siam is allowed to occupy all of claimed Cambodian lands, and in exchange Siamese forces leave Laos proper except for Nam Pouy. Siam recognizes Communist Laos and Syndicalist Vietnam as legitimate, whereas Vietnam and Laos recognize the status quo in Cambodia and Nam Pouy.*