The Thai, as they had in the sixteenth century, make a rapid recovery under a brilliant military leader.

Taksin (1767-82) had slipped away from besieged Ayutthaya and, starting with a handful of followers who had quickly grown into an army, had organized a resistance to the Burmese invaders, driving them out after a long and arduous war.

Assuming the royal title, he abandons the ruined Ayutthaya and founds a new capital farther south in the delta at Thon Buri, a fortress town across the river from modern Bangkok.

By 1776 Taksin has reunited the Thai kingdom, which had fragmented into small states after the fall of the old capital, and has annexed Chiang Mai.

Taksin, who eventually develops delusions of his own divinity, is deposed and executed by his ministers, invoking the interests of the state.

His manifold accomplishments, however, win Taksin a secure place among Thailand's national heroes.

With the death of Taksin, the Thai throne falls to Chakkri, a general who had played a leading role with Taksin in the struggle against the Burmese.

As King Yot Fa (Rama I, 1782-1809), he founds the present Thai ruling house and moves the court to Bangkok, the modern capital.

During an energetic reign, he revives the country's economy and restores what remains of the great artistic heritage lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya.

The king is credited with composing a new edition of the Ramakian (the Thai version of the Ramayand) to replace manuscripts of the Thai national epic that were lost in the conflagration.

Thai influence grows in the following years until challenged by Western powers.

In 1795 the Thai seize the provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap in Cambodia, where throughout the first half of the next century Chakkri kings will resist Vietnamese incursions.

The conflict between the Thai and the Vietnamese is resolved finally by a compromise providing for the establishment of a joint protectorate over Cambodia.

The Thai also press their claim to suzerainty in the Malay state of Kedah in the face of growing British interest in the peninsula.

As a result of the Anglo- Burmese War (1824-26), Britain annexes territory in the region that had been contested by the Thai and the Burmese for centuries.

This move leads to the signing of the Burney Treaty in 1826, an Anglo-Thai agreement that allows British merchants modest trade concessions in the kingdom.

In 1833 the Thai will reach a similar understanding with the United States.

Sin, the Tai governor of the Ayuttayan province of Tak, had been called to the capital to help defend the city from the Burmese besiegers.

On January 3, 1766, at the head of five hundred followers, Sin had cut his way out of the city to Rayong, on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, where he had raised a small army and his supporters began to address him as Prince Tak.

This action will never be adequately explained, as the Royal compound and Ayutthaya proper is located on an island; how Taksin and his followers fought their way out of the Burmese encirclement remains a mystery.

On April 7, 1767, Ayutthaya had faced the full force of the Burmese siege.

After the destruction of Ayutthaya and the death of the Thai king, the country had split into six parts, with Sin controlling the east coast.

Together with Tong-Duang, now Chao Phraya Chakri, he eventually manages to drive back the Burmese, defeat his rivals and reunify the country.

Due to his courage and skill in fighting the enemy, he is promoted to be the governor of Kamphaeng Phet with the title of Phraya Vajiraprakarn, but he is popularly referred as Phraya.

With his soldiers he had moved to Chanthaburi, and being rebuffed by the Governor of the town for his friendly overtures, he had made a surprise night attack on it and captured it on June 15, 1767, only two months of after the sack of Ayutthaya.

His army was rapidly increasing in numbers, as men of Chanthaburi and Trat, which had not been plundered and depopulated by the Burmese, naturally constituted a suitable base for him to make preparations for the liberation of his motherland.

The Burmese, having thoroughly looted Ayutthaya, did not seem to show serious interest in holding down the Siamese capital, since they had left only a handful of troops under General Suki to control the shattered city.

They had turned their attention to the north of their own country, which is soon threatened with Chinese invasion.

On November 6, 1767, having marshaled five thousand troops and all in fine spirits, Taksin had sailed up the Chao Phraya River and seized Thonburi opposite present day Bangkok, executing the Thai governor, Thong-in, whom the Burmese had placed over the city.

He had followed up his victory quickly by boldly attacking the main Burmese camp at Phosamton near Ayutthaya.

On December 28, 1767, he was crowned king of Siam at Wang Derm Palace in Thonburi, the new capital of Siam.

He had assumed the official name of Boromraja IV and "Phra Sri Sanphet", but is known in Thai history as King Taksin, being a combination of his popular name, Phya Tak, and his first name, Sin, or the King of Thonburi, being the only ruler of this capital.

At the time of his coronation, he was only thirty-four years of age.

The Burmese were defeated, and Taksin wins back Ayutthaya from the enemy within seven months of its destruction.

The great legal work of Rama I, the Code of 1805—1808, is also known as the Law of the Three Seals.

He also takes steps to improve the Buddhist Church and oversees the compilation of a new edition of Buddhist Scriptures.

Rama I successfully defends his kingdom from Burmese incursions and receives the provinces of Battambong, and Siemrap from Cambodia.

By the time of Rama I’s death of in 1809, the Thai kingdom has annexed Chiang Mai and holds Kedah, Perlis, Kelantam, and Trengganu as vassal states.

Rama II succeeds him and continues his predecessor’s interest in religious and literary matters.

He also resumes relations with the West, suspended since the fall of Ayutthaya.

Siam's princes and other conservatives had successfully resisted the reform agenda of the young Rama V, but as the older generation was replaced by younger and western-educated princes, resistance had faded.

The king can always argue that the only alternative is foreign rule.

He has found powerful allies in his brothers Prince Chakkraphat, whom he has made finance minister, Prince Damrong, who has organized interior government and education, and his brother-in-law Prince Devrawongse, who will serve as foreign minister for thirty-eight ears.

Devrawongse visits Europe in 1887, to study government systems.

On his recommendation, the king establishes a Cabinet government, an audit office, and an education department.

The semiautonomous status of Chiang Mai is ended and the army is reorganized and modernized.