Late Ayutthaya to Thonburi: 94 years that changed Siam

The country King Taksin was born into

King Taksin was born in 1734, early in the reign of King Borommakot. By then Ayutthaya had seen no major war for several decades. Trade with China was flourishing, and junks and foreign communities lay all around the city. Buddhism was strong enough for Ceylon to send an embassy asking for monks to revive its ordination line, and the court restored several great temples, such as Wat Phu Khao Thong.

Inside the court, however, there was a conflict over the succession in almost every reign, and nobles and princes split into parties. The system of conscripting manpower was weakening too, because people escaped their obligations by placing themselves under princes and nobles. Many historians think these two things made it hard for Ayutthaya to meet a major war once Burma had grown strong again.

A changed Burma

In Burma, King Alaungpaya's Konbaung dynasty rose in the 1750s and quickly united the country. In 1760 Alaungpaya led an army to besiege Ayutthaya, but had to withdraw because he was wounded. A few years later his son, King Hsinbyushin, sent two armies once more. One came down from the north through Lanna and the northern towns; the other came in by way of Tavoy and Tenasserim. They met at Ayutthaya early in 1766.

This time the Burmese commanders did not withdraw in the flood season. They built permanent camps, grew rice around the city and slowly tightened the ring. The siege lasted about 14 months, until the city wall was breached at Maha Chai Fortress on the night of 7 April 1767.

After the fall: the factions and Phraya Tak

The main Burmese army withdrew not long after the fall, because Burma was facing a Chinese invasion in the north. A land without a centre broke up into several factions, each under a leader who had set himself up: Suki's at Pho Sam Ton, and those of Chaophraya Phitsanulok, Chao Phra Fang, the Prince of Phimai and the ruler of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Phraya Tak, who had broken out through the siege before the city fell, had his base at Rayong and Chanthaburi.

Phraya Tak recovered the capital by taking the Pho Sam Ton camp in late October 1767, and founded Thonburi. He then spent about three years putting down all the other factions.

Thonburi: 15 years

Thonburi had a single king, and his reign was filled with war: the wars of reunification, the wars with Burma at Bang Kaeo and against Maha Thiha Thura (Azaewunky), and the wars that extended his power to Lanna, Lan Xang and Cambodia. At the same time a starving country had to be revived, along with the trade with China and the monastic order. The reign ended in 1782 with Phraya San's rebellion; Chaophraya Chakri came to the throne as King Rama I and moved the capital across the river, as Rattanakosin.