Plaek Phibunsongkhram (14 July 1897 – 11 June 1964), commonly known in English language sources as Phibun and as Chomphon Por in Thai, was a Thai military officer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and again from 1948 to 1957. He rose to power as a leading member of the Khana Ratsadon, becoming prime minister in 1938 and later consolidating his influence as a military dictator. His regime allied with the Empire of Japan during World War II, and his administration was marked by authoritarian policies and the promotion of Thai nationalism. He was closely involved in both domestic reforms and foreign policy during the war and played a central role in shaping modern Thai state ideology. Phibun's ideology gets described as fascist.
Born in Nonthaburi, Phibun graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1914 before continuing his studies in France. After returning to Siam, he became involved in the Khana Ratsadon, a group that led the 1932 Siamese Revolution, which replaced the country's absolute monarchy with a constitutional monarchy. Phibun emerged as a prominent military figure following the revolution, gradually consolidating power within the armed forces.
In 1938, Phibun became prime minister while serving as Commander of the Royal Siamese Army. Inspired by the Italian leader Benito Mussolini, his government established an authoritarian regime run along fascist lines, and launched a series of cultural mandates aimed at modernizing Thai society. These policies included changing the country's name from "Siam" to "Thailand", promoting Western-style dress, emphasizing the Thai language, and encouraging Thai nationalism and Sinophobia. During World War II, Phibun aligned Thailand with Imperial Japan, allowing Japanese forces to pass through Thai territory and later declaring war on the Allies. This alliance was controversial and led to internal resistance, most notably the Free Thai Movement and Regent Pridi Banomyong, a former associate within the Khana Ratsadon. As the war progressed and Japan's position weakened, Phibun lost political support and was forced to resign by the National Assembly in 1944. Following the war, he faced accusations of war crimes, though he was later acquitted.
Phibun returned to power in 1948 through a military-backed coup and ruled during the early Cold War period. His second premiership adopted a strongly anti-communist stance and aligned Thailand closely with the United States. Despite economic development and continued modernization efforts, his government was plagued by political instability and several attempts to launch a coup against him were made, including the Army General Staff plot (1948), the Palace Rebellion (1949), and the Manhattan Rebellion (1951). Phibun attempted to transform Thailand into an electoral democracy from the mid-1950s onward, but he was overthrown by his subordinate Sarit Thanarat during a coup in 1957 and went into exile in Japan until his death in 1964. His legacy remains contested, as he is viewed both as a modernizer and as a symbol of military authoritarianism in Thai political history.
Phibun was born Plaek on 14 July 1897 in Mueang Nonthaburi, Nonthaburi Province, in the Kingdom of Siam to durian farmers. His family began using the surname Khittasangkha (Thai: ขีตตะสังคะ) after a 1913 decree on surnames.
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.
Plaek's paternal grandfather was a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong of Cantonese descent. However, the family was completely assimilated, being considered Central Thai people, since most of the Chinese in Thailand are from the Teochew dialect group, Plaek did not pass the criteria for being considered Chinese as well, enabling him to successfully conceal and deny his Chinese roots.
He studied in Buddhist temples before joining the Royal Military Academy; upon graduation in 1914, he was commissioned into the 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 École d'application d'artillerie. In 1928, as he rose in rank, he received the noble title Luang from King Prajadhipok, and became known as Luang Phibunsongkhram. He would later drop his Luang title but permanently adopted Phibunsongkhram as his surname.
In 1932, Phibun was one of the leaders of the Royal Siamese Army branch of the 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". The 1932 coup was followed by the nationalization of several companies and increased state control of the economy.
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 appointed Colonel Prince Anuwatjaturong, Lieutenant Commander Prince Aditya Dibabha, and Chao Phraya Yommaraj (Pun Sukhum) as his regents.
Prime Minister of Thailand (1938–1944, 1948–1957)
On 16 December 1938, Phibun replaced Phraya Phahon as Prime Minister of Thailand and as the Commander of the Royal Siamese Army. Phibun became a de facto dictator, and established a military dictatorship, consolidating his position by rewarding several members of his own army clique with influential positions in his government.
After the revolution of 1932, the Thai government of Phraya Phahol was impressed by the success of the March on Rome of Benito Mussolini's Italian fascist movement. Phibun, also an admirer of Italian fascism, sought to replicate fascist-style propaganda tactics, valued in Italy as one of the most powerful propaganda instruments of political power. In Italy, its main purpose was to promote nationalism and militarism, strengthen the unity and harmony of the state, and glorify the policy of ruralisation in Italy and abroad. As a consequence of the fascist leanings of Thai political leaders, Italian propaganda films including newsreels, documentaries, short films, and full-length feature films, such as Istituto Luce Cinecittà, were shown in Thailand during the interwar period. Phibun adopted the fascist salute, modelled on the Roman salute, using it during speeches. The salute was not compulsory in Thailand, and it was opposed by Luang Wichitwathakan and many cabinet members as they believed it inappropriate for Thai culture. Together with Wichitwathakan, the Minister of Propaganda, he built a leadership cult in 1938 and thereafter. Photographs of Phibun were to be found everywhere, and those of the abdicated King Prajadhipok were banned. His quotes appeared in newspapers, were plastered on billboards, and were repeated over the radio.
Phibun immediately promoted Thai nationalism (to the point of ultranationalism), and to support this policy, he launched a series of major reforms, known as the Thai Cultural Revolution, to increase the pace of modernisation in Thailand. His goal aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instil progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life. A series of cultural mandates were issued by the government, which encouraged all Thais to salute the flag in public places, learn the new national anthem and use the standardised Thai language (not regional dialects or languages). People were encouraged to adopt Western-style attire as opposed to traditional clothing styles, and eat with Western-style utensils, such as forks and spoons, rather than with their hands as was customary in Thai culture at the time. Phibun saw these policies as necessary, in the interest of progressivism, to change Thailand's international image from that of an undeveloped country into a civilized and modern nation.