Question

King Chulalongkorn is best known for Select one: a. granting special trade concessions to Britain that gave the British a monopoly on rubber production. b. fighting an unsuccessful war against China that weakened Siam and opened the way to British invasion. c. implementing modernizing reforms that helped his country withstand Western incursions. d. introducing a constitutional monarchy based on that of Germany.

Answer 1

Answer: c. implementing modernizing reforms that helped his country withstand Western incursions.

Explanation:

Chulalongkorn was King of Siam (now Thailand) from October 1, 1868 until his death on October 23, 1910, after which he was called Rama V. He was the fifth king of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand and is considered one of the greatest sovereigns this country has had for its efforts to modernize it to prevent it from becoming a European colony, as it had happened with neighboring countries.

As an example of his achievements, highlights the fact that he hired foreign experts to teach Thai people the necessary knowledge to deal with the different areas of government, education and life style of the new Westernized model he was implementing. However, he was careful to hire professionals of different nationalities for each task so that no country would achieve enough power to challenge his authority and try to colonize the kingdom.