Japanese invasion of Thailand
The Japanese invasion of Thailand (Thai: การบุกครองไทยของญี่ปุ่น, RTGS: Kan Buk Khrong Thai Khong Yipun; Japanese: 日本軍のタイ進駐, romanized: Nihongun no Tai shinchū) occurred on 8 December 1941. It was briefly fought between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Empire of Japan. Despite fierce fighting in Southern Thailand, the fighting lasted only five hours before ending in a ceasefire.[1] Thailand and Japan then formed an alliance making Thailand part of the Axis alliance until the end of World War II.
Background[edit]
Hakkō Ichiu[edit]
The origin of Japanese invasion of Thailand can be traced to the principle of hakkō ichiu as espoused by Tanaka Chigaku in the mid- to late-1800s.[2] Tanaka interpreted the principle as meaning that imperial rule had been divinely ordained to expand until it united the entire world. While Tanaka saw this outcome as resulting from the Emperor's moral leadership, Japanese nationalists used it in terms of freeing Asia from colonizing powers and establishing Japan as the leading influence in Asia.[3] The concept became expressed in the New Order in East Asia (東亜新秩序, Tōa Shin Chitsujo).
In 1940, the concept was expanded by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, who sought to create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, including Japan, Manchukuo, China, and parts of Southeast Asia. This would, according to imperial propaganda, establish a new international order seeking "co-prosperity" for Asian countries which would share prosperity and peace, free from Western colonialism and domination under the umbrella of a benevolent Japan.[4] The 30 man Number 82 Section (also known as the Taiwan Army Research Unit or Doro Nawa Unit) Strike South planning was formed in 1939 or 1940 to bring this about. In its final planning stages, the unit was commanded by Colonel Yoshihide Hayashi.[5]
Military forces[edit]
Thailand[edit]
Thailand had a well-trained military of 26,500 men, together with a reserve force which brought the army's numbers up to about 50,000.
The Royal Thai Air Force possessed some 270 aircraft, of which 150 were combat aircraft, many of them American. Japan had provided Thailand with 93 more modern aircraft in December 1940.
For further information about the predominant Japanese philosophy and reasoning
For events directly relating to the invasion