Phibunsongkhram, Luang (redirected from Plaek Khittasangkha)

Phibunsongkhram, Luang

 orig. Plaek Khittasangkha

(born July 14, 1897, near Bangkok, Siam—died June 12, 1964, Tokyo, Japan) Field marshal and premier of Thailand (1938–44, 1948–57). After military training in France, he helped organize the Promoters Revolution of 1932, which ended absolute monarchy in what was then Siam; in 1939 he changed the country's name to Thailand. As premier during World War II, he allied himself with Japan, but, as the war turned against Japan, his government collapsed. The army seized power in 1947, and he was reinstalled as premier in 1948. Opposed to communism, he further allied Thailand to the West during the Cold War by helping establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. He was ousted by his military colleagues in 1957 and fled to Japan.