Rattanakosin Kingdom

The Rattanakosin Kingdom was the Siamese state ruled from Bangkok between 1782 and 1932, the bridge between old Ayutthaya and modern Thailand. After the fall of Thonburi, General Chaophraya Chakri took the throne as Rama I, moved the capital across the river to the island of Rattanakosin, and founded the Chakri dynasty that reigns to this day. The early kings rebuilt Siamese power in the centre of mainland Southeast Asia, fighting Burma and Vietnam for supremacy and gathering Laos, Cambodia and Malay states into their orbit. The second half of the period was a long duel with Britain and France: Siam ceded outer territories, signed unequal treaties, and survived as the only Southeast Asian state never colonised. Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn answered the threat with reforms from above, centralising government, abolishing slavery, building schools, railways and a modern army. But reform from the throne could not keep pace with the new middle class it created, and in 1932 a bloodless revolution forced the king to accept a constitution, ending one hundred and fifty years of absolute rule.