1893 Franco-Siamese crisis

1893 conflict between France and Siam

The Franco Siamese crisis of 1893, known in Thailand as the Incident of Rattanakosin Era 112 (วิกฤตการณ์ ร.ศ. 112, , ) was a conflict between the French Third Republic and the Kingdom of Siam. Auguste Pavie, French vice consul in Luang Prabang in 1886, was the chief agent in furthering French interests in Laos. His intrigues, which took advantage of Siamese weakness in the region and periodic invasions by Vietnamese rebels from Tonkin, increased tensions between Bangkok and Paris. The conflict concluded with the Paknam Incident, in which French gunboats sailed up the Chao Phraya River to blockade Bangkok. The Siamese subsequently agreed to cede the area that constitutes most of present day Laos to France, an act that led to the significant expansion of French Indochina. This conflict succeeded the Haw wars (1865–1890), in which the Siamese attempted to pacify northern Siam and Tonkin.

The conflict started when French Indochina's Governor General Jean de Lanessan sent Auguste Pavie as consul to Bangkok to bring Laos under French rule. The government in Bangkok, mistakenly believing that they would be supported by the British government, refused to concede territory east of the Mekong and instead reinforced their military and administrative presence. Events were brought to a head by two separate incidents when Siamese governors in Khammuan and Nong Khai expelled three French merchants from the middle Mekong in September 1892, two of them, Champenois and Esquilot, on suspicion of opium smuggling. Shortly afterward, the French consul in Luang Prabang, Victor Alphonse Massie, feverish and discouraged, committed suicide on his way back to Saigon. The death of Massie left Auguste Pavie as the new French Consul. In March 1893 Pavie demanded that the Siamese evacuate all military posts on the east side of the Mekong River south of Khammuan, claiming that the land belonged to Vietnam. To back up these demands, the French sent the gunboat Lutin to Bangkok, where it was moored on the Chao Phraya next to the French legation.

When Siam rejected the French demands, 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. 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.

Inspector Grosgurin was a French inspector and commander of a Vietnamese militia in Laos. Like Auguste Pavie, he had been engaged in several exploratory expeditions in the region. He was a member of one of the French armed columns dispatched in April 1893 by Lassenan to cross the Annamite Range into the Lao area of Khammuan (modern Thakhek)

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. The French returned fire and forced their way to Bangkok. A "Franco Siamese Mixed Court" was subsequently convened in June 1894. In a joint agreement between the Siamese and the French, Phra Yot was condemned to 20 years of penal servitude. The Royal Thai Army fort Phra Yot Muang Khwan in Nakhon Phanom Province on the border between Thailand and Laos commemorates Phra Yot.

The Siamese agreed to cede Laos to France, significantly expanding French Indochina. In 1896, France signed a treaty with Britain defining the border between Laos and British territory in Upper Burma. The Kingdom of Laos became a protectorate, initially placed under the Governor General of Indochina in Hanoi. Pavie, who almost single handedly brought Laos under French rule, saw to the officialization in Hanoi. The French and British both had strong interests in controlling parts of Indochina. Twice in the 1890s, they were on the verge of war over two different routes leading to Yunnan. But several difficulties discouraged them from war. The geography of the land made troop movements difficult, making warfare more costly and less effective. Both countries were fighting a difficult conflict within their respective colonies. Malaria was common and deadly. Ultimately, the imagined trade routes never really came into use. In 1904, the French and the British put aside their many differences with the Entente Cordiale, ending this dispute in southeastern Asia. France continued to occupy Chanthaburi and Trat up until 1907, when Siam ceded to it the provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey.