Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pay tribute to Vietnam and, when
Anou
(1804-28) was chosen to ascend to the throne, he
immediately notified the Vietnamese.
Siam became increasingly alarmed by Vietnam's growing influence, and, worried that Viet-
nam had its eye on Champasak, decided to run the risk of turning Anou into a powerful, and
potentially dangerous, vassal by appointing Yo (1819-27), Anou's son, to the Champasak
throne. Anou, who envisioned restoring Lane Xang to its former glory, made good on
Bangkok's fears. On the pretence of coming to Siam's aid in the event of an attack by the
British, who had by this time established a presence in Burma, Anou's and Yo's troops ad-
vanced across the Khorat Plateau early in 1827, and by late February had come within a few
days' march of Bangkok. However, Anou misjudged the strength of the Siamese, who struck
back fiercely, capturing Yo and sacking Vientiane. Anou fled to Vietnam. When he returned
to Vientiane with a small force several months later, fighting broke out which resulted in An-
ou's capture. Siamese forces destroyed every building in the capital, save for Wat Sisaket,
and dragged the entire population back to Thailand, where they were resettled. Vientiane was
abandoned to the jungle; it was still in ruins when French explorers arrived four decades later.
Anou was the last Lao ruler to attempt to liberate the former territories of Lane Xang.
During the decades that followed Anou's defeat, Siam and Vietnam jockeyed for control
over the fragmented Lao
muang
. By force and diplomacy, Siam depopulated the area east
of the Mekong, particularly in south central Laos, leaving a wasteland of burned villages
and rice fields. Only Luang Prabang managed to stay intact.
Xieng Khuang
represented the
greatest source of conflict in the struggle, effectively operating as a back door for a Siamese
invasion of Vietnam.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Lao territories had become a buffer zone
between the two powers. Siam was dominant in the Mekong Valley; the Vietnamese held
sway in the east; joint control was exercised over what was left of Muang Phuan. This balan-
cing act was soon upset, however, by
marauding Chinese
, remnants of Chinese rebellions,
who swept through the northern Lao territories on horseback in the 1870s and 1880s. Siam,
its position in Laos endangered by the incursions, launched a series of military expeditions.
The last of these campaigns backfired, leading to the sacking of Luang Prabang and eventu-
ally to Siam's loss of Laos to the French.
French conquest
As the nineteenth century wore on, French governments became increasingly imperialistic.
With Britain threatening to dominate trade with China, France saw Vietnam, and by extension
Laos, as a potential route into the resource-rich Yunnan region. By the time the Mekong Ex-
ploration Commission of 1867-68 set off from Saigon for Laos and Yunnan,
Cochinchina
(present-day southern Vietnam) was already a French possession. Interest in Laos, quickly
