Phibul Songkram, Luang (1897-1964)

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

Via Wikipedia Commons

Phibul Songkram (also rendered Pibulsonggram or Phibunsongkhram) was the virtual dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1957. A militarist who dominated the Thai Army, particularly the mechanized sections, he admired the Axis and saw the dispute over the Sudetenland in Europe as a model for his own irredentist ambitions towards ethnically Thai regions of French Indochina and Burma that had been taken from Thailand in the 19th century. He also compared the despised Chinese minority in Thailand, who dominated the internal mercantile sector, to the Jews of Germany.

However, Phibul could not bring himself to trust the Japanese, whose diplomacy towards Thailand could only be described as clumsy and overbearing. His vacillation between the Axis and Allies led the British Ambassador in Thailand, Sir Josiah Crosby, to call him "the human weather vane." Thais described his foreign policy as "watchful waiting," and he was widely thought to have done what he felt was necessary for the Thai people.

Phibul ultimately felt compelled to throw his lot with the Japanese in reponse to an ultimatum received the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. His government declared war on the Allies on 25 January 1942. Following the Japanese surrender, Phibul was briefly imprisoned for war crimes (primarily collaboration with the Japanese) but was released under intense public pressure.

Service record

References

Aldrich (1993)

Generals.dk (accessed 2008-6-21)

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