Vajiravudh

King Rama VI. (Vajiravudh)

King Vajiravudh ( RTGS : Watchirawut; pronunciation: [wáʔt͡ɕʰíʔraːwút] ; Rama VI. ; Full throne name Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramentharamaha Vajiravudh Phra Mongkut Klao Chao Yu Hua , Thai : พระบาท สมเด็จ พระ ปร เมน ทร มหา วชิราวุธ ฯ พระมงกุฎเกล้า เจ้า อยู่ หัว , Pronunciation [ pʰráʔ moŋkùt klâw ]; * January 1, 1881 in Bangkok ; † November 25, 1925 ibid) was King of Siam (present-day Thailand ) from October 23, 1910 to 1925 . He drove the development of Siam into a nation state and the development of a Thai national consciousness. He also worked as an author and translator of dramas, short stories, poems, essays and factual texts.

Youth and education

Caricature representation of Prince Vajiravudh in Vanity Fair magazine , 1895

Vajiravudh was the eldest son of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) with Saovabha Phongsri , one of his four main wives. He learned the Thai language from Chaophraya Phra Sadet Surentrathibodi. He was also taught in English in the Royal Palace. At the age of eight, his father gave him the title of Prince Krommakhun Thepthawarawadi (or Debdvaravati). At the age of thirteen he was enrolled in the Sandhurst English Military Academy in 1891 , where he became an officer in the Durham Light Infantry. In 1894 his older half-brother Crown Prince Vajirunhis died and Vajiravudh became the new Crown Prince. He then studied at Christ Church , Oxford University , history and law . During this time he wrote a paper on the War of the Polish Succession , but stayed away from the graduation ceremony because of appendicitis . In 1902 he returned to Siam. He became inspector general of the army and commander of his father's bodyguard . When Chulalongkorn went on an extensive trip to Europe in 1907, Vajiravudh was the regent .

king

Official portrait of Ramas VI. in the great palace

Vajiravudh succeeded his father to the throne on October 23, 1910. The young king carried on the modernization of Chulalongkorn. First he founded the Vajiravudh boarding school (Thai วชิราวุธ วิทยาลัย ), which served the training of pages and leaned on elite institutions such as Eton College . In 1911 the king established the Boy Scouts , which are an important institution in Thailand to this day.

The coronation on November 11, 1911 was an internationally attended event in Siam, the first of its kind in the history of the country. Visitors came from the German Empire and Japan, among others.

Palace revolt 1912

Vajiravudh was expected to draw up a constitution for Siam, which, however, did not come despite some announcements. After the imperial throne in China was shaken by the Wuchang uprising in 1911, dissatisfied people in Siam could no longer hold out. The reason was the resentment of some members of the army about the unjust punishment of the then Crown Prince Vajiravudh and his creation of a private army, the Wild Tiger .

Domestic and cultural reforms

After an outbreak of smallpox in 1912, Vajiravudh ordered compulsory and free vaccinations and strengthened the Thai Red Cross Society . In 1913, the king introduced the family names that were previously unknown in Siam . Families of aristocrats and higher officials gave Vajiravudh a name himself, the other subjects had to choose one. At the same time he developed a first standard for the transcription of the Thai script into the Latin alphabet .

The growing complexity of society and working life required far more skilled personnel than Siam could muster. Therefore, Vajiravudh not only continued the scholarship training of outstanding students in Europe and the USA , but also ensured the improvement of the national education system by introducing compulsory education for at least four years. The gifted had to be encouraged to do this, as the population expected salvation from the power elite and was not motivated from the outset to take part directly in state life. In 1917 he founded the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, named after his father, as the first university in the country . Four years later, he passed the Law on Compulsory Primary Education, which obliges boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 14 to attend school. Initially, however, it was only implemented in part of the kingdom.

In 1921 he passed a law on equality between men and women . The fact that women were not allowed to meet men on an equal footing, had no access to education and were often treated with disregard by their polygamous men was, in Vajiravudh's eyes, a serious obstacle to Siam's development into a civilized nation. Vajiravudh also tried to change the appearance of the Siamese woman. He encouraged her to wear long hairstyles based on the European model after foreign visitors mocked the supposedly unfeminine, short-haired Siamese women. Instead of the chong kraben , which is similar to wide trousers and is worn by both sexes , they should also rather wear the skirt-like pha sin and refrain from chewing betel , which leads to dark discoloration of the teeth and mouth.

Vajiravudh used many unusual methods to prepare the population for the changed life situation: texts, plays and musical works from his pen were distributed, for example the composition "Mud on the Wheels", which was supposed to show how difficult it is to get in the cart Moving in the right direction when nobody really joins in.

National awareness

King Ramas VI statue in front of the entrance to Lumphini Park , Bangkok

Vajiravudh strongly promoted the emergence of a Thai national consciousness. According to his idea, the various Tai tribes living in Siam should be merged into a single nation ( Thaiization ). On the other hand, he excluded the Chinese who had immigrated to Siam en masse since the second half of the 19th century and described them as inferior. With reference to European anti-Semitism, he referred to them in 1914 in a sinophobic treatise as "Jews of the East". Vajiravudh coined the triad of "nation, religion, king", which is still the unofficial state motto of Thailand. With this in mind, he also introduced daily prayers in schools and government institutions. It was also he who introduced the neologism khwam-pen-thai (“being Thai” or “Thai-tum”). He traced the word 'Thai' back to the equivalent word for 'free', which means that the Thai are the “people of the free”.

Belonging to the Thai nation ( chat Thai , also a neologism developed by Vajiravudh) was racially determined for him. It cannot be acquired by residency or Siamese birth or naturalization. Impressed by the national awareness of the British that he had noticed during his studies, he believed in a "national spirit" that is common to all Thai. This included appreciation of one's own language, history, art, the Buddhist religion, love for the king and the courage to fight. Vajiravudh's nationalist ideology represented the mental underpinning of the new order of Siam, begun by his father's radical administrative reforms, as a territorial state with fixed borders. Siam was now defined as a specific territory with a national identity and no longer, as in the traditional Southeast Asian model, spatial - political geography, cosmological ideas and personal relationships and ties.

Vajiravudh rejected democracy or even a constitutional monarchy. The absolute monarchy is the traditional and at the same time the most suitable form of government for Siam. Democracy always carries the risk of corruption. The king also expressed himself sharply against the emerging socialism. This is only motivated by envy.

In his model city Dusit Thani , built on a scale of 1:12 on the site of the Phaya Thai Palace , Vajiravudh practiced democracy - but only in the game. His friends and selected courtiers were allowed to take part. There was a constitution, mayoral elections, two political parties - recognizable by blue and red ribbons - and two newspapers. In part, the project is interpreted as an attempt to prepare for the introduction of a constitutional or even democratic form of government in Siam. Other authors attribute it to the king's predilection for lavish miniature worlds and diagnose him with a kind of " Peter Pan Syndrome ".

First World War from Siam's perspective

In foreign policy, Siam came closer to Europe. During the First World War , Vajiravudh supported the Entente with 2,000 elite soldiers against some resistance in the ruling family , who, however, arrived in Europe so late that they could no longer intervene in the fighting. However, they took part in victory parades in Paris, Brussels and other cities and were also celebrated as heroes with great pomp and victory parades on their return in Bangkok. However, 19 soldiers were killed on the expedition due to accidents and illnesses. A memorial was erected in front of the National Museum in Bangkok north of the Sanam Luang , the "Expeditionary Force Monument". Towards the end of his tenure, on November 11, 1924, he was confronted with a coup d'état , which, however, had no consequences. All putschists were pardoned by the king.

Familiar

Vajiravudh remained unmarried as king for almost ten years. In 1920 he met Princess Wanwimon in his Phaya Thai palace on the occasion of a theater performance and was impressed by her. He made her Princess Vallabha Devi and became engaged to her. The engagement was dissolved four months later because of "incompatibility of their temperaments". Instead, he became engaged to her sister, Princess Lakshami Lavan, whom he married in August 1922 and made his main wife. However, since she remained childless, she was not made queen.

Although Vajiravudh had previously confessed to monogamy , in 1921 he took Prueng Sucharitkul, daughter of Chaophraya Sutham Montri, to be his concubine and raised her to Phra Sucharit Suda. He then married her sister, Prabai Sucharitkul, whom he gave the title Phra Indrasakdi Sachi. When she became pregnant in 1922, Vajiravudh made her queen. However, she suffered several miscarriages and lost queen status in 1925. Vajiravudh's fourth marriage was in 1924 to Krueakaeo Aphaiwong, daughter of Phraya Aphaiphubet, who took the name Suvadhana as a princess and was made queen in 1925 when she was eight months pregnant. Her daughter Bejaratana Rajasuda (1925–2011) was born two hours before Vajiravudh's death.

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  Princess-wife Lakshami Lavan

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  Phra Sucharit Suda

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  Princess (1922–25: Queen) Indrasakdi Sachi

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  Princess (from 1925: Queen) Suvadhana

Succession regulation

In 1924, Vajiravudh issued a succession regulation that has remained in force for the Chakri dynasty to this day . According to this, only the ruler's sons and grandsons have the right to succeed to the throne. In the event that there are no sons, the throne is given to the eldest full brother of the late king (brother who has the same mother). Sons of foreign mothers are excluded.

Death and aftermath

Vajiravudh died after illness on November 25, 1925 in Bangkok. His brother Prajadhipok (Rama VII) was appointed as his successor, who ascended the throne as Phra Bat Somdet Phra Phokklao Chaoyuhua. The statue of Vajiravudh in front of Lumphini Park was unveiled on March 27, 1942. The location was chosen because the park was created by the king.

See also

• Rama (Kings of Thailand)
• Chakri dynasty
• History of Thailand

literature

• Stephen Lyon Wakeman Greene: Absolute Dreams. Thai Government Under Rama VI, 1910-1925 . Bangkok: White Lotus 1999.
• Walter Francis Vella: Chaiyo! King Vajiravudh and the Development of Thai Nationalism . Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii 1978.

Web links

Commons : Vajiravudh  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Newspaper article about Vajiravudh in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Prasert Na Nakhon (Nagara): Treasury of Thai Literature: the modern period. Bangkok 1988. p. 10.
2. ^ David K. Wyatt : Thailand. A short history. 2nd edition, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2004, p. 211.
3. ↑ Nitaya Kanchanawan: Romanization, transliteration and the transcription Globalization for the Thai Language of. 1st World Congress on the Power of Language: Theory, Practice, and Development. In Honor of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 50th Birthday Anniversary in the Year of Languages. 22-25 May 2006. Queen Sirikit Center, Bangkok, Thailand.
4. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 216.
5. ↑ Vella: Chaiyo! 1978, p. 154 ff.
6. ↑ Penny Van Esterik: Materializing Thailand. Berg, Oxford / New York 2000, pp. 99-100.
7. ^ Sebastian Conrad: Globalization and Nation in the German Empire. CH Beck, Munich 2010, p. 197.
8. ↑ Andreas Sturm: Which 'nation' persists? The competing notions of the Thai nation as reflected in public monuments. In: Nationalism in a Global Era: The Persistence of Nations. Routledge, Abingdon / New York 2007, p. 109.
9. ^ Björn Dressel: The Struggle for Political Legitimacy in Thailand. In: Political Legitimacy in Asia. New leadership challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 68.
10. ↑ Thanet Aphornsuvan: Slavery and Modernity. Freedom in the Making of Modern Siam. In: Asian Freedoms. The Idea of ​​Freedom in East and Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 181.
11. ^ Ronald D. Renard: The Differential Integration of Hill People into the Thai State. In: Civility and Savagery. Social Identity in Tai States. Curzon Press, Richmond (Surrey) 2000, p. 78.
12. ^ Dressel: The Struggle for Political Legitimacy in Thailand. 2011, p. 63.
13. ↑ Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian: Kings, Country and Constitutions. Thailand's Political Development, 1932-2000. Routledge Shorton, London / New York 2003, ISBN 0-7007-1473-1 , p. 23.
14. ↑ Maurizio Peleggi: Lords of Things. The Fashioning of the Siamese Monarchy's Modern Image. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2002, p. 92.