Siam’s Entry into International Society and “National Identification” in Modern Warfare (1782-1917)

Abstract

This Article aim is to examine the course of Siam’s warfare between 1782 and 1917 under the context that is so-called the expansion of the European International Society. During the second half of the 19th Century onwards, I argue, Siam’s entry into the European Society of states and conforming to international institutional practices of that society resulted in a different shift in thinking about war among the Siamese ruling class, and also shaped new “national identities” as a member and new expected international roles in that society. When an international war broke out, though not involved in or conflicts with any warring party, Siam also exercised the state’s rights and roles to national identification in the international dimension. In the other hand, that reflected the exercise of external sovereignty of an independent state, at that time, even though, Siam was not yet a fully sovereign state.