Chulalongkorn

King Chulalongkorn

Chulalongkorn (pronunciation: [t͡ɕùlaːloŋkɔːn] ) or Rama V , the Great (government name: Phra Chunlachom Klao , pronounced [ pʰráʔ ʨunláʨɔːm klâw ], in Thai : พระบาท สมเด็จ พระ จุลจอมเกล้า เจ้า อยู่ หัว ; * September 20, 1853 in Bangkok , Thailand ; † October 23, 1910 ibid), was King of Siam , today's Thailand , from 1868 until his death . During his 42-year reign, Siam continued to open up to the West, modernizing its military, administrative, educational and legal systems, expanding infrastructure and abolishing serfdom.

Surname

Replica of a Phra Kiao crown (or cuḷālaṅkaraṇa ), from which the name Chulalongkorn goes back.

Like other Thai kings, this one is also referred to by different names, which can lead to confusion. Chulalongkorn is the name or part of the name that he used from his birth. 'Chulalongkorn' ( Pali cuḷālaṅkaraṇa , from cūḷa ' topknot ' or 'headdress' and alaṅkaraṇa 'ornament') denotes a type of crown worn by young high-ranking princes ( called Phra Kiao in Thai ). Chulalongkorn made such a crown his personal symbol; it can still be found today in the logo of Chulalongkorn University . As a prince, however, his father awarded him several other titles with which he was then addressed or referred to.

As king he took the throne name Phra Bat Somdet (Phra Paraminthara Maha Chulalongkorn) Phra Chunlachom Klao Chao Yu Hua , under which he is still referred to in Thai documents, publications and historical works (the part in brackets can be abbreviated). But he signed himself with จุฬาลงกรณ์ ป.ร. Chulalongkorn Po.Ro. , whereby the Po.Ro. for ParamaRachathirat (about "highest king of kings"). He continued to be called Chulalongkorn abroad, which is why this is the most common name for this king in Western literature. The universities named after him are also called Chulalongkorn University and Maha- Chulalongkorn -rajavidyalaya . The throne name, however, is used in the name of the Order of Chula Chom Klao and the Chulachomklao Military Academy , also named after him .

Posthumously his son Vajiravudh gave him the nickname Piyamaharat ( ปิย มหาราช "beloved great king"), which is also found in the name of the holiday Wan Piyamaharat (English mostly Chulalongkorn Day ) on October 23 (the day of his death). For the sake of simplicity, Vajiravudh recommended western foreigners to designate all kings of the Chakri dynasty with Rama and the respective ordinal number. Accordingly, Chulalongkorn is Rama V. Other informal terms that many Thais use, especially in oral communication, are Ratchakan thi Ha ("the fifth reign"), Ro. Ha ("R. five"), Sadet Pho ("Royal Father ") or Phra Piya (" beloved ruler ").

youth

Prince Chulalongkorn with his father King Mongkut

Chulalongkorn was the eldest son of King Mongkut (Rama IV) with his chief wife Queen Debsirindra . He had three full siblings and numerous half siblings. The prince was given the title Krommamuen Pikhanesuan Surasangkat at the age of eight . He received a broad education, partly on the Siamese, partly on the Western model. Among other things, he was taught in English by Anna Leonowens . At the age of 11 he became a novice at Wat Bowonniwet for six months . Then he got a new title: Krommakhun Phinit Prachanat . At an early age, Mongkut let him take part in government affairs as an apprentice.

Beginning of the reign

Phase under reign

Chulalongkorn at his second coronation, 1873

The young King Chulalongkorn

While observing the solar eclipse on August 18, 1868 in the jungle of southern Thailand, the father and 15-year-old Chulalongkorn became infected with malaria . King Mongkut died on October 18 of the same year. Many observers expected that his eldest surviving son of a class would succeed him on the throne - this seemed a matter of course, especially for European foreigners. But it was not mandatory, since Siam had neither a statutory nor a customary regulation of succession to the throne and his father had not appointed a successor after the death of his brother and "second king" ( Uparat ) Pinklao . Instead, a grand council of princes, high officials and clergy decided who would be the new king. In addition to Chulalongkorn, his much older cousin Prince Wichaichan , the son of Pinklaos, was also considered.

At the instigation of the Kalahom (chief minister of the southern provinces and the military) Chaophraya Si Suriyawong (Chuang Bunnag), the highest ranking and most powerful minister of his father, Chulalongkorn was elected king, Si Suriyawong his regent and Wichaichan the new Uparat. With the appointment of a “second king”, the council and Si Suriyawong anticipated a decision that actually belonged to the king himself. Chulalongkorn's health was still very unstable at the time, but he was recovering. Until he came of age and was actually crowned in November 1873, power rested with the regent.

Chulalongkorn showed an early interest in the situation abroad. In March and April 1871 he visited the island of Java, which was part of the Dutch colonial empire, and the British colony of Singapore , and in December of the same year he traveled to British India and Burma to get to know the European administration. The British Consul General Thomas George Knox accompanied him, as did a group of young princes and aristocrats handpicked by the King. These later formed the core of Chulalongkorn's political supporters, known as the “Young Siam” party.

First reforms

While he was still under the rule, Chulalongkorn endeavored to modernize and centralize the Thai financial system. Until then, much of the state revenue went to various authorities and ministries that were under the control of powerful aristocratic families (for example the Bunnags ), but not to the royal household. The tax lease system also proved to be inefficient, with many tax tenants failing to make the payments owed. In 1870 the young king founded an audit office. After he came of age in 1873, he set up the revenue authority Ho Ratsadakon Phiphat ( หอ รัษฎากร พิพัฒน์ ; literally: "Hall of tax revenue development"), the forerunner of today's Thai Ministry of Finance . This placed the tax tenants under stricter supervision and was intended to prevent agreements between the tenants and their overseers at the expense of the king's treasury.

Another decisive change in the state organization was the establishment of the “Council of State” ( สภา ที่ ป ฤ ก ษา ราชการ แผ่นดิน , Sapha thi prueksa ratchakan phaen din , literally: “Council for advice to the government of the empire”) in May 1874. This should officially only working out proposals for reforms, but became the central legislative and administrative organ of the absolutist rule of Chulalongkorn. The model was probably the French Conseil d'État at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte . The main items on the council's agenda were the abolition of slave labor and slavery, as well as the ban on gambling , which was the most common cause of the debt bondage case . In August 1874, a Privy Council was introduced , whose (initially 49) members were supposed to advise the king personally.

Incident from the front palace

These radical reforms met with rejection and resentment from traditional aristocratic elites who feared for their traditional benefices . A political crisis arose just one year after Chulalongkorn took over government. It is referred to as the “Incident of the Front Palace” after the residence of the Uparat (“second king”). At that time, the Uparat had its own guard, who took up quarters on the grounds of his palace. After a powder tower exploded and a fire broke out on the grounds of the Great Palace , Chulalongkorn's residence, the viceroy's armed troops marched in front of its walls, ostensibly to help extinguish it. However, the king feared a palace revolt in favor of Wichaichan, his guards rejected the units of the Uparat and put out the fire themselves. Wichaichan, who feared retaliation on the part of Chulalongkorn, fled to the British consulate. Siam was on the verge of civil war. After mediation by the British Governor of the Straits Settlements , Wichaichan was able to return to the Front Palace , but had to give up the prerogatives of a "second king". The background to the crisis was probably the conflict between the supporters of Chulalongkorn, who supported his reforms, and conservative elites who supported Wichaichan.

Although the king had apparently emerged victorious from the conflict, he showed him how thin his power base was and how dangerous his rapid reform policy was. As a result, he postponed many of his redesign projects for a long time. The councils initially stopped meeting, the fiscal reforms were not implemented for the time being, and slavery also continued for over two decades. Chulalongkorn called on his young supporters to treat the established notables with more respect, to close their "Society of Young Siamese" and the associated newspaper.

politics

Official portrait of Ramas V in the Grand Palace

At the 100th anniversary of the existence of the Chakri dynasty in 1882, only 14 years after the death of his father, five important achievements of King Chulalongkorn for Siam up to this point were mentioned:

1. the gradual equality of certain classes of slaves (in 1905 slavery was finally abolished and banned),
2. the abolition of prostration to the king,
3. the guarantee for government officials to be able to give the king their opinion in writing,
4. improving relations with foreign countries,
5. the extension of Wat Phra Kaeo .

Furthermore, he had already initiated an educational reform, supported the creation of new rice fields and boosted the economy by digging new canals.

Foreign policy

Chulalongkorn in August 1907 with the Braunschweig regent Johann Albrecht in front of the train station in Braunschweig .

Chulalongkorn was considered a very successful foreign politician. He was the first King of Siam to establish direct contacts with the European royal families. Two trips took him in 1897, where he stayed in Switzerland on May 18, and in 1907 to Europe, including Germany , where he visited his son Prince Rangsit in Heidelberg, for example , who studied there from 1905 to 1913, and Elisabeth from Heidelberg in 1912 Scharnberger married.

The first Siamese film document shows the arrival of King Chulalongkorn in Bern on May 25, 1897. In 1900, Prince Sanbhassatra, the king's younger brother, shot the first film himself in Thailand.

In its 42 years of reign, Siam was extensively modernized as a state that was able to defend its independence against strong pressure from Great Britain and France and that had significantly developed its administration and economic system. All of Siam's neighbors were colonized, Rama V was able to preserve the integrity of Siam by handing over smaller parts of the empire: parts of Laos became part of the French colony of Indochina , four southern provinces became a British protectorate as Unfederated Malay States . Siam formed an accepted buffer state between the colonial areas of Southeast Asia .

Domestic politics

Great upheavals in the state and government apparatus were initiated between 1887 and 1892, with 1892 being the great year of reform. These reforms were not least a response to the growing threat from the British and French colonial powers, who had secured their rule over all neighboring states. Siam had to become a strong nation, and so administrative reforms also strengthened ties to the vassal states in the north and northeast. For strategic reasons, the construction of railway lines in these parts of the country was initiated.

In April 1882, King Chulalongkorn (still an absolute monarch who did not delegate any power) appointed a new cabinet of twelve members who were loyal to him, including nine (half) brothers of his.

Chulalongkorn (center) with his half-brothers, Foreign Minister Prince Devawongse (left) and Interior Minister Prince Damrong (right)

From 1892, Chulalongkorn introduced the thesaphiban system for the administration of the country and thus changed the state structure of the empire permanently. Until then, Siam's tributary principalities and city-states ( Müang ) had different degrees of autonomy, depending on their size and distance from Bangkok, and were ruled by their own dynasties. This corresponded to the traditional Southeast Asian mandala system of the exercise of power and not the model of territorial states as it existed in Europe. Chulalongkorn and his half-brother and interior minister ( Mahatthai ) Prince Damrong Rajanubhab now placed the entire country under the direct control of the central government, following the western model. They formed provinces ( Changwat ) , which were combined into large circles ( Monthon ) . These administrative units were from then on supervised by agents of the Ministry of the Interior.

King Chulalongkorn with his son, Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis (1878–95); Portrait in the National History Museum, Bangkok

There was a major cabinet reshuffle in 1896. The main posts went back to the king's half-brothers: Damrong (home affairs), Mahit (finance and agriculture), Phithayalap (palace and public relations), Devawongse (foreign affairs), Naris ( army ) and Naret (local administration / Local Government). Newly added in 1897 was the young Prince Rabi Badhanasakti , who had just returned from his studies in Oxford and became Minister of Justice. He was the first of Chulalongkorn's sons to receive ministerial rank and is now considered the father of Thai law. He modernized the legal system together with the Belgian lawyer Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns , who from 1892 served as the main advisor to Chulalongkorn and who gave him the high feudal honorary title Chao Phaya Abhai Raja .

Question of succession to the throne

King Chulalongkorn abolished the office of viceroy after the death of his viceroy ( Uparat ) Prince Wichaichan in 1885 and instead introduced the appointment of a heir to the throne as crown prince. In January 1887 he installed the nine-year-old Chaofa prince Vajirunhis as Siam's first crown prince ( sayam makut ratchakuman ). After the death of the young crown prince on January 4, 1895, the king declared his fourteen-year-old son Vajiravudh (later King Rama VI) to be the new crown prince.

Educational policy

Rama V continued the educational efforts of his predecessors. Outstanding pupils were given scholarships regardless of their origin and sent to Europe ( England , Denmark , Germany , Russia ). He also had royal schools built for the population. The introduction of the English language as a subject promoted understanding of Western culture. During his many, sometimes surprising and sometimes anonymous, trips through the country, the king was able to uncover and remedy many weaknesses in administration and the administration of justice. This resulted in many small reforms and improvements that strengthened the status of the administration and strengthened the people's trust in the state, especially in the monarchy.

Religious politics

Chulalongkorn was very deeply connected to Buddhism . At the same time, he was far from proselytizing people of other faiths; on the contrary, he made land donations so that Christian churches and mosques could be built. There was religious freedom .

extension of infrastructure

The king also pursued a consistent modernization policy. Numerous foreign consultants worked for Siam, mainly in the administration and technical development of the country. During the early 1890s, Siam received help on numerous development projects from more than a hundred foreign technical specialists. Most were British, Danish and German. (There were French missionaries and diplomatic agents, but no technical advisers.)

The Thai railway network was built with German technical staff and numerous Chinese workers. In 1891 he broke ground for the country's first railway line ( Bangkok – Samut Prakan ). When he died, 19 years later, there were already 774 kilometers of railway lines.

In 1897 the following foreigners worked in the Siamese civil service: 54 Englishmen, 20 Danes, 18 Germans, 9 Belgians, seven Italians, and a few Dutch, Austrians, Americans, Portuguese and Swiss. The administrative reforms of King Chulalongkorn also improved the police, as well as the postal and telegraph services. The first telephone connection was established in 1881. The judiciary was reformed. The Provincial Courts Act of 1896 brought the entire judicial system at the provincial level under Bangkok's control.

In addition, hospitals were built under King Chulalongkorn, although the first hospital in the country, the Siriraj Hospital, named after Chulalongkorn's son who died as a toddler, was only built after years of disputes and opened in 1896. Most Thais were herbalists and therefore skeptical of Western medicine. In addition, there was initially a lack of qualified Thai doctors who could have strengthened the trust of the population.

Trips abroad

Siamese pavilion donated by Chulalongkorn in the spa gardens of Bad Homburg .

• March 9, 1871 - April 15, 1871: Singapore and Batavia
• Second trip (early 1870s): Singapore, Malacca , Penang , Moulmein ( Mon State , today Mawlamyaing / Myanmar), Rangoon , India ( Calcutta , Delhi , Agra , Lucknow , Cawnpore , Bombay , Benares )
• 1897 (beginning of April to December 16, 1897) First trip to Europe via Colombo, Aden and Port Said. Arrival in Venice on May 14, 1897.
  • Destinations: Geneva, Turin, Florence, Rome, Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, London, Hamburg, Essen, Dresden, The Hague, Brussels, Paris, as well as a lot of smaller cities.
  • Queen Saowapha was appointed regent during these nine months. Numerous letters and telegrams from the king on this trip have been preserved.
• 1907 (March to November) Second trip to Europe (Crown Prince Vajiravudh was regent at this time, but King Chulalongkorn had to be telegraphed to King Chulalongkorn during his absence and he had to wait for his approval. Numerous letters from the king on this trip were translated and have been published as a book see below)
  • Destinations include Genoa , Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , Copenhagen and the North Cape .

The inner palace

The Inner Palace or the Inner City (in Thai Khang nai or Fai nai , "the inside") was a geographical, institutional and social place where only women resided or lived who had any connection with the king. During the wedding of the Inner Palace there were around 3,000 women here, with men - with the exception of the king, whose private quarters were in the Inner Palace, and his sons under 11 years of age - were generally prohibited from entering. So it was a harem three times the size of the largest harem in the Ottoman Empire .

Chulalongkorn had a total of 153 wives, 35 of whom bore him 76 children. The other (female) residents of the Inner Palace included concubines, guards, judges, moneylenders, cooks, servants and slaves.

The legacy of Chulalongkorn

Equestrian statue of Rama V in front of the Dusit Palace in Bangkok.

He left his son Vajiravudh (Rama VI.) , Who had already studied in England, a modern state with a wide range of opportunities for individual citizens to develop. Chulalongkorn is still one of the most revered personalities in Thai history in his home country.

Aftermath

In 1908, during his lifetime, an equestrian statue of Chulalongkorn was erected on the large square in front of the Anantasamakhom throne hall. This was not financed from public funds or the royal casket, but from voluntary donations from his subjects. It shows the features of the monarch in an unusual closeness to reality for previous Thai sculpture. The European influence is also evident in the fact that he is depicted on a horse rather than an elephant (the traditional symbol of the Siamese rulers). After his death, his son Vajiravudh arranged for his father to be worshiped in public. In addition, he declared the day of his death on October 23rd to be a public holiday ( Wan Piyamaharat , literally “Day of the Beloved Great King”, English usually called Chulalongkorn Day ). He ordered that on that day students, teachers and civil servants should gather at the equestrian statue and lay wreaths of flowers. Rama V was instrumentalized as the father of the nation (propagated by Vajiravudh).

Chulalong grain while cooking. This picture hangs in many Thai restaurants.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, a quasi-religious cult around Chulalongkorn developed independently of state-ordered ceremonies. This started out primarily from entrepreneurs of Chinese origin in Bangkok who had gotten rich during the economic boom from 1987 to 1996. They worshiped the former king as a kind of guardian spirit who could donate economic prosperity and who could be invoked as an aid against corrupt officials and fluctuations in the global economy. From business circles this new Chulalongkorn cult spread to the middle class, the lower middle class and finally the working class as well as from Bangkok to the provinces. Since then, Chulalongkorn has not only been venerated as the father and patron saint of the nation, but also invoked for personal benefits and success. During the Asian crisis , meetings and prayers at the statue of Chulalongkorn took place weekly, soon twice a week, at which not only the traditional floral wreaths, but also luxury goods such as cognac and Cuban cigars were offered to him. Images of the king are widespread - especially in the houses of townspeople - and the business with books and notebooks with texts written by him flourished.

The archive documents of King Chulalongkorn and the Transformation of Siam (1868-1910) have been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2009 . They are in the National Library of Thailand and in the National Archives. On the occasion of Chulalongkorn's 100th anniversary of death, a memorial exhibition dedicated to the king was set up in the Thawon Watthu building (the former national library) in 2010.

Others

Paul Lincke dedicated his character piece “Siamesische Wachtparade” to Tschulalongkorn King of Siam (sic!) On the occasion of his stay in Berlin.

See also

• Rama (Kings of Thailand)
• History of Thailand # Reforms under Rama IV. And Rama V.

Web links

Commons : Chulalongkorn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The Descendants of King Rama V of Siam (in English)
• Contemporary German reports on King Chulalongkorn from 1861–1907 (compiled by Rudolf Baierl, Suraphon Phonprasoet and Wisut Rangsinaphon)
• Rudolf Baierl: The Thai-German relations at the time of King Chulalongkorn. Text accompanying the exhibition in the Royal Thai Embassy in Berlin in 2000 (PDF file; 959 kB)

literature

• Ampha Otrakul (transl.): ไกล บ้าน (Glai baan) - Far from home. King Chulalongkorn's travel diary 1907. Royal Thai Embassy, ​​Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-974-9898-32-1 .
• Suphot Manalapanacharoen: King Chulalongkorn and the city of Berlin. In: Ulrich van der Heyden, Joachim Zeller (ed.): “… Power and share in world domination.” Berlin and German colonialism. Unrast-Verlag, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-024-2 .
• Irene Stengs: Worshiping the Great Moderniser. King Chulalongkorn, Patron Saint of the Thai Middle Class. NUS Press, Singapore 2009.
• Barend Jan Terwiel : Thailand's Political History. From the Fall of Ayutthaya to Recent Times . River Books, Bangkok 2005, ISBN 974-9863-08-9 .
• Pornsan Watanangura (Ed.): The Visit of King Chulalongkorn to Europe in 1907. Reflecting on Siamese History. Center for European Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Phra Kieo , site of Chulalongkorn University, accessed October 9, 2015.
2. ↑ Irene Stengs: Worshiping the Great Moderniser. 2009, pp. 87, 141, 162.
3. ^ ^{A b} David K. Wyatt : Thailand. A short history. 2nd edition, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004, pp. 175–176.
4. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 177.
5. ↑ A dark tragedy in Siam. In: The New York Times. April 12, 1880, accessed October 18, 2009.
6. ↑ Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead: The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism. Routledge Shorton, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2004, pp. 48, 192 (fn. 30).
7. ↑ Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead: The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism. 2004, pp. 52-54.
8. ↑ Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead: The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism. 2004, p. 54.
9. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 180.
10. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 178.
11. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 179.
12. ^ ^{A b} Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 194.
13. ↑ Chulalongkorn in Switzerland
14. ^ Volker Grabowsky : Regions and National Integration in Thailand, 1892–1992. Harrassowitz-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1995, p. 2.
15. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 213.
16. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 202.
17. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 211.
18. ^ Thailand's Railway System. In: Bangkok Bank Monthly Review Volume 23, 1982, pp. 333-339, at p. 333.
19. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 212.
20. ^ Terwiel: Thailand's Political History. 2005, p. 217.
21. ↑ wiki-de.genealogy.net
22. ↑ Tamara Loos: Sex in the Inner City: The Fidelity between Sex and Politics in Siam. In: The Journal of Asian Studies. Volume 64, No. 4 (2005), pp. 881-909.
23. ↑ See: from the Thai Wikipedia: Women and Children of Rama V. (in Thai)
24. ↑ ^{a b} Maurizio Peleggi: Thailand. The Worldly Kingdom. Reaction Books, London 2007, pp. 185-186.
25. ^ Stengs: Worshiping the Great Moderniser. 2009, p. 113.
26. ^ Stengs: Worshiping the Great Moderniser. 2009, p. 3.
27. ^ Stengs: Worshiping the Great Moderniser. 2009, pp. 3-4.
28. ^ "Archival Documents of King Chulalongkorn's Transformation of Siam (1868-1910)" , UNESCO Memory of the World, accessed February 9, 2016.