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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hey y'all, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day History Class,

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Speaker 1: a podcast for people who can never know enough about history.

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Speaker 1: Today is June twenty fourth, twenty twenty. The day was

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Speaker 1: June twenty fourth, nineteen thirty two. The Siamese political party

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Speaker 1: Kana Rat Sadan or the People's Party, overthrew the government

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Speaker 1: of King Rama the Seventh, ending seven hundred years of

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Speaker 1: absolute monarchy under the Kings of Sayam. The bloodless coup

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Speaker 1: resulted in the introduction of democracy and the first constitution

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Speaker 1: of Thailand. Since seventeen eighty two, the Kingdom of Siyam

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Speaker 1: or modern day Thailand, had been ruled by the Chakri dynasty,

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Speaker 1: beginning with Rama the First, who founded the capital city Bangkok.

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Speaker 1: Throughout the nineteenth century, much of Southeast Asia was colonized

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Speaker 1: by the British, French, and Dutch. Siam was never subjected

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Speaker 1: to colonial rule, but Rama the Fifth, who reigned from

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Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight to nineteen ten, set out to modernize

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Speaker 1: the kingdom. He introduced social and governmental reforms that were

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Speaker 1: based on Western models. The old ruling families rejected his reforms,

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Speaker 1: but from the mid eighteen eighties to the early nineteen hundreds,

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Speaker 1: Rama the fifth overhauled the administration, established military conscription, abolished slavery,

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Speaker 1: and made other major changes in the country. The king

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Speaker 1: was committed to modernization, but he was also committed to

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Speaker 1: maintaining Thai traditions and independence. He instituted all these reforms

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Speaker 1: under the guise that they would save CM from the

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Speaker 1: threat of Western colonialism. If Sam looked civilized to colonial powers,

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Speaker 1: then it would supposedly avoid Western invasion. Rama the fifth

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Speaker 1: son and successor Rama the sixth, also worked to modernize

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Speaker 1: CAM and welcome the adoption of some European ideals. His

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Speaker 1: reforms upset members of the aristocracy and nobility, as well

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Speaker 1: as groups of progressives and radicals. In nineteen twelve, a

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Speaker 1: group of military officers conspired to overthrow the king, but

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Speaker 1: the plot failed. There is debate over the main causes

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Speaker 1: of the nineteen thirty two Revolution, but the rise of

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Speaker 1: Western educated commoner elites who'd become dissatisfied with politics in

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Speaker 1: CM played a significant role in the event. Rama the

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Speaker 1: seventh ascended the throne in nineteen twenty five. He created

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Speaker 1: the Supreme Council of state made up of senior princes

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Speaker 1: who had served in previous administrations. They quickly let go

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Speaker 1: of commoners who had been appointed in the civil service

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Speaker 1: and military during Rama the Seventh's rule. Returning Western educated

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Speaker 1: students grew disillusioned with the status quo. In nineteen twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: a small group of military and civilian students gathered in

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Speaker 1: Paris with the intent of founding a party to bring

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Speaker 1: change to CM. This group of seven people called themselves

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Speaker 1: the Promoters, and they decided to stage a coup to

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Speaker 1: end absolute monarchy in the country. To achieve this goal,

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Speaker 1: they formed the Khana Rat Sadan or People's Party. The

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Speaker 1: Promoters worked on gathering supporters. Meanwhile, CM was facing economic problems.

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Speaker 1: The Great Depression made it to the country. By nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirty the value of rice, SM's major export felled drastically.

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Speaker 1: Land values also fail, so the government had to make

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Speaker 1: a bunch of budget cuts. By nineteen thirty two, the

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Speaker 1: People's Party was made up of more than one hundred students,

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Speaker 1: military officers, and non royal government officials. On the morning

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Speaker 1: of June twenty fourth, nineteen thirty two, while the King

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Speaker 1: was away from Bangkok, the People's Party led the coup,

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Speaker 1: the promoters seized control of the army as well as

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Speaker 1: posts and telegraph offices, and they arrested royal officials who

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Speaker 1: were part of the ruling group. Armored vehicles and troops

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Speaker 1: gathered at the Throne Hall in the Royal Place, and

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Speaker 1: one of the promoters read the Kana Rat Sadadan Manifesto

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Speaker 1: declaring the end of absolute monarchy and the establishment of

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Speaker 1: a constitutional state. Rama the seventh was playing golf in

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Speaker 1: the south of Siam when he got news of the coup.

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Speaker 1: He agreed to the demands for a new constitutional system,

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Speaker 1: and by December of that year he had promulgated a

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Speaker 1: new constitution. A state Council and National Assembly were established,

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Speaker 1: but conflict between the Kanna Rat Sa'adan and the king continued.

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Speaker 1: A couple of years after the revolution, Rama the seventh

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Speaker 1: left for England, and in nineteen thirty five he abdicated

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Speaker 1: the throne, spending the rest of his life in England.

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Speaker 1: Though the coup was a major turning point in Thai history,

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Speaker 1: the next few decades were still characterized by political unrest

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Speaker 1: and rule by military governments. I'm eve chefcote, and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you

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Speaker 1: did yesterday. And if you have any commerce our suggestions,

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Speaker 1: feel free to send them our way. We're at This

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Speaker 1: us an email, you can also hit us up on

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Speaker 1: social media. We're at T d HC podcast. Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for listening to the show and we'll see you tomorrow.

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