[quote name='AlKing' post='2279942' date='2008-10-17 16:01:44'][quote name='LongThaimer' post='2279877' date='2008-10-17 16:44:02'][quote name='CuriousGeorge77' post='2279730' date='2008-10-17 14:37:22'][quote name='LongThaimer' post='2279439' date='2008-10-17 12:26:38'][quote name='Payboy' post='2279379' date='2008-10-17 12:58:46'][quote name='LongThaimer' post='2279191' date='2008-10-17 10:12:29']seen many people on internet showing off photos of polished rtac's F16s in their hangers..........[/quote]
when it comes to war the siamese are the french of asia....
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spot on....
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That's a tough sell... Thailand was the only country in Asia never to be colonized, save Japan. n They haven't won everything, but they've some pretty impressive wins, too. Rama 5 had gotten the Thai empire pretty powerful, expanding the borders on al sides, even controlling parts of China. The Thais were also the only country in SE Asia to attack anyone outside of SE Asia (Sri Lanka) ... Although technically speaking they weren't Thai quite yet ... the Country currently known as Nakhon Sri Thammarat attacked Sri Lanka, but were shown the door when many of the Tamils they hired turned on them on the battlefield, so weakening the country that it accepted membership into Siam.
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was not colonized not because it had a mighty army to thwart the western powers but it was mainly due due to the fact that siam had became very war weary after many centuries of wars with her neighbours and particularly after getting painful punishings by the burmese which to this day is fed into school children like their version of the jews holocaust.......
anyhow subsequent rulers realized that wars were to be avoided at almost any cost..........check out how much concessions they had to make to the brits and the french to save itself from being colonized...............
as for the japanese.......instead of standing up to the agressors...........they let the japs cross it's territory to attack allies forces and it's neighbours.............they even decleared war on the americans and the brits .............
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Couldn't agree more. Historically Siam is usually the weaker country, especially relative to Burma. Cannot remember how many time the Burmese has invaded Siam, rob their subject, burned the cities kill the men and bring home Siamese cute girls. There are only a handful account whereby The Siamese managed to defense for themselves. Not even sure if they have even tried to invade Burma before.
I know that many Siamese will be angry at me. But that's a fact.
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Just to clarify the point, Thailand invaded Burma several times most notably under King Naresuan who actually took the Thai Army right up to Hongsawadi ( the capital ) with a view to sacking it only to find it had been burnt down by the Arakanese. He then took the Thai army deeper into Burma and invested Toungoo where the king of Hongsawadhi was being held by the viceroy of Toungoo. The Thais laid seige to the city but were unable to capture it. The Thais also attacked Burma on other occasions with a view to securing the Indian ocean seaports of Mergui, Tennasarim and Tavoy for their valuable trade.
In all, the Thais and Burmese fought with each other 44 times. I can thoroughly recommend Prince Damrong Rajanubhabs book, Our Wars With The Burmese (
Thai Rop Phama ) for a full account of the first 24. This book is the standard Thai version of events taught to Thai students but draws heavily from Burmese records as well as early European accounts.