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Siam, now known as Thailand, is possibly one of the least well-known participants in World War I. Siam did not content itself with a purely notional declaration of war on the Central Powers but made an active contribution - whatever the actual military value - to one of the most gruelling and critical campaigns of the War, with an Expeditionary Force dispatched to France, to serve on the Western Front. Siam entered the war in July 1917, declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Following acclimatisation - both military and meteorological - and specialist training, the Siamese contingent began operations on the Western Front in the middle of September 1918. The war ended soon afterwards but, following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Thai troops also contributed to the initial occupation of Germany, when they took over the town of Neustadt an der Haardt. ==Background== The First World War had no direct impact on Siam, due to its great distance not only from Europe, but even from Germany's colonial territories in the Pacific and on the China Coast. However, the war did provide an opportunity for King of Siam, Rama VI, to strengthen his country's position in the international arena, and to strengthen the position of the monarchy within the Thai state. Though it had been successful in maintaining its independence from the European colonial powers, Siam had been forced to cede Laos, Cambodia, plus its own four southernmost provinces, at the height of imperialism between 1889 and 1909, and had also had to grant extraterritorial rights to foreign citizens. Rama VI hoped to revise these unequal treaties by taking the side of the Allied Powers. He also used the war as a means to promote the concept of the Thai nation and to confirm the supremacy of the King as the head of the nation, a status which had been challenged by elements of the military in the Palace Revolt of 1912.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/History/Thailand-history.htm )〕 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「Siam in World War I」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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