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Thailand THE BANGKOK PERIOD, 1767-1932
As they had in the sixteenth century, the Thai made a rapid
recovery under a brilliant military leader. Taksin (1767-82) had
slipped away from besieged Ayutthaya and, starting with a handful
of followers who quickly grew into an army, organized a
resistance to the Burmese invaders, driving them out after a long
and arduous war. Assuming the royal title, he abandoned the
ruined Ayutthaya and founded a new capital farther south in the
delta at Thon Buri, a fortress town across the river from modern
Bangkok. By 1776 Taksin had reunited the Thai kingdom, which had
fragmented into small states after the fall of the old capital,
and had annexed Chiang Mai. Taksin, who eventually developed
delusions of his own divinity, was deposed and executed by his
ministers, invoking the interests of the state. His manifold
accomplishments, however, won Taksin a secure place among
Thailand's national heroes.
Data as of September 1987
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