Thailand and the Second World War Involving Process: A Revisionist History

Abstract

            The history of Thailand and her participation in the Second World War has been a subject of academic studies from 1947 until the present day. Conventional analyses of the many decades of such studies comprise two main approaches. First, Thailand's entered into the Second World War as soon as it began in Europe on 1 September 1939. Second, Thailand entered into the Second World War when Japan started the Great East Asia War on 8 December 1941. Preferring to concentrate solely on Field Marshal Luang Pibulsongkram (Thailand’s 3rd Prime Minister from 16 December 1938 to 1 August 1944) and his cult of nationalism and his steadfast support of Japan, these studies have been repeatedly cited and became the mainstream history of Thailand and the Second World War period.

            This article critically reviews such mainstream approaches by expanding the timeframe, looking at past events and new evidence that date from 1927 and its decade, including archival sources, personal documents, contemporary publications, and other primary sources of the wartime period. The examination of these recently available materials reveals that Thailand's entry into the Second World War was  a systematic, evolving, and continuous process that predated the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe. These new interpretations expound 3 key issues: 1. the awareness of the circumstances of the War; 2. the prognosis of another possible war by both the government and the public sectors that leads to 3. The process of preparing for war, whose material evidence allows for an analysis of the following 6 elements: (1) the national defense preparation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; (2) the charity donations into the military funds; (3) the Navy Enhancement Act of 1934; (4) the activities of the Military Youth Force; (5) the inception of Thailand’s air defense; and (6) the establishment of radio broadcasting as a defense apparatus.