Kingdom of Luang Prabang | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | |||||||||
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| Anthem: "Pheng Xat Lao" (English:"Hymn of the Lao People") | |||||||||
.png) Location of Kingdom of Luang Prabang (red) Territories annexed intoThailand (pink) | |||||||||
| Status | Puppet state of theEmpire of Japan | ||||||||
| Capital | Luang Prabang | ||||||||
| Common languages | Japanese French Lao | ||||||||
| Religion | State Shinto Buddhism Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy undermilitary occupation | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 1945 | Sisavang Vong | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1945 | PrincePhetsarath | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
| 9 March 1945 | |||||||||
• Independence | 8 April 1945 | ||||||||
• Unified Kingdom of Laos | 15 September 1945 | ||||||||
• Lao Issara takeover | 12 October 1945 | ||||||||
| Currency | French Indochinesepiastre, Japanese military yen | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Laos | ||||||||
TheKingdom of Luang Prabang (Lao:ອານາຈັກຫຼວງພະບາງ, anachak ruangphabang;Japanese:ルアンプラバン王国) was a short-livedpuppet state ofImperial Japan, which existed from 8 April 1945 to 12 October 1945.[1]
On 22 September 1940Japanese forcesentered French Indochina. This was done with reluctant cooperation from theVichy French authorities, who had been put into position following theFrench defeat byGermany a few months earlier. The subsequent occupation then occurred gradually, with Japanese garrisons being stationed across Indochina which was still administered by the French.[2]
Earlier, in 1932,Plaek Phibunsongkhram, prime minister of Siam,overthrew the king and established his ownmilitary dictatorship in the country. He later renamed the country toThailand, with plans to unify allTai peoples, including the Lao, under one nation.[2] Around October 1940 Thailand, sensing French weakness from the year's previous events, began attacking the eastern banks of theMekong betweenVientiane andChampassakprovinces. This would erupt into a fullThai invasion in January 1941. After initial Thai victories their offensive stalled, and the French scored a greatnaval victory at Ko Chang, leading to a stalemate. The Japanese mediated a ceasefire and compelled the French colonial government to cede Champassak andSainyabuli province in Laos andBattambang province in Cambodia to Thailand, ending the war.[2][3]
The loss of the territories was a massive blow to French prestige in Indochina. The dominantLaotian province of Luang Prabang (still being calledKingdom of Luang Phrabang) demanded sovereignty over all of Laos as compensation, a proposition headed by French-educated Crown PrinceSisavang Vatthana. A secret French report from March 1941 recognized nationalistic aspirations among the people of Laos, but feared the royalhouse of Champassak 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.[4] Savang Vatthana andResident-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 asCambodia andAnnam. The renewed focus on Laos also brought significant modernization of the kingdom's administration and the French also said they would not object should the kingdom further extend itself southwards. PrincePhetsarath became the firstprime minister while a new advisory council for KingSisavang Vong was headed by Savang Vatthana.[4]
To maintain support and expel Thai influence,Governor-General of IndochinaJean 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 theFrench School of the Far East was even renamed the "Temple for the National Idea of Laos".[4] 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 ofLan Xang. The paper, however, was not allowed to stray outside official French policy or to become explicitly nationalistic.[2][4] 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 toPhnom Penh in 1941.[4] 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.[5]
In 1944, theLiberation of Paris under GeneralCharles de Gaulle occurred, and at the same time,Imperial Japanese troops were being largely defeated in thePacific Front. In a last-minute attempt to draw support of the natives Indochinese,Japan dissolved French control over itsIndochinese colonies in March 1945. Large numbers of French officials in Laos were then imprisoned or executed by the Japanese. The staunchly pro-French KingSisavang Vong was also imprisoned, and was forced by both the Japanese and PrincePhetsarath Ratanavongsa, into declaring the French protectorate over his kingdom ended, while entering the nation into theGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere on 8 April 1945.[4] Prince Phetsarath remained as Prime Minister in the new puppet state.
After Japan'ssurrender in August, King Sisavang Vong agreed with the French that he intended to have Laos resume its former status as a French colony against the urging of Prince Phetsarath, who sent a telegram to all Laotian provincial governors notifying them that the Japanese surrender did not affect Laos' status as independent and warning them to resist any foreign intervention. Phetsarath also proclaimed unification with the country and the southern Lao provinces of Indochina on 15 September,[6]: 138 this led to the King dismissing him from his post as Prime Minister on 10 October.[4]
Prince Phetsarath and several other Lao nationalists formed theLao Issara in the power vacuum, which took control of the government and reaffirmed the country's independence on 12 October 1945.
