The period of World War II was the largest global war, most of which was destroyed by the lives of the invading countries. World War II was provoked by Germany, a country that could not remember its lessons, but Germany did not fight alone, it had many allies. However, only three Axis powers were widely praised during World War II: Germany, Italy and Japan.
But in reality, there were seven countries that joined the Nazi camp: Germany, Italy, Finland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary (Slovakia and Croatia belonged to the puppet regime, Yugoslavia joined only two days, and after the coup was occupied separately. Spain cooperated with the Soviet Union, but it was not a helper, so it was not one of them), and the last country, like Japan, was in East Asia, but many people have now forgotten this history.
This country is Thailand.
Thailand's Imperial Dream
Everything else is easy to understand, but few people know that in addition to Japanese imperialism, Thailand in Asia has also joined this evil camp. The reason is simple: his two younger brothers, Laos and Cambodia, are controlled by the Allied French, while the Luang Phibun government at home advocates ultra-nationalist desire for expansion, hoping to bring india from northeast To Laos, from Shan State to the vicinity of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, into Thailand. This concept coincided with Japan's desire to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", so it hitched a ride on Japan and became part of the Nazi camp.
Although we always mock Italy, saying that Italy in World War II was "Italian", cooking pasta on the battlefield and so on. But in fact, Italy was still very powerful, mainly to ensure the logistics of the German army, and also cut meat from France. However, Thailand is very humiliated, the second-rate colonial army can not be defeated, and even the peace is only settled by the big brother Japan. What he could do was to make way for the Japanese army and support logistics.
Thailand had planned to take advantage of this opportunity to expand its territory and take over the surrounding Thais. Thus, with the help of Japan, Thailand recovered parts of Cambodia and Laos. This move has greatly increased the favorability of Thailand for Japan from the people to the government. During this period, Japan sneaked into Pearl Harbor and opened the Pacific War. Japan's combined fleet, on the other hand, did whatever it wanted in the Pacific, and no one was invincible.
But here's the problem: there's a shortage of oil.
How Thailand is on the road of no return
As the United States turned its face that year, the United States did not give Japan oil, so Japan could only rely on the Southeast Asian Nanyang oil fields and the oil shipped from the Strait of Malacca. As a result, Southeast Asia became very important. So the semi-forced Government of Luang Phibun signed it
Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance between Japan and Thailand
, tying Thailand to itself. Afraid of being troubled by his big brother, Thailand obediently gave way to Japan, so it officially became a vassal state. Because of this treaty, Thailand successfully obtained the territory of Malay Province, which was originally ceded to britain, and further expanded its territory.
Since he was already tied to the chariot, it was better to simply go to war. So Thailand sent troops north to occupy the Eastern Shan State of Burma, and even once hit the China-Myanmar border, bordering China, and even wanted to continue to attack Yunnan, but was heroically repelled by China's border guards, and finally withdrew. However, Thailand thus gained a large territory, although Japan was not satisfied, but after all, it was an important ally of Southeast Asia, so it turned a blind eye and tacitly acquiesced to the Shan state to thailand.
But all of this came at a cost, a huge economic burden and the high military costs that needed to be paid to the Japanese army. During this period, the Thai baht is directly pegged to the yen,
In 1942-1945 alone, a total of 1.5 billion baht was paid for the military.
As a result, the government overprinted a large number of banknotes, and the people's lives were miserable.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and although territory is gained, the lives of the common people are more bitter. As a result, resistance in Thailand rose, and some military and government leaders conspired to break away from the Thai-Japanese alliance. This was 1943, a crucial time for Japan and the United States in the Pacific. At this time, if Thailand has any mistakes and oil cannot be guaranteed, then Japan will undoubtedly lose.
As a result, Hideki Tojo, who had become the prime minister of Japan at the time, personally visited Thailand and gave Thailand most of the territory that the British Empire had plundered. Thailand, which had four Malays and Myanmar's Shan State, had temporarily settled down. However, after experiencing the Pacific War, Japan has declined, and Thailand naturally does not want to suffer losses. So he openly alienated Japan, made contact with the Allies behind his back, and even encouraged the anti-Japanese armed forces in his own country.
On the day of Japan's surrender, Thailand immediately declared that the junta that had declared war on the Allies was bent on going its own way, had nothing to do with the will of the people, and was invalid. He gave up most of the land he had acquired and abrogated the treaty with Japan.
At this time, the United States just wanted to control all the golden waterways in the world, and the Strait of Malacca was naturally one of them. So the United States acted as a pusher, and other allies also recognized Thailand's "wall grass" style. Even the United States later helped Thailand return to the international community, form a strategic partnership, and become a "victorious power." He also demanded 15 billion yen in war reparations from his older brother, Japan.
If any of the Nazi members worked the hardest, Japan was certainly the first with the exception of Germany. But the most hard-working, the most able to see the wind to make the rudder is also in Asia, Thailand in the historical changes, each time rely on a keen sense of smell and the ability to see the wind to make the rudder, in the struggle to be alone, to find their own way of survival. Although this approach is not glorious, Thailand, as a small country, can only use this method to ensure its own development.