Taksin Rallies Siamese Resistance

1767

A half-Chinese general named Taksin escaped Ayutthaya on horseback with 500 men. Within a year he had recaptured the lower Chao Phraya, established a new capital at Thonburi, and declared himself king. Siam would survive. Taksin would go mad, be deposed, and end his days executed in a sack. His successor, Chakri, moved the capital across the river to Bangkok, where it remains today.