The short-lived Thonburi Empire

King Taksin (wisanu bualoy / Shutterstock.com)

Anyone who has a little interest in the rich Thai history knows the kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Much less known is the story of the kingdom of Thonburi. And that is not really surprising because this principality had a very short-lived existence.

It existed from 1767 to 1782 or just under 14 years. Not really long in the turbulent history of Southeast Asia, but it was an exceptionally important period in the history of the development of the current Thai nation-state.

In April 1767, after dominating much of Southeast Asia for 400 years, the kingdom of Ayutthaya was wiped off the map by the Burmese. The opulent palaces and temples were skillfully plundered and then burned to the ground, the survivors carried off as slaves. Almost all of the former kingdom's territory was occupied by Burmese troops in the following weeks, while many of the local leaders - who had once been serfs to Ayutthaya - took advantage of the resulting power vacuum to declare themselves independent. This was done by the lords of Sakwangburi, Phimai, Chanthaburi and Nakhon Si Thammarat, among others, so that what was once the seemingly unapproachable principality of Ayutthaya disintegrated in record time.

Chao Tak, a nobleman of Chinese descent and an able military leader, thought beyond most of them. He had broken through the Burmese encirclement on January 3, 1767—three months before the fall of Ayutthaya—with 500 followers and fled south to Rayong, a coastal town on the Gulf of Thailand. Taksin had not resigned himself to the Burmese occupation and from the moment he saw that the Burmese garrisons were not nearly as strong everywhere, he launched a counter-offensive with the help of Chinese mercenaries that started with the looting of Chanthaburi, which is legendary in Thai historiography.

In late October 1767, Taksin, having gathered 5.000 warriors, sailed up the Chao Phraya River and captured the fortress and garrison town of Thonburi opposite present-day Bangkok. He had Thong-in, the Siamese governor who was a puppet of the Burmese, executed and on November 6, Chao Tak managed to recapture Ayutthaya from the Burmese, after he had caused them heavy losses during the Battle of Pho Sam Ton. A feat, barely seven months after the fall of the city. It is therefore certainly no coincidence that this day, as the symbolic date of liberation from the Burmese occupation, is celebrated in Thailand to this day.

However, Chao Tak could not sleep soundly. Barely a few weeks after laying the foundations for a new and independent Siam, the Burmese ruler Hsinbyushin crossed the borders again. The Burmese army invaded the country via Sai Yok and immediately laid siege to the Bang Kung camp – the assembly camp for Taksin's Chinese troops – in what is now Samut Songkhram province. Taksin's response was swift and he succeeded in surrounding the Burmese besiegers and inflicting a heavy defeat on them. Hsinbyushin, who did not want to give up the battle immediately, was forced to withdraw his last troops when - as if by miracle - a huge Chinese force suddenly invaded the north of his empire. According to some sources, Taksin is said to have advocated such an offensive to his Chinese allies to relieve pressure on his own operations. Si non e vero…

A taxi

Ayutthaya, which had been the center of Siamese authority for centuries, was so devastated that it could no longer be used as a center of government. Tak founded the new city of Thonburi Sri Mahasamut on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River opposite where Bangkok would later arise. The construction of the new capital was again a feat because the job was done in about a year. While the city was still under construction, Tak had himself crowned King of Siam on December 28, 1767 in the as yet unfinalized palace. He called himself King Sanphet, but he was known to the people as King Taksin - a combination of his title and personal name. Taksin did not crown himself as king of Thonburi but of Ayutthaya in order to perpetuate the continuation of the old dynastic tradition and to legitimize himself and his authority.

The new location for Taksin's capital was not chosen by chance: it was less vulnerable to Burmese attack than Ayutthaya had been and, moreover, it was ideally located for conducting trade and commerce by sea. Building on the trade links Siam had already developed with the Middle Kingdom, Taksin encouraged Chinese merchants and artisans to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by the location of his new capital. Large numbers of Chinese settled permanently in Siam, where their involvement in business and trade – coupled with the tax revenue generated by these activities – helped slowly but surely restore the kingdom's devastated economy.

It was even more important for Taksin to create a political unity with Thonburi as the epicenter of his new empire. As I wrote before, after the breakup of Ayutthaya, four major rival states besides Thonburi occupied the vacuum: Phimai, Phitsanulok, Sawangburi and Nakhon Si Thammarat. If Taksin was to fulfill his political ambitions, he would have to subdue his rivals, which would inevitably lead to civil war. He first sent his troops to Phitsanulok, where Rueang Rojanakun, the local governor, had declared himself ruler of a vast and fertile area stretching from Tak to Nakhon Sawan. After not immediately succeeding in breaking Rueang's power, Taksin turned against the weakest, namely Prince Thepphiphit, the son of King Borommakot, who had ruled Ayutthaya from 1733 to 1758. Thepphipit had escaped the Ayutthaya massacre and proclaimed himself ruler of Phimai. Just as in 1766 when Thepphipit had failed to defend Ayutthaya, he had to give in to Taksin. After Taksins' forces led by the brothers Bunma and Thong Duang (the later Rama I) occupied Isaan, the prince disappeared from the scene and Taksin appointed one of his cousins ​​Chaao Narasuriyawongse as governor of Phimai.

A year later, Thong Duang, now called Phraya Chakri, attacked Nakhon Si Thammarat but got bogged down in Chaiya. Taksin, wanting to score as quickly as possible, immediately sent most of his troops to assist. Nakhon Si Thammarat fell into his hands and the governor, who was captured by the governor of Pattani, was eventually pardoned by Taksin and even allowed a residence in the capital Thonburi.

In 1770, Chao Phra Fang - a very influential monk turned warlord - who was the ruler of Sawangburi state, invaded Thonburi kingdom. The reason for this invasion was simple: Chao Phra Fang was convinced that he himself would soon be attacked by Taksin and decided that attack was the best defense. His invasion force managed to push through to Chai Nat. But then it turned out that the cunning strategist Taksin had already unleashed a lightning-fast counteroffensive in Swangburi behind the backs of the attackers. Taksin's force easily took Phitsanulok and captured Sawangburi in exactly three days. The fate of Chao Phra Fang is unknown as he disappeared without a trace after the capture of Sawangburi. The effect of his last inland campaign could not be disputed by anyone: Thonburi had finally politically reunited Siam as one kingdom.

Taksin not only reconquered the areas that used to be part of the Ayutthaya Empire, but also wanted to expand Siamese control over new areas. For example, in 1771 he launched a retaliatory attack by land and sea against the Cantonese merchant ruler of Hà Tiên, Mạc Thiên Tứ, who had already made several attempts to put a toad in the hive for Taksin. But Taksin's territorial claims did not end there, on the contrary. Over the next few years, his armies annexed part of what is now northeastern Cambodia. They removed the Cambodian king Narairaja from the throne and placed Prince Ang Non, who had previously received protection from Taksin, on it. Cambodia then paid feudal tribute to Thonburi.

In the south, Taksins' army bands subjugated the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, and in the north they drove the Burmese out of the ancient northern Tai kingdom of Lanna. The campaigns against Burma peaked in 1774. In that year, Taksin formally ordered Chao Phraya Chakri and Chao Phraya Surasi to invade Chiang Mai. After nearly 200 years of Burmese rule, the capital of the Northern Lanna Empire passed into Siamese hands. The two Chao Phrayas were able to take Chiang Mai with the help of local insurgents against Burmese rule and Taksin made them the local rulers: Phraya Chabaan as Phraya Vichianprakarn the Lord of Chiangmai, Phraya Kawila as the Lord of Lampang, and Phraya Vaiwongsa as Lord of Lamphun. All the lordships in turn paid tribute and recognized Thonburi as the central authority in the new empire.

But all problems were not over yet. Almost every year, the new principality faced attacks from Burma. In 1775, the largest invasion of the Burmese took place under the leadership of Singhu Min Maha Thiha Thura. Instead of dividing the troops that invaded by different routes, Maha Thiha Thura this time marched with an army of at least 30.000 men to Phitsanulok, where barely 10.000 Siamese defenders awaited them. As if that were not enough, at the same time an estimated 6.000 Burmese advanced from Chiang Saen, the last Burmese garrison on Siamese soil, to Chiang Mai. Miraculously, Taksin's troops succeeded in blocking the offensive towards Chiang Mai, but at Phitsanulok the Siamese suffered a serious nosebleed. The Burmese succeeded in cutting off the Siamese supply lines and split Taksin's army in two. The attack came with such force that the numerically much weaker Siamese had no choice but to retreat to avoid being utterly destroyed… Phitsanulok was taken by the triumphant Burmese, but the unexpected death of the Burmese king Hsinbyushin and the succession battle that accompanied them, they had to withdraw.

The victor in this succession conflict, in 1776 Singu Min Maha Thiha Thura sent to invade Lanna again with such a huge army that Chiang Mai's Taksin loyal troops decided to evacuate the city. Chao Phraya Surasi and Kawila, the lord of Lampang managed to liberate Chiang Mai but again decided to leave the city because there was no more population to fill the city.

The borders may have been secured in the west and the northwest, but things continued to rumble in the east. In 1776, a governor of Nangrong quarreled with the governor of Nakhon Ratchasima, the region's capital. The governor then sought support from King Sayakumane of Champasak. This became a casus bellum for Taksin to send Chao Phraya Chakri to conquer Champasak. King Sayakumane fled, but he was captured and disappeared in a dungeon in Thonburi for two years. In 1780 he was released and allowed to rule his kingdom again after first paying tribute to Thonburi. The Champasak campaign not only earned Chakri the title of Somdet Chao Phraya Maha Kasatseuk, but also increased power and the absolute trust of Taksin.

In 1778, a Lao mandarin named Phra Wo sought Siamese support against King Bunsan of Vientiane, but was killed by the Lao king. Taksin, finding in this an excellent pretext to further expand his territory, sent the brothers Phraya Chakri and his brother as commanders of a large army to Vientiane to subdue it. At the same time, King Suriyavong of Luang Prabang submitted to Thonburi and joined the invasion of Vientiane. King Bunsan fled and hid in the woods, but later surrendered to the Siamese troops. The Vientiane royal family was deported to Thonburi as hostages. Thonburi troops took two valuable Buddha statues, the symbolic icons of Vientiane – the Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang, to Thonburi. For more than a century, the three Laotian kingdoms would remain tributary to Siam….

Thonburi Palace or Phra Racha Wang Derm, the former royal palace of King Taksin (Thipwan / Shutterstock.com)

Around 1780 -1782 the principality of Thonburi was – thanks to Taksins' pacification policy and conquests – the largest Siamese empire in history from a territorial and geographical perspective. And no less than nine more or less autonomous vassal states were indebted to Taksin: the Nakhon Si Thammarat kingdom, the northern Thai principalities of Chiang Mai, Lampang, Nan, Lamphun and Phrae, and the Laotian kingdoms of Champasak, Luang Prabang and Vientiane.

Taksin's reign led to political unification but not to prosperity. The years of warfare and the Burmese invasions had a severe impact and not only prevented much foreign trade, but also prevented farmers from carrying out agricultural activities. The thousands of Siamese prisoners of war brought to Burma after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 and the general lack of manpower were a source of problems. Taksin had done his best to encourage the people who had fled to the countryside just before and during the Burmese invasion of 1765-1767 to come out of their hiding places in the jungle. But this was no longer enough to keep the country going. In 1773 he issued the servitude tattoo, which left a permanent mark on the bodies of ordinary people, preventing them from fleeing or moving and obliging them to work for the government for a good part of the year – unpaid. The practice continued well into the Rattanakosin period until the abolition of the levy during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). Taksin himself did not go unpunished either. Being from a wealthy Chinese merchant family, he sold both his royal and family properties and assets. The resources released in this way turned out to offer - temporarily - some solace to the ailing economy. Still, after the wars, the Siamese economy needed time to rehabilitate.

In the end, it would be his military campaigns and the clever trade deals with Chinese merchants that saved Siam from bankruptcy. The Thonburi kingdom recovered economically through the resumption and mercantile dominance of the Qing Chinese, a process that had taken place gradually from the late Ayutthaya kingdom, which continued under Thonburi and into the Rattanakosin period. Taksin himself also ordered trade missions to neighboring countries and abroad in order to 'propel Siam in the momentum of the nations'. In the latter, he paid particular attention to restoring ties with the Chinese Qing dynasty. For example, in 1781 he sent several missions to the Qing to resume diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries, which had begun XNUMX years earlier in the Sukhothai period but had been interrupted by the fall of Ayutthaya.

So Taksin was at the height of his popularity and fame around 1780. But despite his successes, he began to show increasing signs of mental instability. However, one should make some reservations about the stories that were circulating at the time, because many of them came from the pens of opponents of Taksin and served to legitimize the succession to the throne, but it is certain that his strange behavior was also reported by Westerners. mention. For example, Rattanakosin Gazettes and missionary accounts reported bizarre, maniacal behavior. It was not the first time that Siamese monarchs behaved like this, but when he also started insulting the highest monks of the Sangha and calling himself a sotapanna or divine figure, the fence was completely over. Although the latter may also have been grossly exaggerated and spread as anti-propaganda to make it easier to dethrone him later…

Thonburi Palace or Phra Racha Wang Derm, the former royal palace of King Taksin (Thipwan / Shutterstock.com)

Be that as it may, his supposedly self-willed and often incongruous behavior made him antagonize more and more people. Its senior officials, mainly ethnic Chinese, became divided into rival factions, which in turn led to the undermining of state authority. As a result, the slowly recovering economy was thrown into turmoil. To make matters worse, famine ravaged the country while corruption and abuse of office were rampant. Taksin tried to restore order and his authority by acting with an iron hand and lavishly meting out often very severe punishments. This resulted, among other things, in the imprisonment and execution of large numbers of officials and merchants, which in turn led to growing discontent among officials and much more unrest among the merchants.

In early 1782, Taksin ordered an army of 20.000 men, led by his skilled generals Phraya Chakri and Bunma, to be sent to Cambodia to enthrone a pro-Siamese monarch after the death of the Cambodian frost. While the army was on its way to Cambodia, a coup took place in Thonburi and Taksin was captured and declared insane. Although he asked to be allowed to enter a monastery and spend the rest of his life as a monk, he was executed in the traditional way on April 7, 1782. He was bound hand and foot, sewn into a sack of absorbent velvet so that no visible royal blood would flow, and then beaten to death with a sandalwood club.

Official Thai historiography has it that upon receiving news of the uprising, the unsuspecting Phraya Chakri hurriedly took to his feet and returned with his troops. Many historians assume that he accepted the rebels' offer to accept the throne after careful consideration, but perhaps the version that suggests that it was Phraya Chakri himself who, with the backing of the nobles at court, the bloody coup d'etat. In any case, it is an undeniable fact that he, and no one else, has given the order to get rid of his patron and friend…

Taksin's tragic death also marked the end of the Thonburi principality. After securing the capital, Phraya Chakri assumed the crown as King Ramathibodi, known posthumously as Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, today known as King Rama I, and founded the House of Chakri, the ruling Thai dynasty to this day. After Taksin's death, Rama I immediately moved his capital from Thonburi, across the Chao Phraya River, to the village of Bang-Koh where he would build his new capital. The city pillar, say the foundation stone of the city, was erected in 1782 on Rattanakosin Island where the government district, including the grand palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, would form the nucleus of the city we today call Bangkok know.

The city of Thonburi, where some buildings have preserved the old splendor that is inextricably linked to the short-lived Thonburi empire, remained an independent city and province until it merged in 1971 with Bangkok, which had already grown considerably.