When Siam Rejected the French Demands
The French returned fire and forced their way to Bangkok – bangkok.thaibounty.com – . With guns trained on the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the French delivered an ultimatum to the Siamese on 20 July to hand over the territory east of the Mekong and withdraw their garrisons there, to pay an indemnity of three million francs in reparation for the fighting at Paknam, and to punish those responsible for the killings in the disputed territory. When Siam did not immediately comply unconditionally to the ultimatum, the French blockaded the Siamese coast. In the end the Siamese submitted fully to the French conditions after finding no support from the British.
When Siam rejected the French demands, de Lanessan sent three military columns into the disputed region to assert French control in April 1893. Eight small Siamese garrisons west of the Mekong withdrew upon the arrival of the central column, but the advance of the other columns met with resistance. Inspector Grosgurin was a French inspector and commander of a Vietnamese militia in Laos. In the north, the French came under siege on the island of Khoung, with the capture of an officer, Thoreaux. In the south the occupation proceeded smoothly until an ambush by the Siamese on the village of Keng Kert resulted in the killing of French police inspector Grosgurin.
Cornell University Press. pp. Tuck, Patrick J. N. (1995). The French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb: The French Threat to Siamese Independence, 1858-1907. White Lotus. Nana, Krairoek (2010). Samutphap Hetkan Roso Roi Sip Song สมุดภาพเหตุการณ์ ร.ศ. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Phra Chunla Chom Klao Fortress Lovers Club. This page was last edited on 15 December 2022, at 17:50 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may apply. Andrew, C. M.; Kanya-Forstner, A. S. (1971). “The French ‘Colonial Party’: Its Composition, Aims and Influence, 1885-1914”. The Historical Journal. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Franco-Siamese War. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 14 (1): 99-128. doi:10.1017/S0018246X0000741X.
But several difficulties discouraged them from war. In 1904, the French and the British put aside their many differences with the Entente Cordiale, ending this dispute in southeastern Asia. Both countries were fighting a difficult conflict within their respective colonies. France continued to occupy Chanthaburi and Trat up until 1907, when Siam ceded to it the provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap and Sisophon. Malaria was common and deadly. The geography of the land made troop movements difficult, making warfare more costly and less effective. Ultimately, the imagined trade routes never really came into use.
Stuart-Fox, Martin (1997). A History of Laos. Dommen, Arthur J. (2001). The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Atherley-Jones, Llewellyn Archer; Bellot, Hugh Hale Leigh (1907). Commerce in War by Llewellyn Archer Atherley, p.182. Cambridge University Press. pp. Indiana University Press. p. Pouvourville, Albert (1897). “L’affaire de Siam, 1886-1896”. Chamuel. Loos, Tamara (2006). Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand. Ooi, Keat Gin (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Simms, Peter; Simms, Sanda (2001). The Kingdoms of Laos: Six Hundred Years of History.
The incident and the death of Grosgurin became known as the “Affair of Kham Muon (Kien Chek)” and was ultimately used as a pretext for strong French intervention. As a result France demanded reparations and tensions with the British over control of Siam came to a peak. The British sent three navy ships to the mouth of the Chao Phraya, in case evacuation of British citizens became necessary. In turn the French went one step further in July 1893 by ordering two of their ships, the sloop Inconstant and the gunboat Comète, to sail up the Chao Phraya toward Bangkok, without the permission of the Siamese.
