- A study on the part Thailand, then 'Siam', played in WW1, told
through personal stories100 years ago Siam declared war on Germany. In
the early morning hours of 22 July 1917, army units and gendarmerie
called the roughly 200 completely unsuspecting German and
Austro-Hungarian men in Bangkok out of their beds, presented them with
the declaration of war and went on to arrest them. At the same time,
marine units boarded the nine ocean going German ships anchored on the
river, capturing what was considered by all to be the greatest prize.
With these events began Siam's 17 months at war with two European
powers. The story of how these 17 months unfolded in Siam and in Europe
is at the heart of this book. It is a complex tale interweaving
political, diplomatic, military, cultural and social history. The book
introduces adventurous and scared Thai soldiers on the battlefields of
the Western Front, arrogant European politicians and diplomats convinced
of their racial and cultural superiority, shrewd Thai officials beating
the West at its own game of imperialism, princes rivalling over
influence and power, German businessmen imprisoned by "Orientals," Thai
students caught up in world events and submarine attacks, and the King
of Siam himself. Siam's participation in World War I was the single most
important international event for contemporaries in the kingdom, its
symbolism unmatched by any other occurrence of the times. The book is
the first-ever extensively researched study of Siam and World War I in
all its facets. By combining primary sources from Thailand, Germany,
France, Great Britain, and Austria, the study describes local events in
a global context and explains how world events manifested themselves in
the royal palaces and on the streets of Bangkok. The legacy of the
events a century ago is remarkably tangible even today, and the book
connects the reader with this legacy. The book is easily accessible to
the non-specialist reader interested in history and political affairs,
as it describes numerous colorful episodes and vignettes, and includes
over 300 rare photographs and illustrations, reproduced in high-quality
print. The book is published simultaneously in a Thai and an
English-language version.
