French protectorate of Laos
The French protectorate of Laos (French: Protectorat français du Laos) was a French protectorate in Southeast Asia of what is today Laos between 1893 and 1953—with a brief interregnum as a Japanese puppet state in 1945—which constituted part of French Indochina. It was established over the Siamese vassal, the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang, following the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893. It was integrated into French Indochina and in the following years further Siamese vassals, the Principality of Phuan and Kingdom of Champasak, were annexed into it in 1899 and 1904, respectively.
Kingdom of Luang Prabang
ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກຫລວງພະບາງ
Phrà Ràaj Aanaachak Luang Pràabàng
Royaume de Luang Prabang
(1893–1945; 1946–1947)
Kingdom of Laos
ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ
Phra Raja A-na-chak Lao
Royaume du Laos
(1945–1946; 1947–1953)
ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກຫລວງພະບາງ
Phrà Ràaj Aanaachak Luang Pràabàng
Royaume de Luang Prabang
(1893–1945; 1946–1947)
Kingdom of Laos
ພຣະຣາຊອານາຈັກລາວ
Phra Raja A-na-chak Lao
Royaume du Laos
(1945–1946; 1947–1953)
Protectorate of France (1893–1899); constituent territory of French Indochina (1899–1953)
Vientiane (official)
Luang Prabang (royal)
Unitary absolute monarchy under a colonial administration
(1893–1947)
Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy within the French Union
(1947–1953)
None (rule by decree)
(until 1947)
Parliament
(from 1947)
Royal Council
(from 1947)
National Assembly
(from 1947)
3 October 1893
19 April 1899
22 November 1904
8 April 1945
12 October 1945
24 April 1946
11 May 1947
22 October 1953
21 July 1954
The protectorate of Luang Prabang was nominally under the rule of its King, but actual power lay with a local French Governor-General, who in turn reported to the Governor-General of French Indochina. The later annexed regions of Laos were, however, purely under French rule. During World War II, the protectorate briefly proclaimed independence under Japanese occupation in 1945. After the surrender of Japan shortly thereafter, the restoration of French control over the country was opposed by the newly established Lao Issara government, who ultimately failed by April 1946. The protectorate was reestablished, but not too long after the kingdom was expanded to encompass all Laotian regions and given self-rule within the French Union as the Kingdom of Laos. It achieved full independence after the Franco-Lao Treaty in 1953, during the final stages of the First Indochina War.[1] The final dissolution of French Indochina came with the 1954 Geneva Conference.
Administrative reorganisation[edit]
In 1898, Laos was fully integrated into the French Indochina union that was created in 1887 by unifying French possessions in Vietnam and Cambodia. A colonial governor was later installed in Vientiane and Laos was reorganised from two provinces (Haut-Laos and Bas-Laos) to ten provinces. The royal seat at Luang Prabang was still seen as the official ruler of the province and a royal court still remained, but it was later to be consisted of French appointed officials. The remaining nine provinces were directly ruled under the French government in Vientiane, with each province having a resident governor and military post. To financially support the colonial government, taxes were introduced and imposed on the population.[7][8]
In 1902, a treaty with Siam forced the kingdom to also surrender lands on the western side of the Mekong River. These lands now form the province of Sainyabuli and the western half of Champasak Province.[9] In 1904, the present border between Laos and Cambodia was established after Siam ceded Meluprey (Preah Vihear Province) and the Kingdom of Champasak to the French. Unlike in the annexation of the Kingdom of Luang Prabang, which had become an official French protectorate at least nominally under the rule of the royal house, the French administration saw no benefit in a protectorate treaty with Champasak. For this reason, Champasak was declared dissolved on 22 November 1904; the area was then managed directly by the colonial administration. By internal reclassification of the provinces and by giving some of the southern areas to French Cambodia, the former Kingdom of Champasak disappeared from the map, leaving only the Champasak Province. However, the last King of Champasak, Ratsadanay, was allowed to keep his title for life and became governor of Champasak province, whose administrative center was relocated to Pakse in 1908. In 1934 he was deposed by the French due to his age.[10]
French plans to expand the territory of Laos ended in 1907, after Siam began co-operating with the British to control French expansion in Indochina, which the British Empire feared would have eventually led to a French annexation of Siam, upsetting the region's balance of power.[11] Within French Administration in 1904, despite Cambodia's historical claim, Laos ceded Stung Treng Province in exchange of the royal capital of Champassak which was temporally under Cambodia's Administration. In addition, prior to the Holy Man's Rebellion, the province of Kontum and Pleiku was placed under the French Protectorate of Annam.
Laos during World War II[edit]
Laos might have drifted along as a backwater of the French Empire indefinitely had it not been for dramatic outside events that heavily impacted the nation from 1940 onwards.
On 22 September 1940 Japanese forces entered French Indochina. This was done with reluctant cooperation from the Vichy French authorities, who had been put into position following the French defeated by Germany a few months earlier. The subsequent occupation then occurred gradually, with Japanese garrisons being stationed across Indochina which was still administered by the French.[21]
Earlier, in 1932, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, prime minister of Siam, overthrew the king and established his own military dictatorship in the country. He later renamed the country to Thailand, with plans to unify all Tai peoples, including the Lao, under one nation.[21] Around October 1940 Thailand, sensing French weakness from the years previous events, began attacking the eastern banks of the Mekong between Vientiane and Champassak Province. This would erupt into a full Thai invasion in January 1941. After initial Thai victories their offensive stalled, and the French scored a great naval victory at Ko Chang, leading to a stalemate. The Japanese mediated a ceasefire and compelled the French colonial government to cede Champassak and Xaignabouli Province in Laos and Battambang Province in Cambodia to Thailand, ending the war.[21][22]
The loss of the territories was a massive blow to French prestige in Indochina. The dominant Laotian province of Luang Prabang (the previous, and now mostly formal, Kingdom of Luang Phrabang) demanded sovereignty over all of Laos as compensation, a proposition headed by French-educated Crown Prince Savang Vatthana. A secret French report from March 1941 recognized nationalistic aspirations among the people of Laos, but feared the royal house of Champasak might choose to align themselves with Thailand should they become subordinate to another royal house. The territorial loss had already weakened French hold in the region.[23] Savang Vatthana and Resident-Superior Maurice Roques signed an agreement on 21 August 1941 which attached the provinces of Xiangkhouang and Vientiane to the Kingdom of Luang Prabang, and placed the protectorate on the same footing as Cambodia and Annam. The renewed focus on Laos also brought significant modernization of the kingdoms administration and the French also said they would not object should the kingdom further extend itself southwards. Prince Phetsarath became the first prime minister while a new advisory council for King Sisavang Vong was headed by Savang Vatthana.[23]
To maintain support and expel Thai influence Governor-General of Indochina Jean Decoux encouraged the rise of a Lao nationalist movement, the Movement for National Renovation, which sought to defend Lao territory from Thai expansion. A French report stated "If the protectorate government does not succeed in creating an autonomous Laotian individuality—at least among those who have received education—then they will feel themselves increasingly attracted towards the neighboring country and this situation will create new difficulties". More schools were built in Laos during this period than in the last 40 years and the French School of the Far East was even renamed the "Temple for the National Idea of Laos".[23] The movement also published a propaganda newspaper, Lao Nyai (Great Laos) in January 1941, slamming Thai policies over the Lao people and the ceded lands while promoting a sense of identity across Laos. It ran poetry competitions that celebrated Lao culture and history, and ran columns that reintroduced the ‘glorious lineage’ of the modern Lao from the time of Lan Xang. The paper, however, was not allowed to stray outside official French policy or to become explicitly nationalistic.[21][23] The paper also covered the movements of King Sisavang Vong who, emboldened by the expansion of his kingdom and of secret French assurances of further expansion, made trips to several southern cities, including Champasak, on his way to Phnom Penh in 1941.[23] In the south of the country later in the war, the Lao-Seri movement was formed in 1944 which unlike the Movement for National Renovation was not supportive of the French and declared a "Laos for Laotians" policy aimed at achieving outright independence.[24]