Our Wars with the Burmese

Title page of the 1920 edition (volume 1: Ayutthaya)

Thai Rop Phama (Thai: ไทยรบพม่า, lit. 'Thai fought the Burmese'), translated into English as Our Wars with the Burmese, is a book on Thai history written by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, with volumes first published in 1917 and 1920. It frames the history of Thailand from the Ayutthaya to early Rattanakosin periods as a continuous struggle to maintain independence, represented by an extensive series of wars—44 in total between 1538 and 1853—against the aggression of neighbouring Burma.[1]

Although the work is based largely on the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya, Damrong reframed the chronicles' then-traditional approach to historiography—which ascribed historical events to the moral power of individual kings—and transformed it into a narrative centred around the newly introduced concept of nationhood, reflecting the anti-colonial and rising Thai nationalist thought of the period.[1][2]

The book is one of the most influential works on the historiography of Thailand, described by Thongchai Winichakul as "probably the most powerful narrative in modern Thai historiography"[1] and noted by Sunait Chutintaranond as being "responsible for popularizing the image of the Burmese as an enemy of the Thai nation".[3] It, together with Damrong's other writings, greatly influenced subsequent works such as Khun Wichitmatra's Lak Thai, and its concepts have become incorporated into school history textbooks ever since.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Winichakul, Thongchai (2011). "Siam's Colonial Conditions and the Birth of Thai History". In Grabowsky, Volker (ed.). Southeast Asian Historiography: Unravelling the Myths. River Books. p. 36–38. ISBN 9789749863978.
  2. ^ Jory, Patrick (2011). "Thai Historical Writing". In Schneider, Axel; Woolf, Daniel (eds.). The Oxford History of Historical Writing. Volume 5, Historical writing since 1945. Oxford University Press. p. 542. ISBN 9780191036774.
  3. ^ a b Chutintaranond, Sunait (1992). "The image of the Burmese enemy in Thai perceptions and historical writings" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society. 80 (1): 89–103.