King Vajiravudh and the Making his Military Image1

Mr. Thep Boontanondha

Department of History
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

BEGINNING OF HOPE BUT ENDING OF DEJECTION

On 23rd October 1910, Crown Prince Vajiravudh2 ascended the throne and became King
Vajiravudh (King Rama VI). He was the first king of Siam who studied aboard. Because of his
international education background, this reign was full of new hope for the future of Siam. In 1897,
he studied in the short course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). After that he
studied at Christ Church, University of Oxford. Looking back to his education background, everyone
must expect that his knowledge could develop Siam to be more civilized than the reign of his father
that preluded modernization for Siam. At least some scholars expected King Vajiravudh who used
half of the time of his whole life in the democracy nation like Britain would bestow on the
constitution to his subjects. Unfortunately, in fact, the true story was painful and far from the fairy
tale which we understood.

When we looked back to his education background, the first time when Prince Vajiravudh
went to Britain in 1893, and his father expected him to study at the Britannia Royal Naval College
(BRNC)3 but the death of the first crown prince of Siam, Prince Maha Vajirunhis,4 in 1895 caused
changes to certain aspects. Starting from his new position, Prince Vajiravudh became the Crown
Prince. This position affected his curriculum planning, he had to change his curriculum to study army
at Sandhurst by the suggestion of Lieutenant Colonel C.V. Hume, but in fact King Chulalongkorn
granted a permission to Crown Prince Vajiravudh to study at the Sandhurst because he needed to
balance powers between Russia and Germany since Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh5 and Prince

1 th
The paper was presented in the 8 Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies.
2 st
Phra Poramentharamaha Vajiravudh Phra Mongkut Klao Chao Yu Hua (King Vajiravudh) was born in 1 January
1881. He was a son of King Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha Phongsri. He is the second Crown Prince of Siam, and he
ascended the throne in 1910 and he has passed away in 1925 in the age 45 years old.
3
Vajiravudh, King, Pharatchadamrat nai phrabatsomdet phramongkutjlaojaoyuhua (King, Speech of King
Vajiravudh), Phra Nakorn: Ratchabundhitthayasathan, 1929, p.8.
4 th
Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis was born in 27 June 1878. He was a first son of King Chulalongkron and Queen
Savang Vadhana. In 1886 when Prince Maha Vajirunhis was 8 years old King Chulalongkorn appointed him to be a first
crown prince of Siam. The same idea with his father, King Mongkut, King Chulalongkorn didnt send him to studies aboard
likes another son but he expected to Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis will learned to administrate the nation from him, but
th
unfortunately Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis died unexpectedly of typhoid at age 16 years old in 4 January 1895, after
passed away of the first crown prince King Chulalongkorn appointed Prince Vajiravudh is to become a crown prince and in
1910 he ascended the throne.
5 rd
Prince Charabongse Bhuvanadh (Prince of Phitsanurok) was born in 3 March 1883. He was the son of King
Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha Phogsri. He was sent to Russian Empire, where he studied at a Page Corps. He
returned to Siam with a Russian wife, Catherine Na Phitsanulok (Ekaterina Desnitskaya) and an honorary commission in a
Hussar regiment. Prince Chakrabongse served as Chief of Staff of the Army and commander of the Royal Guard until his
th
death at the age of 37 in 13 June 1920.
Paribatra Sukhumbhand,6 the younger brothers of Crown Prince Vajiravudh already studied the army
curricula at the Page Corps, Russia Empire and the Gro-Lichterfelde, German Empire. From this
situation, King Chulalongkorn did not concern about the military knowledge of the Crown Prince.7
His military curriculum that he studied only gave him a basic military knowledge. It did not train him
to become a professional military like his brothers who studied soldiery. This was because
King Chulalongkorn had the attitude that the future king would not need to be a professional
military but the future king should rather have a solid knowledge in public administration.8 However,
Crown Prince Vajiravudh gave his precedence in military knowledge and tried to present himself to
be a professional soldier. He said that a man who did not study in the military was not his partisan.9

After Crown Prince Vajiravudh finished his short course in the military academy,
Mr. Frederick Verney, Siamese diplomacy adviser, suggested Phaya Wisuttisuriyasuk
(M.R. Pia Malakun),10 Crown Prince curator, to send Crown Prince Vajiravudh to study the special
curriculum, which was for the British Royal family, at Christ Church, University of Oxford.11 The idea
of Mr.Verney did not only focus on the knowledge of the Crown Prince but also focused on the
interest of Siam diplomatic. Because University of Oxford was full of students who were sons of the
British upper class families, politicians, and diplomats, so that the Crown Prince could keep in touch
and relate with them for Siam common interest in the future.12

Similar to other King Chulalongkorns sons who studied soldiery, all of them after graduated
from the military academy, they continued their studies at the Staff College; the school for higher
commanders and staff courses. Crown Prince Vajiravudh also expected to study at the Staff College,
but King Chulalongkorn denied his request and ordered him to come back to Siam. Accordingly, in
1902 Crown Prince Vajiravudh returned to Siam.

The problem in his reign nucleated after he came back to Siam. First of all he did not have
good relationship with his relatives especially with his uncle, Prince Damrong Rajanubhab,13 who was
the minister of interior, because he always thought that his relative did not like him and tried to

6 th
Prince Paribatra Sukhumbhand (Prince of Nakorn Sawan) was born in 29 June 1881. He was a son of King
Chulalongkorn and Queen Sukhumala Marasri. He studied at Gro-Lichterfelde, German Empire. Prince Chakrabongse
served as various positions in the army, navy, and civil service, he served as a Chief of Staff of the Army, Commander of the
Navy, Naval Minister, Army Minister, Defense Minister, Interior Minister, and as a Privy Counselor to both King Vajiravudh
th
and King Prajadhipok. He has passed away 18 January 1944 at Bandung, Indonesia, where he was exiled after the Siamese
revolution of 1932.
7
Ratana Tanadbanchee Tungasvadi, King Vajiravudh's Moral Concepts for Citizenship, (Doctor of Philosophy,
University of Pennsylvania, 2004), p.9.
8
Sujira Siripai, Phrabatsomdet phramongkutjlaojaoyuhua kub songkramlok krungthi nueng (King Vajiravudh and
the World War I), Bangkok, Kana krummakarn mulanidhi phrabatsomdet phramongkutjlaojaoyuhua, 1985, p.8.
9
Chulalongkorn, King, Phraratchahutthaleka lae nungsue krabbangkomtul kong chaopraya
prasadethsurentharathibodhi taeyoung mee bundasuk pen pra montripotjanakit lae praya wisutsuriyasuk rho.so.113 118
(Royal Letters and the Letters of Chaopraya Prasadethsurentharathibodhi), Pha Nakorn, 1961, p.222.
10
In 1913 he was promoted by King Vajiravudh to become the Chaophaya Phasadethsurentharathibodhi.
11
Vorachat Meechubot, Phrabatsomdet phraramathibodhi srisindhara mahavajiravudh phramonkutklao
pandinsiam (King Vajiravudhm, the King of Siam), Bangkok: Sangsunbooks, 2009, p.202.
12 th
NA., R5 T.49/8 Phraya Wisutsuriyasuks letter to King Chulalongkorn (7 October 1899)
13 st
Prince Damrong Rajanubhab was born 21 June 1862, a son of King Mongkut and younger brother of King
Chulalongkorn. In the reign of King Chulalongkorn he was a commander of the Royal Guards Regiment in 1881, deputy
commander-in-chief of the army in 1887 and in the same time he was a ministry of education, and minister of interior
1894. The relationship with King Vajiravudh was less smooth, so he resigned from his post at the ministry. After King
Vajiravudh passed away his successor King Prajadhipok he was promoted to be President of the Royal Institute of Thailand.
After the coup d'tat of 1932 which ended the absolute monarchy in Thailand, he was exiled to Penang. In 1942 he was
st
allowed to return to Bangkok. Prince Damrong Rajanubhab passed away on 1 December 1943 at age 81 years old.
defame him to be distrusted by his father. Moreover, he thought that some of his relatives did good
to him because they tried to gain interest from him after he ascended the throne.14 Since the
conflicts happened, he was alone in the royal court so the Crown Prince tried to solve the problem
by creating his partisans from the courtiers. These courtiers would step up and had the important
role in his reign civil service to support his public administration.15
For the military duties, King Chulalongkorn assumed him to be a commander of the royal
guard and inspector general.16 Both positions did not grant him an essential role in the army; even
though, the commander of the royal guard was really important because his duty was a commander
of the guardian of the king. This unit always got the newest equipments and got higher salary than
other units in the army. However, all of the royal guard officers graduated from the military
academy. They were the professional militaries but their commander was not. Therefore, the feeling
of unaccepted by soldiers has showed inside the Crown Prince. He did not like to go to the base. He
always stayed at his palace with his courtier, so there was no wonder why the Crown Prince had a
word about his military duty in the royal guard was just only a duty in the paper, which was not
really a significant role.17 This was hence a starting point of the problems between him and the
soldiers, and the lack of his military power.

MAKING THE MILITARY IMAGE

On 23rd October 1910, King Chulalongkorn passed away and the reign of King Vajiravudh
began. At the same time, the Sue pa or Wild Tiger Corps18 was established on 1st May 1911. The
original purpose of the Wild Tiger Corps was to bring the Thai nation together via the spirit of the
Wild Tiger Crops,19 and another purpose for the Wild Tiger Crops was to support the army when the
nation reaches the war status, when the solider must to go to the frontline. In this case, Wild Tiger
Corps would be a guardian of the nation. He said that the establishment of the Wild Tiger Corps was
the same idea of the creation of the Territorial Army in Britain.20 However, the entire members of
Wild Tiger Corps were King Vajiravudhs partisans or courtiers and it did not run like what he had
told. Wild Tiger Corps instead became a military power base of King Vajiravudh to balance the
military power of his younger brother who served in the army.

Because the Wild Tiger Corps was in flavor of King Vajiravudh, a lot of civil servants enrolled
to be the Wild Tiger. Not more than four months after the Wild Tiger Corps was established, the
number of the Wild Tiger was over 1,000 men and King Vajiravudh was really delighted. In his diary,
he wrote the article called Plurm jai duey sue pa lae louk sue (The Ecstasy in the Wild Tiger Corps
and Boy Scout) to describe his ecstasy.

14
Ram Vajiravudh, Prawad ton radchakarn tee hok (King Vajiravudhs Biography), Bangkok: Matichon, 2009, p.12.
15
Sirirat Phumkird, Asvabahu and the use of literature for the dissemination of political thought and
ideology, M.A. thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1995, p.43.
16
Ministry of Defense Announcement: To appoint Crown Prince to be a general inspector and lieutenant colonel
th
in department of Royal Guard, The Government Gazette 20, section 6 (10 May 1903): 82.
17 th
NA. R6 T.15/41 King Vajiravudhs Letters to Prince Charoon (7 October 1914)
18
The Wild Tiger Corps was established together with Boy Scout, but the Wild Tiger Corps was abolished after
King Vajiravudh passed away in 1925, but the Boy Scout still active until present to train the student in primary school and
secondary school.
19
Vella, Walter F., Chaiyo ! King Vajiravudh and the Development of Thai Nationalism )Honolulu: The University
Press of Hawaii, ,(1978 p.29.
20
Chula Chakrabongse, Prince, Chao chiwit (The King(, Bangkok: Klung Wittaya, 1974, p.585.
 I am really delighted after I perceive to the popular of the Wild Tiger Corps
and Boy Scout. I feel my name was written in the historical record of the nation. If
the Wild Tiger Corps still endures my name, it is still enduring too. The success in the
establishment of the Wide Tiger Corps has made my ecstasy more than everything
else that I have done because I feel, I am a guide to bring all Thai people to acquaint
to the nation and to know about the benefits of harmony
I accept that if anyone blames me on how I love the Wild Tiger Corps
more than my wife and my child. This is because if I have the wife, I cannot have a lot
of children like this. Only in 3 4 months, I have over one thousand children and I
feel more strength...21

King Vajiravudhs diary has shown his pleasure on a great number of the Wild Tiger. This was
because the number of Wild Tiger was equal to the number of the men who supported his military
project; however, most of the civil servants who enrolled to be the Wild Tiger wanted and expected
the progress in their career.22 Even though, King Vajiravudh always explained to the public about the
progress in career, it did not depend on the fact that the civil servants became the Wild Tiger.
Everyone could understood that some of the ministers forced the civil servants in their ministry to
joined in the Wild Tiger Corps because they really intimated with King Vajiravudh since he was a
crown prince and they wanted to make a good impression on the King. Furthermore, they were
appointed to be the ministers by King Vajirvudh. Hence, a lot of the civil servants did not join to the
Wild Tiger Corps because they wanted to support King Vajiravudhs military policy, instead it was
because they did not want to have problems in their career, because there was the news about King
Vajiravudh ordered the minister of the palace to give a list of all civil servants in the secretariat
department who had not become the Wild Tiger.23

The Wild Tiger Corps was not the only military organization established by King Vajiravudh,
Krom taharn luxsa wang kong phabathsomdeth phramongkutklaojaoyouhuae24 (Royal Palace
Guard Regiment of King Vajiravudh)25 was also established by him. The Royal Palace Guard adapted
from the Krom Wang Nok (Regiment of Outer Palace Guard) under the ministry of the palace. King
Vajiravudh had the purpose to establish Royal Palace Guard to become his guardian and to replace
the duty of the Taharn Mahardlek Luxsa Praong (Royal Guard), which he could directly control the
unit. This was because in 1912, one year after he ascended the throne, some of the young officers
raised up to overthrow his throne and most of the officers had belonged to the Royal Guard unit.
Accordingly, 3 months after, the rebels were captured by the Royal Palace Guard, which was
established on 2nd May 1912.26 Another one who was directly affected from the revolution was
Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh due to his position, which was a commander of the Royal Guard,
and most of the soldiers who raise up the revolution was one of his student in the military academy
and they highly respected him. Another issue was that the leader of the rebel,

21
Amorndanuruk, Chamuen (Jam Sunthornrawech), Phrarachakoraneeyakit sumkun nai phrabathsomdeth
phramonkutklaochaoyoohuea rueng phrabaromrachobai tang karnmueng (The Important Royal Duty of King Vajiravudh in
Political Policy), Bangkok: Ongkarnka kong kura sapha, 1976, p.12 13.
22
Vella, Walter F., Chaiyo ! King Vajiravudh and the Development of Thai Nationalism, p.36.
23
Ibid, p.36.
24 th
The Name of Royal Palace Guard Regiment, The Government Gazette 30, section 0 K (6 April 1914): 20.
25 th
The Royal Palace Guard was abolished after the revolution in 1932. The new government established the 9
infantry battalion under the department of defense and gave the name of new battalion is the Royal Palace Guard.
26
Announcement to establish Regiment of Outer Palace Guard becomes to Royal Palace Guard, The
th
Government Gazette 28, section K (7 May 1912): 17.
Captain Khuntuayhanpitak (Lheng Srichun) was his personal doctor. All of the above led to a news if
the revolution was to be accomplished by Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh, who was one of the
candidates to take the place of his older brother, King Vajiravudh. This was a reason why everyone
thought that he was an opposition party to his brother,27 Even though the revolution was
unsuccessful and Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh had an important role to suppress the revolution,
King Vajiravudh was deeply suspicious of the Royal Guard and him, so he established the Royal
Palace Guard to replace the Royal Guards duty.
All soldiers in the Royal Palace Guard are King Vajiravudhs royal pages or civil servants in the
ministry of palace, especially all of the important positions were his partisans sine he was the Crown
Prince, for instance, Chaophraya Ramrakob (M.L. Fue Puengboon) was an inspector general of the
Royal Palace Guard, Phraya Nondhisensurenpugdee (Max Siensewee) was a vice inspector
general,28 and Phraya Anuruthtewa (M.L. Fuen Puengboon) was a commander, 29 etc. Hence, they
already accepted and followed King Vajiravudhs command. Therefore, this boosted his authority
and image in the military even though this unit did not have the real military duty like the army.

The Wild Tiger Crops and Royal Palace Guard directly followed the command of King
Vajiravudh, accordingly he tried to create the image that both units were similar to the army and the
navy. For example, the image of the uniform, similar names of the divisions, and raise the
commander of the Royal Guard Palaces position to be equivalent to the Commander in Chief of the
army. The authority to set up the court martial of the Royal Palace Guard was also similar to that of
the Commander in Chief of the army30 and the authority of Royal Palace Guards court martial was
equal to the armys court martial. Hence, King Vajiravudh concluded that both of them had equal
authority.31 This was an example to show how King Vajiravudh made his military image by creating
the image of his units to be equivalent to the army.

The relationship between King Vajiravudh and Prince Chakrabongse was one of the big
issues in his reign. King Vajiravudh always told Prince Chakrabongse and the public that he had the
confidence in Prince Chakrabongses loyalty32 and that they had a good relationship. However, they
always had the conflicts about the military policies, such as when the Wild Tiger Corps was
established, King Vajiravudh ordered to the army to sell the armaments to the Wild Tiger Corps for
the purpose of the military training.33 In contrast, Prince Chakrabongse frankly opposed King
Vajiravudhs order. The reason for the opposition was because at that time, the army did not have
enough armaments, and in the army regulation, they could not sell the armaments to any
organization even the organizations of the government. Hence, King Vajiravudh had to solve this

27
Sirinun Boonsiri, The military and political role of His Royal Highness Prince Chakrabongse, M.A. thesis,
Chulalongkorn University, 1980, p.43.
28
Announcement to appoint the Inspector General and Assistant Inspector General of Royal Palace Guard of
th
King Vajiravudh, The Government Gazette 34, section 0 K (16 December 1917): 496.
29
Announcement to discharge and appoint the Commander of Royal Palace Guard of King Vajiravudh, The
th
Government Gazette 43, section 0 NG (11 April 1927): 93.
30 th
Army Judge Advocate Ratanakosinsok 126, The Government Gazette 25, section 39 (29 December 1908):
82.
31
Announcement: The Commander of Royal Palace Guard has authority equal with Commander in Chief,
th
The Government Gazette 41, section 0 K (4 January 1924): 82.
32 th
NA. R6 B.17/12 King Vajiravudhs Letters to Prince Chakrabongse (5 October 1912)
33
Atcharaphon Kamutphitsamai, Kabot Ro.So.103 (The Rebellion of 1912) Bangkok: Ammarin, 1997, p.129.
problem by using the budget from Privy Purse and the Ministry of the Palace to buy the armaments
for the Wild Tiger Corps.34

The conflict between King Vajiravudh and Prince Chakrabongse occurred again in 1913. This
was when King Vajiravudh went along with the recommendation of Prince Chirapravati,35 who was
the ministry of defense, and Prince Yugala Dighambara,36 who was the Viceroy of the South, to set
up the regiment in the southern part of Siam in order to protect the country from the invasion of
Britain and to control the Chinese.37 However, Prince Chakrabongse disagreed with this idea and had
a letter to King Vajiravudh to explain his reason. He explained about his objection. One of the
reasons was that the regiment in the south could not protect the invasion of Britain and it was not
necessary to invade Siam from the Southern part, but they could use the gun boat policy to force
Siam. He also suggested him to use the police to control the Chinese. He did not only explain his
reasons but also did he sharply reproached to Prince Chirapravati, for example, Even babies could
know the art of war and His idea is frantic about the set up of a new regiment. This was because
the ministry of defense did not have enough budget. 38 Hence, King Vajiraravudh had to avoid the
confrontation with Prince Chakrabongse, so he set up the regiment in the south under the control of
the Royal Palace Guard and used the budget of the ministry of the palace. The regiment was called
the 3rd regiment of the Royal Palace Guard.39

These incidents showed that King Vajiravudh did not have the real military power, he always
concerned about the objections of Prince Chakrabongse, the man who held military power and was
respected by the soldiers. However, we could see his military image which was created from the
military organization that was established by himself. He had the authority to do anything to his
units including ordering the military policies that were opposed or refused by the Prince
Chakrabongse.

The Wild Tiger Corps and Royal Palace Guard were used to illustrate the King Vajiravudh
military image. One thing that we definitely understood was that both units did not have the real
military power, not even close to balance the military power between him and his younger brother
especially Prince Charkrabongse. However, King Vajiravudh still tried to gain the acceptance from
the soldiers. Another way was that he wrote the articles that showed his military knowledge and
persuaded the subject to agree with his military policy.

34
Chamchan Wongwises, The modernization of the royal Thai army along the western lines from 1851-1932,
M.A, thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1976, p.268.
35 th
Prince Chirapravati (Prince of Nakorn Chaisri) was born 7 November 1876. He was a son of King
Chulalongkorn. In 1891 He was a first son of King Chulalongkorn who had graduated from the western military academy at
Denmark. After he came back to Siam in 1897, he was promoted by King Chulalongkorn be a commander in chief in
th
army. He was a first a Field Marshall of Siam. Prince Chirapravati passed away 4 February 1913 at age 37 years old.
36 th
Prince Yugala Dighambara (Prince of Lopburi) was born 17 March 1882. He was a son of King Chulalongkorn.
He had graduated political science and history from Cambridge University. After he came back to Siam, he served as
Viceroy of the South during the reign King Vajiravudh and as the minister of the interior in the government of King
th
Prajadhipok. He passed away from heart disease on 8 April 1932.
37
Chamchan Wongwises, The modernization of the royal Thai army along the western lines from 1851-1932,
M.A, thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1976, p.260.
38 th
NA. R6 W.7/3 The Management and conscription in the Southern (13 January 1913)
39
Vorachat Meechubot, Phrabatsomdet phraramathibodhi srisindhara mahavajiravudh phramonkutklao
pandinsiam (King Vajiravudhm, the King of Siam), Bangkok: Sangsunbooks, 2009, p.109.
TAKE SIAM INTO THE WAR

On 22nd July 1917, King Vajiravudh declared war on Germany and Austria Hungary. He gave
the reason to the public about the declaration of war that it was because Germany and Austria
Hungary broke the international law and world peace. Even though Siam tried to protest against
them many times, they never responsed to the protest. So, he decided to declare war on both of
them to protect the justice and the world peace.40 However, the true reason that he took Siam into
the war was because of the injustice of the Browning Treaty that Siam agreed with Britain in 1855,
and another treaty which Siam had agreed and used the Browning Treaty to be the manuscript. King
Vajiravudh interned to amend these treaties. He expected that if he took Siam into the war with the
victorious side, after the war he would amend all of the unequal treaties.41 However, the most
important reason was because he needed to gain the acceptance from the soldiers and to show that
he was the great king who could conquer the Great War like King Naresuan.42 Hence, King Vajiravudh
chose to take Siam into the war with Entente Powers (Allies) even though Siam did not have an
effect from the war. The reason why King Vajiravudh chose to attend the war with the Entente
Power was because they had the tendency to triumph this war after the United States of American
attended the war with them on 6th April 1917, and 3 months after that Siam launched the First
World War. However, above of all the reasons, it was a personal desire of King Vajiravudh to take
Siam into the war on the same side with Britain.

King Vajiravudh decided to take side with Britain since the beginning of the war because of
his background that he abominated the Germany43 and that he studied in Britain for many years.
Furthermore, he received the report of the war from Prince Charoon, who was the Siam ambassador
of France at that time. He always reported to King Vajiravudh about the advantages of the Entente
Powers over that of the Central Powers.44

Even though Siam proclaimed to be neutral in this war; however, King Vajiravudh s policy
clearly indicated the support on Britain side. For instance, he donated the money to the wife or the
child of the soldiers who served in the Durham Light Infantry Regiment (DLI)45 who died in First
World War.46 His doing was severely criticized by public opinion that it was contradictory with the
national policy and it fawned on the Britain side too much.47 However, King Vajiravudh explained
about his doing that it was a personal policy, not the national policy, and that he consulted with
Prince Devavongse who was the ministry of foreign affairs already and the Prince did not object.48

King Vajiravudh could promote his military image and was accepted by Britain after he
donated the money to the Durham Light Infantry. The British government had confident that King

40
Royal Command: The war between Siam and German and, Austria - Hungary, The Government Gazette 34,
nd
section 0 K (22 July 1917): 334 335.
41
Amorndanuruk, Chamuen, (Jam Sunthornrawech), Hetthi ratchakarnthi hok song prakast songkram lae dusit
thani (The reason why King Rama VI proclaims to the war and Dusti Thani), Phra Nakorn: Ongkorn Kurasapha, 1969, p.16.
42
Ibid, p.87.
43 th
NA. R6 T.15.4/1 King Vajiravudh s letter to Prince Charoon (7 June 1914)
44 th
NA. R6 KT.65/6 Prince Tritosh and Prince Amonratat in Berlin (20 August 1914)
45
After King Vajiravudh studied the military short course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he became a
part of Durham Light Infantry Regiment.
46
Sujira Siripai, Phrabatsomdet phramongkutjlaojaoyuhua kub songkramlok krungthi nueng (King Vajiravudh and
the World War I), p.34.
47 th
NA. R6 T.15.1/1 The Explanation of King Vajiravudh about to keep Neutral in the War (28 May 1917)
48
Ibid
Vajiravudh inclined to take side with Britain in this war. On 24th August 1914, the British government
gave the rank of General in the British Army to him because the British government tried to
persuade him to take Siam into the war with Britain by himself and that it was not because of the
invitation of Britain. Britain did this because the Britain government realized the demand of King
Vajiravudh to amend the injustice treaty that Siam agreed with Britain in the reign of King Mongkut.
49
Nonetheless, King Vajiravudh used the rank that he received from the British government to
promote himself. In this case, not only his military image was accepted by the Great Power but also
he indicated that the honor of Siam was accepted by the Great Power because of him.50 Moreover,
he never told the true reason to the public about why the British government gave the military rank
to him.

The Military Writing

The reign of King Vajiravudh was the glorious age of publication. Numerous newspapers and
magazines of both government and private were debuted to the public. Under the extraterritorial
right, the foreign newspaper and magazine editors were protected. This culminated them to have
free speeches to criticize the government without the punishment. Therefore, newspapers and
magazines speeded widely on a public sphere to politically fight with King Vajiravudhs policy. In this
case, King Vajiravudh also used newspapers to induce people to support and agree with his policy,
together with the counter the animadversion of newspapers.

King Vajiravudh has written about 1,236 stories.51 His writings were in various types; article,
fiction, non fiction, play, novel, and poem. Most of them were used in his political propagandas.
The military writing was one of the topics, and all of them were used by King Vajiravudh to be his
propaganda, especially before and after Siam entered to the World War I. This was when the king
decided to take Siam into the war with the Entente Powers which had Britain, France, and Russia in
1917.52 A part of Thai people including civil servants, and militia disagreed to his decision due to the
wound of the historical past that France and Britain invaded Siam; however, on the other hand, they
supported Germany which was the member of the Center Powers because Germany had never
appeared to threaten Siam. Another reason that most of the Thais preferred the Germans than
French and British was because the Germans tried to study Thai language to communicate with Thai
people, whereas the French and British were too arrogant to pay attention to learn Thai language.53

King Vajiravudh tried to persuade people who disagreed with him via his writings. He always
wrote and translated the articles that criticized the German military activities and negative news for
the Germans, for instance, he wrote the story about Karnjom hang rue Lusitania (The Sinking of
Lusitania) under the pseudonym was Ramjitti, in Samutthasarn Magazine (Marine Message
Magazine)54 volume 8th August 1916; this story was the news of Lusitania ship that was sunk by the

49
Roj Jintamas, The Concept about the nation of Thai leader and the participation in First World War of
Thailand, M.A. thesis, Thammasart University, 1988, p.99.
50
Vajiravudh, King, Pharatchadamrat nai phrabatsomdet phramongkutjlaojaoyuhua (Speech of King Vajiravudh),
Phra Nakorn: Ratchabundhitthayasathan, 1929, p.165.
51
Vajiravudh, King, Khadee rahud (Fictional Detective), Bangkok: Siam, 2012, p.15.
52
Royal Command: The war between Siam and German and, Austria - Hungary, The Government Gazette 34,
nd
section 0 K (22 July 1917): 335 336.
53
Amorndanuruk, Chamuen, (Jam Sunthornrawech), Hetthi ratchakarnthi hok song prakast songkram lae dusit
thani (The reason why King Rama VI proclaims to the war and Dusti Thani), Phra Nakorn: Ongkorn Kurasapha, 1969, p.12.
54
Samutthasarn Magazine first published in 1914, which had the purpose to earn the money to buy the
battleship (HTMS Pra Ruang) to King Vajiravudh. Samutthasarn Magazine has to used to be King Vajiravudhs propaganda
attack of the German submarine.55 In his writing, he described to his readers to show that the
Germans broke the international law to assault the noncombatant ships and kill the civilians. His aim
in this article was to show the immoral of the German soldiers. At the same time, King Vajiravudh
wrote the article which supported and indicated the positive news of the Entente Powers, for
example, the article about Hedkarn yut thang thale (Kwamhen Poochumnankarn kong Fred T.
Jane) (Naval Operations (The Adepts Opinion of Fred T. Jane)). This article described the advantages
of the British Navy above the Imperial of German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in the naval operation at
the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and Dardanelles straits. The article was translated by King Vajiravudh
under his pseudonym called Pun hlam from Water and Land Magazine, April 24th, 1916, and it was
published in Samutthasarn Magazine, volume 7th, July, 1916.56

In the First World War, a new military technology was shown to the sight of human, for
example, poison gas, flamethrower, dreadnought, but one thing was attached to all people including
Thai people was the German submarine or the U boat.57 Because of the astonishment of the
German submarine to disappear themselves from the enemy, like they are immaterial, the Thai
newspaper editor always wrote to the beautifully victorious of German submarine as if it was
unbeatable. As a result, King Varjiravudh criticized the editors who wrote about the positive of the
German submarine. He insinuated the editors about the comparison of the submarine with the
magical weapon of Ahiravan,58 one of the demon character in the Ramayana.59 The essay that was
written by the editor induced Thai people to be pleased with the Germans. Then, King Vajiravudh
wrote the military essays to counter the admiration of the German submarine.

To counter with the editors who wrote the essays on the admiration of the German
submarine, King Vajiravudh wrote Prayod hang ruetainam (The Benefit of Submarine) in
Samutthasarn Magazine, volume 6, June 1916,60 which he translated from Submarine and Torpedo
Operations which was written by Fred T. Jane in Land and Water Magazine, April 3, 1915.61 In the
article, King Vajiravudh tried to describe the disadvantages of German submarine. The first thing he
indicated about the waste of the German submarine. In this case, because most Thai people
believed that any ship could not discover and sink German submarine; therefore, in his writing, he
showed that the German submarines were sunk by the British warships.62 Furthermore, he tried to
convince the readers to understand that the German submarine operations failed to block the British
logistics. Only 19 from 5,970 of the British cargo ships were sunk by the assault of German
submarines. On the other hand, German navy lost their 6 ships of the submarine from the blockade
operation, and the cost of the submarine operation was extremely expensive for the torpedo, oil,

in the First World War to support the Entente Power. The last volume of Samutthasarn was published in 1920, after Siam
brought the battleship from the Britain.
55
Ramjitti, Karn jom hang rue Lusitania (The Sinking of Lusitania), Samutthasarn 8 (The Marine Magazine 8),
(August 1915): p. 37.
56
Pun hlam, Hedkarn Yut thang thale (Kwamhen Poochumnankarn kong Fred T. Jane) (Naval Operations (The
Adepts Opinion of Fred T. Jane)), Samutthasarn 7 (The Marine Magazine 7), (July 1916): p. 51 64.
57
U Boat refers to the German military submarines in World War I and World War II. U Boat is stand for
Unterseeboot or undersea boat in English.
58
Ahiravan (Mahiravan) is character in Ramayana story, he is younger brother of Ravana, he can uses his weapon
to disappear himself from the enemy, so the reason why King Vajiravudh was comparing his weapon with the submarine.
59
Vajiravudh, King, Prayhod hang ruetainam (Benefit of Submarine), Samutthasarn 6 (The Marine Magazine 6),
(June 1916): p. 1.
60
Ibid. p.1.
61
Jane, Fred T., Submarine and Torpedo Operations, Land and Water Magazine 65. (April 3, 1915): p.12.
62
Vajiravudh, King, Prayhod hang ruetainam (Benefit of Submarine), Samutthasarn 6 (The Marine Magazine 6),
(June 1916): p. 10.
maintenance costs, especially in the case which the submarine was sunk, the average cost of one
submarine was about 60,000 100,000 Pounds Sterling and for the large sized was about 170,000
Pounds Sterling. For all of the blockade operations, the Germans had to spend around 1,500,000 -
2,000,000 Pounds Sterling without any benefit for this strategy.63

From this article, King Vajiravudh had a conclusion to convince the readers to see the
disadvantages of the German submarine, and he led them to agree with him to support the Britain in
the First World War. Meanwhile, he tried to discredit the editors who wrote in favor of the Germans,
so King Vajiravudh translated the article that supported his military policy. Instead of writing the
article by himself, because he always concerned about his education background which he didnt
graduated from the military academy like his brother, so it was possible when the soldiers or
newspaper editors read his writings and had a question on how truthful of his writings. He solved
this problem by translating the essays from the famous military magazines or the famous writers, for
instance, Land and Water Magazine that had Hilaire Belloc as an editor64 and most of military
essays were written by Arthur Pollen and Fred T. Jane, both of them were well known and adept in
military writings. King Vajiravudh proclaimed that everyone who read the essays knew that his
essays were translated from the famous writers.65 So that, by this way his military writings could gain
more reliability.

From this situation is clearly aspect that King Vajiravudh takes side with the Britain but he
couldnt took Siam into the war since the war has began, he has to waited and persuaded people to
agree with him until he had the enough reason to proclaim the war.

King Vajiravudh also uses the same analogy on his military knowledge writings. He had
various military writings which showed his military knowledge, such as Roe toe loe non sea
(Nonsea Submarine), through a dialogue of a play. In 1917, he wrote the story which based from the
French novel that was written by Arthur Moran and Yves Prieur under his pseudonym called Sri
Ayutthaya.66 This story told about the accident inside the Nonsea Submarine that could not rise to
the surface. King Vajiravudh used this story to show his military knowledge on the submarine. He
tried to describe the operation systems and specific equipments inside the submarine, such as the
periscope, ballast tank and sonar.

The Nonsea is moving under the water and uses the periscope to be a
guide line, the sound of paddle, and wave from the sonar. The commander is sitting
down in front of the table, under the periscope, and watching his crew perform their
duties; CPO2 Ging stained at front engine, PO3 Oon stained at rear engine, PO1 Ko
stained at ballast tank, and PO1 Pun stained at rudder67

63
Vajiravudh, King, Prayhod hang ruetainam (Benefit of Submarine), Samutthasarn 6 (The Marine Magazine 6),
(June 1916): p. 11 - 12.
64
Mandell, C. Creighton; Shanks, Edward, Hilaire Belloc: the man and his work (London: Methuen, 1916), p. 51.
65
Vajiravudh, King, Prayhod hang ruetainam (Benefit of Submarine), Samutthasarn 6 (The Marine Magazine 6),
(June 1916): p. 1.
66
Vajiravudh, King, Bod lakorn pood ruen roe. toe. loe. Nonsea lae mahathama (The Dialogue play of Roe Toe
Loe Nonsea and Mahathama), Bangkok: Ongkorn Kurasapha, 1969, p.1.
67
Ibid,, p.3.
 Furthermore, King Vajiravudh used the Nonsea Submarine to create the image of good
soldiers. The characters in the story were brave, patriotic, and loyal to the king.

If we die, it is not the useless death. We sacrifice our lives to our king,
who is the leader of the nation. We are Thai, the nation of warriors and soldiers of
the king...68

The Nonsea Submarine story was used by King Vajiravudh to show his military knowledge.
Especially, the knowledge on the submarine, the reason why he chose the submarine story was
because at that time the submarine was new for Thai people so it was interesting. The newspaper
editors always wrote the news of submarines operations in the World War; however, no one could
give an academic knowledge about the submarine. In Siam, only a few soldiers had knowledge on
the submarine. Prince Mahidol Adulyadej who graduated from the Mrwik Imperial German Naval
Academy was one of a few who knew best about the submarine. He wrote a report about the
submarine in 1916 Buntug raingan kwamhen rueng rue soe (the Suggestion Report of
Submarine).69 The report of Prince Mahidol was useful and gave some details about the submarine,
but it was acknowledged only inside the ministry of navy; therefore, the Nonsea submarine
became the first writing that gave the military knowledge on the submarine to the public. From the
Nonsea Submarine, King Vajiravudh could indicate himself to the public that he was a professional
soldier who had knowledge and paid attention to the military, not different from his brothers who
graduated from the military academy.

Nonsea Submarine was not only to show the military knowledge of King Vajiravudh but
also to be used for King Vajiravudhs rhetoric in making the image of good soldiers. One thing that he
emphasized to soliders was to be loyal to him, which was the effect from the revolution in 1912.
After the revolution, he always concerned about the loyalty of the soliders. His writing about the
soldiers, such as Huejai nukrob (The Hearth of Warrior), Chuey Umnart (Coup dtat), Tun long
(Second in Command), and Siesala (The Sacrifice), etc.. These stories always mentioned the
importance of the king who was the leader of the nation and emphasized the loyalty of the soldiers
to the king.

UNTIL THE LAST DAY

During his reign, King Vajiravudh always concerned about his military image. So, his military
policy colligated to making his military image. The Wild Tiger Corps and Royal Palace Guard were
established to be his personal army to balance the power of his younger brothers who were the
commanders in the army and the navy. Moreover, these corps were used to create his military
image especially the image of the leadership.

The writing was one thing that King Vajiravudh used to illustrate his military image. His
writing has two objectives. First, he used his writings to be the propaganda, especially in the First

68
Vajiravudh, King, Bod lakorn pood ruen roe. toe. loe. Nonsea lae mahathama (The Dialogue play of Roe Toe
Loe Nonsea and Mahatham, p.64 65.
69
Siripong Boonsiri, Ruedumnam hang racha navee (Submarine of Royal Thai Navy), Bangkok: Odientstore, 2004,
p.36.
World War he wrote a lot of writings to persuade his subjects to agree with his military policy and to
accept to join the war with Britain and France. Furthermore, he wrote the essays to counter the
newspaper editors who inclined to support the Germans.

Second, he used his writing to show his military knowledge. He tried to indicate that his
military knowledge was not any less than his younger brothers, Prince Chakrabongse70 and Prince
Purachatra Jayakara,71 who graduated from military academy and wrote the military writings.
However, King Vajiravudh became aware of his education background that he did not graduate from
the military academy, so he used the references to create more reliability on his writings. He always
used the works of famous magazines and authors. These could raise the reliability on his writings
and showed the readers that was supported by those famous authors.

King Vajiravudh did not only use his writings to show his military knowledge but also he used
the military writings to make the image of the good soldiers. In his writing, he always emphasized
the qualities of Thai soliders as brave, honest, patriotic, and especially loyal to the king. This was
because of the effect from the revolution in 1912. It made him feel unsecured from the soldiers until
the end of his life.

The illustration of his military image was still palpable until the last day of his funeral
ceremony on 24th March 1925. When the funeral procession arrived at the royal cremation ground,
King Vajiravudhs urn was dislocated from the chariot procession to the towed artillery. After that,
his urn was encircled into the royal pyre.72 It was the first time of the king funeral ceremony in Siam
that used the towed artillery to carry the kings urn in the royal funeral procession, whereas, in the
past they used the royal chariot in the last voyage to the royal pyre.

The reason to use the towed artillery in King Vajiravudhs funeral ceremony was that he had
an order in his testament that was written on 10th May 1920, in the article 11th of his testament.
Until the last day of his life, King Vajiravudh always concerned about his military image, he wanted
his subjects to remember him in the image of the solider.

The chariot procession was used in the funeral procession from the
Royal Grand Palace to Wat Phra Chettuphon to carry my urn, after that the towed
artillery was used from Wat Phra Chettuphon to the royal cremation ground,
because Im a soldier and I want to walk like a soldier in my final voyage.73

CONCLUSION

70
Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanadh had two military essays, first was Pongsawadarn yuttha silapa pen nhungsue
sadang witee jud kongtub bok lae witee chai kongtub tumsuek nai samai tang tang lae kong chat tang tang (History of
War: The Book of administrate the Army and the warfare in the Various Period and Various Nation) was written in 1916 and
the second one was Hue koh yutthawitee tuepai (General Startegy) was written in 1916.
71 rd
Prince Purachatra Jayakara (Prince of Kamphangphet) was born on 23 January 1881. He was the 35th son of
King Chulalongkorn. In 1894, he attended Harrow School, after that he attended School of Engineering at Trinity
Cambridge, University of Cambridge, and engineering at Chatham. After graduating, he went back to work in Siam. He
became the officer of the Institution of Civil engineer. He had a military writing about Tumla wicha taharn chuang (The
th
Textbook of army engineer). He passed away at Singapore on 14 September 1936.
72
The Royal Funeral Ceremony at the royal cremation ground of King Vajiravudh, March 1925, The Government
th
Gazette 43, section NG (18 April 1925): 221.
73 th
NA. R6 B.1.6/25 King Vajiravudh s funeral ceremony (10 May 1920)
 Since King Vajiravudh ascended the throne in 1910, several military projects were
established. For example, the Wild Tiger Corps, the Royal Palace Guard Regiment, and his military
essays. All of these were used to make his military image and to balance the military power with his
younger brothers. However, in fact, all of his military projects were not successful. In the aspect of
the soldiers, they had the attitude that King Vajiravudhs military project was the amusement,
especially the Wild Tiger Corps.74 Furthermore, his military project did not earn him the support of
the military, instead, it made him to be the rival of the soldiers because his military project did not
support the army unlike what he told the public. This made the troubles to the army.

Although some people criticized the Wild Tiger Corps and the Royal Palace Guard Regiment
that they were not the real military force and they did not have any benefit to the army, in the aspect
of King Vajiravudh, he felt more secured. These projects helped to illustrate his military image
because the Wild Tiger Corps and the Royal Palace Guard Regiment fulfilled his demand. In these
cases, he had the personal soldiers that he had the absolute authority to command these soldiers
even if they were not in the real military.75 At least, he could feel that he had the supporters.

In the First World War, King Vajiravudh tried to persuade the people to agree with him to
take Siam into the war with Britain due to his expectation that if Siam took side with the victorious
group, he could amend the injustice treaties. More importantly, the reason was that if Siam
triumphed in this war, King Vajiravudh could show his military image that he was a great warrior like
King Naresuan who leaded Siam to conquer in the Great War. However, even if Siam conquered in
this war, he was not realized as the image of the great warrior.

The relationship between King Vajiravudh and Prince Chakrabongse always had the conflicts.
Even when Prince Chakrabongse passed away in Singapore in 1920, King Vajiravudh still felt the
insecured and distrusted on the soldiers who were under the command of Prince Chakrabongse.
Therefore, Chaopraya Ramrakob who was the King Vajiravudhs favorite was appointed to be the
commander of the Royal Guard Regiment to replace the Prince Chakrabongses position.76 Even
though he did not graduate from the military academy and was not a professional military, these
issues were not concerned by King Vajiravudh. He promoted Chaopraya Ramrakob because he
needed someone that he could deeply trust to control the regiment that he never had trusted.

In the end, the attempts of King Vajiravudh to make his military image to gain the acceptance
failed. Everyone remembered him in the image of novelist, no one remembered him in the image of
the soldier. His military project was only the amusement in the eyes of other people. The national
budget was uselessly used by King Vajiravudh to support his military projects and it was the
beginning of the financial crisis of Siam in the reign of King Prajadipok. Finally, his reign was
memorized to be the scapegoat of the end of the absolute monarchy.

74
Atcharaphon Kamutphitsamai, Kabot Ro.So.103 (The Rebellion of 1912). Bangkok: Ammarin, 1997, p.150.
75
Amorndanuruk, Chamuen (Jam Sunthornrawech), Phrarachakoraneeyakit sumkun nai phrabathsomdeth
phramonkutklaochaoyouhuea rueng phrabaromrachobai tang karnmueng (The Important Royal Duty of King Vajiravudh in
Political Policy), p.12 13.
76
Anusorn nai ngan prarachathan pleung sop poleak polruerak kongruehyai chaopraya ramrakob (momlueng fue
puengbun) (The Funeral Remembrance of Chaopraya Ramrakob). Bangkok: Pra jun, 1967, p.11.
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