Modern Thailand history in short

More recently Thailand has been rocked between military dictatorships and democratic movements by a series of coup d’etat. In 1932 a peaceful coup against absolute monarchy led to the development of a constitutional monarchy. Three years later the king abdicated to retire in Britain and his nephew, Ananda, was promoted to the throne as Rama VII, though he didn’t return from school in Switzerland until 1945. The country officially became known as Thailand in 1949. His Majesty King Bhumibol (Rama IX) is now on the throne as the world’s longest reigning monarch.

From 1964 to 1973 the Thai nation was ruled by army officers with dictatorial power. Reacting to political repression many thousands of Thai students publicly demanded a genuine constitution in June 1973. In October of the same year the military brutally repressed a demonstration at Thammasat University in Bangkok. His Majesty King Bhumibol (Rama IX) and General Krit Sivara, who sympathised with the students, refused to support further bloodshed and forced the ruling dictators to leave Thailand.

Oxford-educated Kukrit Pramoj took charge of the new government. But his leftist agenda was to be a short-lived experiment. The government was continually plagued by factionalism and nobody was surprised when the military took over again. Elections were held in 1979 and a period of stability followed. The country enjoyed strong economic growth throughout the1980s. In February 1991, reasoning a corrupt government, the military regained control again through a bloodless coup. But then, during bloody demonstrations in Bangkok in May 1992 scores of people died and many more were injured. This led to the reinstatement of a civilian government led by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. Although respected for his honesty Leekpai achieved little, and in 1996 he lost to Banharm Silaparcha. Barnham was never popular with the Thai media and, amid corruption scandals, his government soon collapsed, to be replaced by Chavalit Yongchayudh. Chavalit was forced to leave office due to lack of confidence during the general SE Asia economic meltdown in 1997, during which time the Thai currency lost 40% of its value against the US dollar. By early 1998 the Thai baht had restabilised.