Literally everyone of its neighboring countries was colonized by the West for centuries except them. How were they able to succeed in maintaining their independence when everyone around them took years of political struggle to be free?
In: 205
They played France and Britain against each other and allowed each to have some commercial interests. They did keep a large standing army and were ready to ally themselves to both, and neither UK not France were particularly motivated to wage a war there – note that Cambodia, immediately to the east (and an open plains all the way to Bangkok ) became a French protectorate by choice/colony by administrative wrangling and not through military action, so France was pretty content to keep it that way.
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