Siam and The League of Nations: Modernisation Sovereignty and Multilateral Diplomacy, 1920-1940
Siam and The League of Nations: Modernisation Sovereignty and Multilateral Diplomacy, 1920-1940
by Stefan Hell.
River Books, 2010, 284 pages. http://www.riverbooksbk.com/
Siam (later Thailand) ran the narrow international political gauntlet between the two major colonising world powers, England and France, to maintain its independence during all the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a close run thing at successfully playing off both global powers to keep from being colonised as did all their neighbours. In this effort, Siam was quite successful. But it was not until Siam joined the victorious Allies towards the end of WWI and its admittance as an original member of the League of Nations was the country’s leaders able to breathe a large sigh of relief they were both accepted as an equal and finally safe from Western domination.
Stefan Hell does a very professional job relating to Siam’s participation in the League of Nations. This scholarly, well researched, in depth study reviews Siam’s foreign relations and the role it played in developing the multilateral international political system the world operates under today. An impressive work of Siamese history. 5 stars.
