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Thailand officially adopted a position of neutrality until it was invaded by Japan in December 1941. At the start of the Pacific War, the Japanese Empire pressured the Thai government to allow passage for the Japanese troops to invade British-held Malaya and Burma.〔(Jackson Travel Journal – Thailand: Bangkok ). The-silk-route.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 March 2011.〕 Though this was not popular with much of the Thai population, the Thai government under Plaek Phibunsongkhram (known simply as Phibun) considered it preferable to co-operate with the Japanese than to fight them. After Thailand agreed to let Japanese troops pass their country, Thailand declared war on the Allies. Thailand was still in control of its armed forces and internal affairs. The Japanese policy on Thailand differed from their relationship with the puppet state of Manchukuo. Japan intended bilateral relationships similar to those between Nazi Germany and Finland, Bulgaria, and Romania.〔E. Bruce Reynolds. (1994) Thailand and Japan's Southern Advance 1940–1945. St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-10402-2.〕 Ultimately, the primary aim was to ensure Thailand's neutrality and establish a Neutral nation that would be regarded as an equal by the Allies.〔James F. Dunnigan. The World War II Bookshelf: Fifty Must-Read Books. Kensington Pub Corp, 2005 ISBN 0-8065-2649-1, p.16〕〔Keat Gin Ooi (Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East ... ), Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 2004, ISBN 1-57607-770-5, p. 514〕 A well-organised, pro-Allied resistance movement that eventually numbered around 90,000 Thai guerrillas,〔Tim Lambert. (A SHORT HISTORY OF THAILAND )〕 supported by government officials allied to the regent Pridi Phanomyong, was active from 1942 onwards to resist the Phibun regime and the Japanese. The partisans provided espionage services to the Allies, performed some sabotage activities, and helped engineer Phibun's downfall in 1944. After the war, Thailand received little punishment for its wartime role under Phibun. ==Franco–Thai War== At the start of World War II, Thailand was ruled by an authoritarian government dominated by a group of civil servants and military officers. Its prime minister was Plaek Phibunsongkhram, an army officer who shared many of his countrymen's admiration of fascism and the rapid pace of national development it seemed to afford.〔 Consequently, Phibun cultivated and intensified militarism and nationalism while simultaneously building up a cult of personality using modern propaganda techniques. The regime also revived irredentist claims, stirring up anti-French sentiment and supporting restoration of former Thai territories in Cambodia and Laos. Seeking support against France, Phibun cultivated closer relations with Japan. Faced with American opposition and British hesitancy, Thailand looked to Japan for help in the confrontation with French Indochina.〔Richard J. Aldrich (1993) The Key to the South. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-588612-7〕 Although the Thai were united in their demand for the return of the lost provinces, Phibun's enthusiasm for the Japanese was markedly greater than that of Pridi Phanomyong, and many old conservatives as well viewed the course of the prime minister's foreign policy with misgivings. Sporadic fighting between Thai and French forces broke out along Thailand's eastern frontier in October 1940, and culminated in an invasion of Laos and Cambodia in January 1941. The Thai armies were successful in occupying the disputed territories, with the French scoring their only notable victory at sea at the Battle of Koh Chang. Japan used its influence with the Vichy regime in France to obtain concessions for Thailand. As a result, France agreed in March 1941 to cede 54,000 square kilometres of Laotian territory west of the Mekong and most of the Cambodian province of Battambang to Thailand, which reinstated the original name of Phra Tabong Province, Battambang being a mispronunciation. The recovery of this lost territory and the regime's apparent victory over a European colonial power greatly enhanced Phibun's reputation. But because Japan wanted to maintain both her working relationship with Vichy and the status quo, the Thais were forced to accept only a quarter of the territory that they had lost to the French, in addition to having to pay six million piastres as a concession to the French.〔〔 Relations between Japan and Thailand subsequently cooled as a disappointed Phibun switched to courting the British and Americans in the hopes of warding off what he saw as an imminent Japanese invasion.〔〔〔Charivat Santaputra (1985) Thai Foreign Policy 1932–1946. Thammasat University Press. ISBN 974-335-091-8〕〔Judith A. Stowe. (1991) Siam becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1393-6〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thailand in World War II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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