There are a few watershed events in Thai history that should be honored and remembered. This is definitely one of them. Yet, at the end of the war, Thailand somehow emerged as a friend of the Allied Powers — not exactly a victor, but not a defeated nation by any means.
The movement involved people from all walks of life — from anti-royalists, to purebred royals, schoolteachers, government officials, family members, to students. It was a coordinated resistance against the multiple oppressions that Thailand faced and continues to face today: the oppression of a nationalist military government, and the imperialist occupier that the military had invited to its doorstep.
Although the Seri Thai movement is well remembered, it is not often remembered correctly. It was a movement driven as much by students as by politicians, young people who put their lives on the line to stand in defiance of a military government. On December 7, , Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. On December 8, the Japanese also attacked Thailand. Despite fierce fighting in Southern Thailand, the battles lasted five hours before ending in a ceasefire. Thailand, under the leadership of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkram, eventually signed a military alliance with Japan, making Thailand part of the Axis alliance.
Thada Savetsila TS1 : An important thing to understand about Seri Thai is that it was founded through common interest: the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the invasion of Thailand by the Japanese. There was some fighting between Thai and Japanese soldiers for many hours.
The Prime Minister finally signed a truce agreement with the Japanese stipulating that Japan would not make Thailand her colony, that Thailand would allow Japanese troops to pass through her territory on their way to Burma and that money to be spent by the Japanese would be in Thai currency but the Japanese later printed Thai bank-notes themselves.
