Editing Axis powers (section)

===Thailand===
{{See also|Thailand in World War II}}

[[File:Phot and Tojo.jpg|thumb|[[Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena|Phraya Phahon]] (far left), [[Thawan Thamrongnawasawat|Thawan Thamrong]] (left), and [[Direk Jayanama]] (right) with [[Hideki Tōjō]] (center) in Tokyo 1942]]

As an ally of Japan during the war that deployed troops to fight on the Japanese side against Allied forces, [[History of Thailand (1932–1973)|Thailand]] is considered to have been part of the Axis alliance,<ref name="Fry et al1">{{cite book |last1=Fry |first1=Gerald W. |last2=Nieminen |first2=Gayla S. |last3=Smith |first3=Harold E. |title=Historical Dictionary of Thailand |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810875258 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaRtAAAAQBAJ&q=%22Thailand%22+%22part+of+the+axis%22&pg=PA221 |access-date=27 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="Merrill & Patterson1">{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Dennis |last2=Patterson |first2=Thomas |title=Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume II: Since 1914 |date=2009 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1133007548 |page=343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQAIAAAAQBAJ&q=%22Thailand%22+%22part+of+the+axis%22&pg=PA343 |access-date=27 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="Bowman1">{{cite book |last1=Bowman |first1=John Stewart |title=Facts About the American Wars |year=1998 |publisher=H.W. Wilson Company |isbn=9780824209292 |page=432 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yoOAQAAMAAJ&q=%22thailand%22%20%22axis%20power%22 |access-date=7 February 2021}}</ref> or at least "aligned with the Axis powers".<ref name="Smythe">{{cite journal |last1=Smythe |first1=Hugh H. |title=Thailand Minority Groups |journal=Phylon |date=Third Quarter 1964 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=280–287 |doi=10.2307/273786 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/273786 |access-date=2 April 2021 |publisher=Clark Atlanta University|jstor=273786 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> For example, writing in 1945, the American politician [[Clare Boothe Luce]] described Thailand as "undeniably an Axis country" during the war.<ref name="Luce1">{{cite journal |last1=Booth Luce |first1=Clare |title=Not Unduly Exacting About Java |journal=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the US Congress |date=14 December 1945 |page=A5532 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnhGwAbjXw8C&q=%22Siam%22+%22Axis%22+%22Ally%22&pg=SL1-PA5532 |access-date=27 October 2020 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}</ref> 
 
[[History of Thailand (1932–1973)|Thailand]] waged the [[Franco-Thai War]] in October 1940 to May 1941 to reclaim territory from [[French Indochina]]. [[Japanese invasion of Thailand|Japanese forces invaded Thailand]] an hour and a half before the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] (because of the International Dateline, the local time was on the morning of 8 December 1941). Only hours after the invasion, Prime Minister Field Marshal [[Plaek Phibunsongkhram|Phibunsongkhram]] ordered the cessation of resistance against the Japanese. An outline plan of Japan-Thailand joint military operations, whereby Thai forces would invade Burma to defend the right flank of Japanese forces, was agreed on 14 December 1941.<ref name="Murashima">{{cite journal |last1=Murashima |first1=Eiji |title=The Commemorative Character of Thai Historiography: The 1942–43 Thai Military Campaign in the Shan States Depicted as a Story of National Salvation and the Restoration of Thai Independence |journal=Modern Asian Studies |date=October 2006 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=1056–1057 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3876641 |access-date=1 April 2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0026749X06002198 |jstor=3876641 |s2cid=144491081 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> On 21 December 1941, a military alliance with Japan was signed and on 25 January 1942, [[Sang Phathanothai]] read over the radio Thailand's formal declaration of war on the United Kingdom and the United States. The Thai ambassador to the United States, [[Mom Rajawongse]] [[Seni Pramoj]], did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war. Therefore, although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and considered it a hostile country, the United States did not.

The Thais and Japanese agreed that the Burmese [[Shan State]] and [[Karenni States|Karenni State]] were to be under Thai control. The rest of Burma was to be under Japanese control. On 10 May 1942, the Thai [[Phayap Army]] entered Burma's eastern Shan State, which had been claimed by Siamese kingdoms. Three Thai infantry and one cavalry division, spearheaded by armoured reconnaissance groups and supported by the air force, engaged the retreating Chinese 93rd Division. [[Kengtung]], the main objective, was captured on 27 May. Renewed offensives in June and November saw the Chinese retreat into [[Yunnan]].<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027105102/http://geocities.com/thailandwwii/shans.html |archive-date=2009-10-27|url=http://geocities.com/thailandwwii/shans.html |title=Thailand and the Second World War }}</ref>

In November 1943 Thailand signed the Greater East Asia Joint Declaration, formally aligning itself with the Axis Powers. The area containing the [[Shan States]] and [[Kayah State]] was annexed by Thailand in 1942, and four northern states of [[British Malaya|Malaya]] were also transferred to Thailand by Japan as a reward for Thai co-operation. These areas were ceded back to [[Burma]] and Malaya in 1945.<ref name="Darling">{{cite journal |last1=Darling |first1=Frank C. |title=British and American Influence in Post-War Thailand |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian History |date=March 1963 |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=99 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20067423 |access-date=1 April 2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0217781100000788 |jstor=20067423 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Thai military losses totalled 5,559 men during the war, of whom about 180 died resisting the Japanese invasion of 8 December 1941, roughly 150 died in action during the fighting in the Shan States, and the rest died of malaria and other diseases.<ref name="Murashima" />
The [[Free Thai Movement]] ("Seri Thai") was established during these first few months. Parallel Free Thai organizations were also established in the United Kingdom. [[Ananda Mahidol|The king's]] aunt, Queen [[Rambai Barni]], was the nominal head of the British-based organization, and [[Pridi Banomyong]], the regent, headed its largest contingent, which was operating within Thailand. Aided by elements of the military, secret airfields and training camps were established, while American [[Office of Strategic Services]] and British [[Force 136]] agents slipped in and out of the country.

As the war dragged on, the Thai population came to resent the Japanese presence. In June 1944, Phibun was overthrown in a coup d'état. The new civilian government under [[Khuang Aphaiwong]] attempted to aid the resistance while maintaining cordial relations with the Japanese. After the war, U.S. influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but the British demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from [[British Malaya|Malaya]] during the war. Thailand also returned the portions of [[British Burma]] and French Indochina that had been annexed. Phibun and a number of his associates were put on trial on charges of having committed war crimes and of collaborating with the Axis powers. However, the charges were dropped due to intense public pressure. Public opinion was favourable to Phibun, as he was thought to have done his best to protect Thai interests.