Lot Essay
Field Marshal Luang Phibun Songkhram (1897-1964) was Prime Minister of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and again from 1948-1957. A professional officer with a career of high-level involvment with the royal government, he was raised to the rank of noble by King Rama VI with the title of Luang (Noble of the Second Highest Degree.)
As Prime Minister he was well aware of the earlier Japanese conquests and brutal treatment of Korea, Manchuria and China. By the early 1940s Japan had conquered Formosa, French Indochina, Laos and Cambodia. He saw in the Japanese presence, however, an advantage to Thailand. In 1904 and 1907 Thailand had to make humiliating concessions to the French by ceding lands west of the Mekong River and by cooperating with the Japanese, Thailand would be spared the fate of a military conquest and certain economic advantages might occur, mainly the return of lands conquered by the French. Encouraged by the defeat of France in 1940 and sympathetic to the 'Asia for the Asians' message of Japan's Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Prime Minister eventually entered into a non-agression pact with Japan. In essence, the pact spared Thailand, but gave the Japanese free passage to move troops and material through the country to Burma and, eventually, India itself.
The Prime Minister's liaison with the Japanese was the military attache in Bangkok, Colonel Tamura Hiroshi. Tamura, who had spent his childhood in Hawaii, began working on Japan's long-range plans for war by spying, disguised as a civilian, on American military installations in the Philippines from 1928 to 1931. In 1936 he was posted to Bangkok as military attache where his true role was spymaster for two kikan, organizational units which provided multi-level support for anti-colonial independence movements in return for information valuable to military intelligence.
Tamura, because of his good personal relationship with the Prime Minister, became the swaying voice for the Thai-Japanese pact. Instrumental in peacefully bringing about Japan's presence in the country, he was soon to question the excessive military incursions into the country's heartland which would be deeply humiliating to the Prime Minister and offensive to the Thais. These incursions came as a result of a rift within the Japanese establishment caused by conflicting theories on how to administer the country. The split was between the government and the military in the form of the Army Ministry and the General Staff. The General Staff, either members of the Choshu clan or under the influence of it, supported the Operations First principle of military administration. The Army Ministry, mainly non-Choshu clans, supported the Politics First principle of civilian administration. The tension erupted when both Prime Minister Tojo and Foreign Minister Togo were rebuffed by GHQ Southern Expedition Forces in Saigon and both 16th and 25th Armies.
Because his efforts to prevent a massive military presence throughout the country's heartland were unacceptable to the General Staff, he was replaced in early 1942 by Colonel Moriya Seiji, Vice Chief of Staff, 15th Army. It was probably on the occasion of Tamura's departure that the Prime Minister had the dedication engraved on this katana and presented to Tamura, the one member of the Japanese establishment who had made sincere efforts on behalf of the Thai people.
The son of Prime Minister Phibun Songkhram is His Excellency, Nitya Pibunsonggram, Ambassador of Thailand to the United States, and he has confirmed that the engraving on the blade is a true copy of his father's signature.
As Prime Minister he was well aware of the earlier Japanese conquests and brutal treatment of Korea, Manchuria and China. By the early 1940s Japan had conquered Formosa, French Indochina, Laos and Cambodia. He saw in the Japanese presence, however, an advantage to Thailand. In 1904 and 1907 Thailand had to make humiliating concessions to the French by ceding lands west of the Mekong River and by cooperating with the Japanese, Thailand would be spared the fate of a military conquest and certain economic advantages might occur, mainly the return of lands conquered by the French. Encouraged by the defeat of France in 1940 and sympathetic to the 'Asia for the Asians' message of Japan's Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Prime Minister eventually entered into a non-agression pact with Japan. In essence, the pact spared Thailand, but gave the Japanese free passage to move troops and material through the country to Burma and, eventually, India itself.
The Prime Minister's liaison with the Japanese was the military attache in Bangkok, Colonel Tamura Hiroshi. Tamura, who had spent his childhood in Hawaii, began working on Japan's long-range plans for war by spying, disguised as a civilian, on American military installations in the Philippines from 1928 to 1931. In 1936 he was posted to Bangkok as military attache where his true role was spymaster for two kikan, organizational units which provided multi-level support for anti-colonial independence movements in return for information valuable to military intelligence.
Tamura, because of his good personal relationship with the Prime Minister, became the swaying voice for the Thai-Japanese pact. Instrumental in peacefully bringing about Japan's presence in the country, he was soon to question the excessive military incursions into the country's heartland which would be deeply humiliating to the Prime Minister and offensive to the Thais. These incursions came as a result of a rift within the Japanese establishment caused by conflicting theories on how to administer the country. The split was between the government and the military in the form of the Army Ministry and the General Staff. The General Staff, either members of the Choshu clan or under the influence of it, supported the Operations First principle of military administration. The Army Ministry, mainly non-Choshu clans, supported the Politics First principle of civilian administration. The tension erupted when both Prime Minister Tojo and Foreign Minister Togo were rebuffed by GHQ Southern Expedition Forces in Saigon and both 16th and 25th Armies.
Because his efforts to prevent a massive military presence throughout the country's heartland were unacceptable to the General Staff, he was replaced in early 1942 by Colonel Moriya Seiji, Vice Chief of Staff, 15th Army. It was probably on the occasion of Tamura's departure that the Prime Minister had the dedication engraved on this katana and presented to Tamura, the one member of the Japanese establishment who had made sincere efforts on behalf of the Thai people.
The son of Prime Minister Phibun Songkhram is His Excellency, Nitya Pibunsonggram, Ambassador of Thailand to the United States, and he has confirmed that the engraving on the blade is a true copy of his father's signature.