Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
isolated principalities of inland Southeast Asia to be at each other's throats, making these
weak states easy prey for their larger neighbours. The rivalry between Luang Prabang and
Vientiane was particularly bitter, deteriorating further when a second wave of Burmese in-
vasions swept across the Tai world in the 1760s and forces from Vientiane aligned with the
invaders and helped sack Luang Prabang.
Ayutthaya , which had flourished since the last wave of Burmese invasions, was next. The
Burmese breached the walls and took the city in 1767, razing everything to the ground and
hauling off tens of thousands of prisoners. The city was abandoned, but with remarkable
speed the Siamese built a new kingdom, one that was to succeed at the expense of the Lao
states.
The rise of Siam
Under the charismatic leadership of King Taksin, a military genius, the Siamese quickly re-
built their kingdom downriver from Ayutthaya near Bangkok, and within a decade had re-
taken its territory, conquered Lan Na, and were prepared to expand to the east to secure its
perimeter. Taking advantage of a peaceful Burma and a distracted Vietnam, twenty thousand
Siamese soldiers set out towards Vientiane in 1778.
A second army of ten thousand swept east through Cambodia and, after conquering first
Champasak and then Sikhotabong, turned north and marched on Vientiane. Here, the two
Siamese forces met before the ramparts of Vientiane and were joined by a battalion from
Luang Prabang bent on revenge. The city fell, and hundreds of prisoners, including the royal
family, were dragged back to Siam and forcibly resettled on the plains north of the Siamese
capital. The two Buddha image palladia of Lane Xang, the Pha Bang - which had been re-
located to Vientiane by Setthathilat II in 1705 - and the Pha Kaew, were hauled off as well
and enshrined in Thonburi (that part of Bangkok west of the Chao Phraya River). By redu-
cing Champasak and Vientiane to vassal states and bringing Luang Prabang into an unequal
alliance, Siam had extended its empire to the Annamite Mountains and forced the Lao world
to adjust to a predominantly Bangkok-centred existence for the next century.
Anou's rebellion
The captured Lao princes returned to Vientiane as vassal kings, beginning with Nanthasen
(1782-92). He brought with him the Pha Bang, which the Siamese king had decided was bad
luck for his kingdom. Nanthasen didn't waste time in rekindling the old conflict with Luang
Prabang, which his forces conquered in 1792. But Siam was wary of allowing any of the Lao
vassal states to improve their position at the expense of another, and so recalled Nanthasen.
He was replaced by Inthavong (1792-1804), the elder brother of the accomplished general
Anou, who served as viceroy and led Lao armies to fight in the name of Siam in battles with
Burma. By the time of Inthavong's death at the turn of the century, Vientiane had begun to
Search WWH ::




Custom Search