Summary: Thailand was a servant of the Axis during World War II. Thailand remained neutral until 194 1 year when Japan invaded Thailand. At the beginning of the Pacific War, the Japanese Empire put pressure on Thailand to give them the right of military passage to invade British India and the federal state of Malaya. Most Thais don't accept this request, but Prime Minister Mao Piwen Sohan (? The Thai government, led by Thailand, believes that maintaining friendly relations with Japan is better than being conquered, so Thailand agreed to Japan's request. Soon, Thailand declared war on the Allies.
Compared with Manchukuo, another puppet regime in Japan, the Thai government still has the freedom to manage the internal affairs and the army. The relationship between Japan and Thailand is similar to that between the Third Reich and Finland, Bulgaria and Romania. Finally, Thailand's sovereignty was safeguarded, and Japan regarded Thailand as an ally, not a puppet regime (this principle changed in the later period of the war).
In Thailand, there are many people who oppose the abnormal rule of Japanese militarists. Among them, the Free Thailand Movement has 90,000 rebels and is supported by many former government officials, such as pridi phanomyong ().
After Japan's defeat, Thailand paid only a small amount of war reparations.
Details: When the Second World War just broke out, Thailand was under the military government, and its Prime Minister Mao Piwen Sohan was an officer who was influenced by fascism and often spread fascism. Therefore, Peiwen used propaganda to create personality cult and spread nationalism and militarism on a large scale. At the same time, the Piwan regime advocated the recovery of lost territory, incited anti-French sentiment at home and supported the independence movements of Laos and Cambodia. Piwen hoped to unite Japan to wage war against French Indian zhina, so he began to cultivate closer Thai-Japanese relations.
1940, France fell and France, India and China fell into chaos. Piwen seized this opportunity and sent troops across the eastern border, and the second Thai-French war broke out. The French army in Japan was defeated, but the victory of the French navy in the naval battle of Elephant Island prompted the Japanese army to intervene in the war. Japan put pressure on Vichy French government, and Vichy France was forced to make concessions to Thailand. The victory of this war greatly enhanced Piwen's reputation in China. However, Japan does not want to excessively influence its relations with Vichy regime. French Indian zhina only ceded part of the disputed territory, and the small amount of territory gained in this war reduced Brunei's confidence in cooperation with Japan. He began to send more troops to stop the Japanese invasion, and planned to seek Anglo-American cooperation.
19411On February 7th, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out. On February 8, 65438, the Japanese army invaded Thailand because of its invasion of Malaya. After several hours of fighting, Thailand had to agree to Japan's request and give it the right of military passage to invade Myanmar or Malaya. The compromise made by Brunei prevented Thailand from becoming a Japanese colony, but at the cost of Japanese troops stationed in Thailand, which shows that Thailand still lost part of its sovereignty.
Garrison and alliance
19411221,Thailand and Japan signed an offensive and defensive alliance treaty. Nine days later, the treaty was amended to require Thailand to grant the right of passage and use to all railways, highways, airports, docks, warehouses, communication systems and military camps in China.
Under the pressure of Japan, Thailand declared war on Britain and the United States on1October 25th. 1February, 942 15, Thailand, Japan, Manchukuo and Wang Jingwei joined the Treaty of the Three Kingdoms, but these three countries are usually regarded as "unofficial signatories".
Brunei government cooperated with Japan to recover lost territory, but only gained part of the territory. 1On August 20th, 943, according to the land concession treaty between Thailand and Japan, more territory claimed by Thailand was awarded to Thailand. Kelantan, Terengganu, Glass City, Chittagong in Malaya and Shan State in Myanmar were placed under Thailand. At the same time, Japan sent 6.5438+0.5 million soldiers to Thailand, and used prisoners of war and Asian laborers to build the notorious "death railway"-the Thailand-Myanmar Railway. Although most Thais were "immersed" in Japan's brilliant achievements at the beginning of 1942, by the end of 1942, Thais generally felt anti-Japanese because of the Japanese arrogance and the adverse effects of the war on the national economy.
The war has brought many problems to the Thai economy. Domestic contradictions continue, and vicious competition often occurs among enterprises. Nazi Germany used to purchase Thai products frequently, but because the shipping problem was difficult to solve, Thailand's economy could only rely on Japan and once stopped purchasing. But Thailand needs European and American goods, so does Japan, and the resources that Japan can provide are getting less and less because of the war. Thailand's domestic products began to fall short of demand, and prices soared. To make matters worse, Japan introduced the duty-free policy for imported goods, which further reduced the income of the Thai government.
The internal conflicts in Thailand are becoming more and more extreme. 1942 12, the Thai people confronted the police, and then a gun battle broke out between the two sides and was resolved peacefully, but this means that the situation in Thailand is very serious. This incident also led to the replacement of the commander of Japanese troops in Thailand by Akihito Nakamura.
With the war going on, Japan gradually lost the initiative, and the position of the Thai government began to waver. Peiwen realized this and he began to alienate Japan. 1943 10, he sent two officers to Chongqing secretly to hold friendly talks on the issue of returning prisoners of war.
However, the decline of Peven's reputation in China is completely beyond his own imagination. As the allied forces gradually increased their bombing of Bangkok, the Thai people's confidence in the Brunei government was declining, and some people began to doubt his foreign policy. When Peiwen left Bangkok, the morale of the army plummeted. The government announced that the people in Bangkok would be transferred to phetchabun, where malaria is rampant in the north, which further led to people's confusion and incomprehension. It's not just the people who are dissatisfied. Many members of the Thai royal family and government are tired of Burma's rule, and more people begin to support the opposition, such as pridi phanomyong.
Just as Piwan was preparing to go to phetchabun, the Italian Mussolini regime collapsed, which shocked the whole Thai government. The government called an emergency meeting to discuss the unbearable war situation of the European Axis. Compared with Italy, the same thing is likely to happen in Thailand. "Find another Pietro Badoglio" became the political slogan of Thailand, which shocked Nazi Germany. Hermann G?ring told the Japanese ambassador to Germany to pay close attention to Thailand: Don't let Thailand become the Italy of the East.
Conclusion: In Thailand, there are more and more members of resistance organizations such as Free Thailand Movement. The discontent in Thailand and the unprecedented anti-Japanese sentiment show one thing: the collapse of the pro-Japanese government in Brunei is a foregone conclusion. 1944, the allied forces opened up the second battlefield in Europe. Nazi Germany was also losing ground on the Eastern Front. The military strength of the United States is getting stronger and stronger, and Japan has no room to fight back in the Pacific. In August of the same year, the Brunei government fell. At the beginning of 1945, more and more people began to strike, and uprisings broke out in various places. The Japanese army has continuously increased its troops in Thailand, and the Japanese army that attacked Myanmar also suffered a fiasco and was forced to retreat to Thailand. The Japanese army built a large number of fortifications in Thailand and issued many requisition orders in an attempt to make a final struggle when the balance of war completely fell to the allies.
At that time, Thailand's head of government was a conservative khuang abhaiwongse (? )。 However, at this time in Thailand, the most influential political figure was the anti-Japanese faction pridi phanomyong. 1945, allied intelligence personnel can freely enter and leave Bangkok without any restrictions. However, khuang abhaiwongse was unable to unite the domestic people and soon stepped down. The Thai government is caught in a power struggle. At the end of the war, Thailand immediately declared that any treaties it signed during the war and those that declared war on its allies were null and void.
In the post-war peace talks, countries have different attitudes towards Thailand. Britain demanded that it return the territory ceded by Japan to Thailand in the form of compensation while paying war reparations; The French government said that France would not allow Thailand to join the newly established United Nations unless Thailand returned the territory it had previously seized from French Indian zhina. Because there is no conflict of interest between the United States and Thailand, the attitude of the United States has eased a little. The US government believes that Thailand should not be regarded as an enemy in peace talks (its real purpose may be to jointly confront North Vietnam in the future); The Soviet Union insisted that Thailand abolish anti-* * legislation.