Editing Plaek Phibunsongkhram (section)

== Early years ==
[[File:Pibun.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Phibun in his youth]]

Phibun was born '''Plaek''' on 14 July 1897 in [[Mueang Nonthaburi District|Mueang Nonthaburi]], Nonthaburi Province, in the [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Kingdom of Siam]] to [[durian]] farmers.<ref name="mgr">{{cite web |last1=Bunnag |first1=Rome |title=เหตุที่ "นายกฯตลอดกาล" ชื่อ "แปลก" ความแปลกที่ได้มาแต่เกิด! ฉันจะต้องไปทำงานใหญ่!! |url=https://mgronline.com/onlinesection/detail/9650000010816 |website=MGR Online |publisher= |access-date=1 September 2024}}</ref> His family began using the surname '''Khittasangkha''' ({{langx|th|ขีตตะสังคะ}}) after a 1913 decree on surnames.<ref>{{in lang|th}}[http://www.ndmi.or.th/files/vol03.pdf ผู้นำทางการเมืองไทยกับสงครามโลกครั้งที่ 2: จอมพล ป.พิบูลสงคราม และ ปรีดี พนมยงค์] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627094547/http://www.ndmi.or.th/files/vol03.pdf |date=27 June 2008 }}</ref> 

He received his given name – meaning "strange" or "weird" in English – because of his unusual appearance as a child where his ears were positioned below his eyes, rather than above his eyes like others.<ref name="mgr" />

Plaek's paternal grandfather was a [[Thai Chinese|Chinese immigrant]] from [[Guangdong]] of [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]] descent. However, the family was completely assimilated, being considered [[Thai people|Central Thai people]], since most of the Chinese in Thailand are from the [[Teochew people|Teochew]] dialect group, Plaek did not pass the criteria for being considered Chinese as well,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Batson |first1=Benjamin Arthur |last2=Shimizu |first2=Hajime |title=The Tragedy of Wanit: A Japanese Account of Wartime Thai Politics |date=1990 |publisher=University of Singapore Press |isbn=9971622467 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35JwAAAAMAAJ&q=9971622467 |access-date=29 September 2018}}</ref> enabling him to successfully conceal and deny his Chinese roots.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Ansil Ramsay |chapter=The Chinese in Thailand: Ethnicity, Power and Cultural Opportunity Structures |editor1=Grant H. Cornwell |editor2=Eve Walsh Stoddard |title=Global Multiculturalism: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnicity, Race, and Nation |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2001 |page=63}}</ref>

He studied in Buddhist temples<ref name="mgr" /> before joining the [[Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy|Royal Military Academy]]; upon graduation in 1914, he was commissioned into the [[Royal Thai Army|Royal Siamese Army]] as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[artillery]]. Following [[World War I]], he was sent to France to study artillery tactics at the [[School of Applied Artillery|École d'application d'artillerie]]. In 1928, as he rose in rank, he received the noble title ''[[Luang (title)|Luang]]'' from [[Prajadhipok|King Prajadhipok]], and became known as '''Luang Phibunsongkhram'''. He would later drop his ''Luang'' title but permanently adopted Phibunsongkhram as his surname.

=== 1932 revolution ===
{{main|1932 Siamese coup d'état}}
In 1932, Phibun was one of the leaders of the [[Royal Siamese Army]] branch of the [[Khana Ratsadon|People's Party]] (''Khana Ratsadon''), a political organization that staged a ''coup d'état'' which overthrew Siam's [[absolute monarchy]] and replaced it with a [[constitutional monarchy]]. Phibun, at the time a [[lieutenant colonel]], quickly rose to prominence in the military as a "man-on-horseback".<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.thefreedictionary.com/man+on+horseback| title= man on horseback| access-date = 30 June 2011| publisher  = The Free Dictionary
| quote= n. A man, usually a military leader, whose popular influence and power may afford him the position of dictator, as in a time of political crisis}}</ref> The 1932 coup was followed by the [[nationalization]] of several companies and increased [[Economic interventionism|state control]] of the economy.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The following year, Phibun and his military allies successfully crushed the [[Boworadet Rebellion]], a royalist revolt led by [[Prince Boworadet]]. The new king, [[Ananda Mahidol]], was still a child studying in [[Switzerland]], and the [[Parliament of Thailand|Parliament]] appointed [[Military ranks of the Thai armed forces|Colonel]] Prince Anuwatjaturong, [[Military ranks of the Thai armed forces|Lieutenant Commander]] Prince [[Aditya Dibabha]], and [[Chao Phraya Yommaraj (Pun Sukhum)]] as his [[regent]]s.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}