Laos
traces its history to the kingdom of
Lan Xang (Million Elephants), founded
in the 14th century, by a Lao warlord,
Fa Ngum, who took over Vientiane with
10,000 Khmer troops. Ngum had been a
descendent from a long line of Lao
kings, tracking back to Khoun Boulom.
He made Theravada Buddhism the state
religion and Lan-Xang prospered.
Within 20 years of its formation, the
kingdom expanded eastward to Champa
and along the Annamite mountains in
Vietnam. His ministers, unable to
tolerate his ruthlessness, forced him
into exile to present day Thai
province of Nan in 1373, where he
later died. Fa Ngum's eldest son, Oun
Heuan, (took the title Samsenthai)
came to the throne and reigned for 43
years. During his reign, Lan Xang
became an important trade centre.
After his death in 1421, Lan Xang
collapsed into warring factions for
the next 100 years.
In
1520, Photisarath came to the throne
and moved the capital from Luang
Phrabang to Vientiane to avoid Burmese
invasion. Setthathirat became king in
1548, after his father was killed, and
ordered the construction that would
become the symbol of Laos, That Luang.
Setthathirat disappeared in the
mountains on his way back from a
military expedition into Cambodia and
Lan Xang became to rapidly decline. It
was not until 1637, when Sourigna
Vongsa ascended the throne that Lan
Xang would further expand its
frontiers. Under his reign, it is
often regarded as Laos's golden age.
When he died, left Lan Xang without an
heir, the kingdom was divided into
three principalities. Between 1763 and
1769, Burmese armies overran northern
Laos and annexed Luang Phrabang, while
Champasak eventually came under
Siamese suzerainty.
Chao
Anouvong was installed as a vassal
king of Vientiane by the Siamese. He
encouraged a renaissance of Lao fine
arts and literature and improved
relations with Luang Phrabang.
Although he was being pressured to pay
tribute to the Vietnamese, he rebelled
against the Siamese. It resulted in
failure and Vientiane was ransacked,
with Anouvong brought to Bangkok as a
prisoner, where he later died.
French
Rule of Laos 1893-1954
In
the late 19th century, Luang Prabang
was ransacked by the Chinese Black
Flag
and the French
managed to rescue King Oun Kham. In
desperate need of protection, Luang
Phrabang was incorporated into the
'Protectorate' of French Indochina.
Shortly after, the Kingdom of
Champasak and the territory of
Vientiane were also added to the
protectorate. Under the French, King
Sisavang Vong of Luang Phrabang,
became ruler of a unified Laos and
Vientiane once again became the
capital. Laos was never important to
France, except as a buffer state
between British-influenced Thailand
and the more economically important
Annam and Tonkin.
During
their rule, the French introduced the
corvee, a system where every male Lao
were forced to contribute 10 days of
manual labour per year to the colonial
government. In spite of Laos producing
tin, rubber and coffee, it never
accounted for more than 1% of French
Indochina's exports. By 1940, only 600
French citizens lived in Laos.
Following
a brief Japanese occupation during
World War II, the country declared its
independence in 1945, but the French
under Charles de Gaulle re-asserted
their control and only in 1950 was
Laos granted semi-autonomy as an
"associated state" within
the French Union. Moreover, the French
remained in de facto control until
1954, when Laos gained full
independence as a constitutional
monarchy.
Kingdom
of Laos and war 1954-1975
Under
a special exemption to the Geneva
Convention, a French military training
mission continued to support the Royal
Lao Army. In 1955, the U.S. Department
of Defense created a special Programs
Evaluation Office to replace French
support of the Royal Lao Army against
the communist Pathet Lao as part of
the U.S. containment policy.
Laos
was dragged into the Vietnam War and
the eastern parts of the country
followed North Vietnam and adopted
North Vietnam as a fraternal country.
Laos allowed North Vietnam to use its
land as a supply route for its war
against the South. In response, the
United States initiated a bombing
campaign against the North Vietnamese,
supported regular and irregular
anticommunist forces in Laos and
supported a South Vietnamese invasion
of Laos. The result of these actions
were a series of coups d'état and,
ultimately, the Laotian Civil War
between the Royal Laotian government
and the communist Pathet Lao.
In
the Civil War, the heavily armed and
battle-hardened North Vietnamese Army
was the real power behind the Pathet
Lao insurgency. In 1968, the North
Vietnamese Army launched a
multi-division attack to help the
communist Pathet Lao to fight against
the Royal Lao Army. The attack
resulted in the army largely
demobilizing and leaving the conflict
to irregular forces raised by the
United States and Thailand. The attack
resulted in many lost lives.
Massive
aerial bombardment was carried out by
the United States. The Guardian
reported that Laos was hit by an
average of one B-52 bombload every
eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between
1964 and 1973. US bombers dropped more
ordnance on Laos in this period than
was dropped during the whole of the
Second World War. Of the 260 million
bombs that rained down, particularly
on Xiangkhouang Province on the Plain
of Jars, 80 million failed to explode,
leaving a deadly legacy. It holds the
distinction of being the most bombed
country, per capita, in the world.
Because it was particularly heavily
affected by cluster bombs during this
war, Laos was a strong advocate of the
Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban
the weapons and assist victims, and
hosted the First Meeting of States
Parties to the convention in November
2010.
In
1975, the communist Pathet Lao, along
with Vietnam People's Army and backed
by the Soviet Union, overthrew the
royalist Lao government, forcing King
Savang Vatthana to abdicate on 2
December 1975. He later died in
captivity.
Communist
Laos 1975-Present
After
taking control of the country, the
Pathet Lao government under Kaysone
Phomvihane renamed the country as the
"Lao People's Democratic
Republic" and signed agreements
giving Vietnam the right to station
armed forces and to appoint advisers
to assist in overseeing the country.
Laos was requested in the late 1970s
by Vietnam to end relations with the
People's Republic of China, leading to
isolation in trade by China, the
United States, and other countries.
The socialist system has slowly been
replaced by the relaxation of economic
restrictions in the 1980s and
admission into ASEAN in 1997.
|