Have Thailand be partitioned between Britain and France as colonies POD 1825-1914

[Sabes Tnarfopa]

The Point of Divergence is 1825 AD and you have to achieve the goal before 1914 AD.
Your goal here is to have Thailand be Partitioned between Britain and France as a part of their colonial empire rather then a buffer state like our Timeline.
Will the French add East Thailand to French Indochina? Will the British add west Thailand to British India? Maybe add Malay Peninsula and Singapore to British India perhaps? Or Maybe latter on Thailand is portioned between British Burma and British Malaysia perhaps? Could this happen with better British-French Relations? How will the Thai React? What will happen to the Thai Monarchy? How will the butterflies effect the Asian Theater of World War 2 or the Indochina Civil Wars or the Burma Insurgency etc
Would East Thailand go Communist? Is the possibility of Thailand being partitioned in between Britain and France complete ASB? Please tell me what you think the butterflies would be, how this can happen or if it can happen and overall what do you think!

 

[Lampiao]

The most natural way to divide it is to separate the Chao Phraya basin from the Isan, which is not only geographically different from the alluvial plains of Central Thailand but also linguistically closer to Lao.

EDIT: by the way, the division of Thailand isn't politically interesting for any European power during the 19th century.

 

[Grey Wolf]

If you look at how it went with Burma, first Britain took half the coast, then they took the other half of the coast, then they drove inland and took the now-coastless kingdom. As for the Northern parts of what is now Burma, just accepting British dominance was enough to see them counted in the Empire, even if they basically continued much as they had done previously.

Both Britain and France took SOME lands off Siam, Britain to add to Malaya and France to add to Cambodia, within their empires.

While I agree that OTL the decision was made in both European countries that a surviving Siam meant that Britain and France's colonial interests in Indo-China did not or rarely ever did, come into direct confrontation, that decision is not an absolute, and is certainly not a given.

If either country decided that taking over Siam was more important, or if relations between both European powers were so bad anyway, that they decided it did not matter whether their interests clashed directly in Indo-China, then the policy could have been abandoned.

I would think that any power abandoning the policy would first try to become the pre-eminent power within Siam, but if the monarchy attempts to stay above this, then make claims in border and coastal zones.

 

[LostInNewDelhi]

The only part of Siam that matters is the Chao Phraya basin and the cities at its mouth, Isan is a comparatively poor consolation prize that only offers the possibility for glorious Lan Xang borders for Laos. Whichever country doesn't get Bangkok is going to feel shorted unless they can spin it to the public as "hey, more land for rubber/spice plantations!" and sell the locals' lands and rights to as many concessionary companies as possible to make up for lost revenues. Yeah you can spin it as a buffer but the mountainous Shan states are already a buffer for Burma, Cambodia/Laos are already buffers for Vietnam, how many buffers are you really willing to pay for? But then again, even those buffers were only extorted from Siam over the 1890s. So if something were to happen earlier, Britain/France would not have any buffers to start with, and so could be justified in claiming as much as possible.

In a climate of French-British distrust sometime after the 1870s, maybe caused by Siam tilting too close to one country or another during a period of tension/world-war scare, either one can make irredentist claims on behalf of the peoples it controls. I'm thinking something like France trying to muscle in on Malaya/the Straits, and so supporting a Siamese initiative to conquer more Malay sultanates until it's right up to Johor/Singapore. Sounds like something Napoleon III would do, if Prussia doesn't distract him, but after a war with the Germans France won't attempt this. Even if they win, threatening one power right after beating up another just doesn't make it seem like you're interested in the European balance of power, and that makes you an enemy of Europe.

This "West Thailand," even if it includes the Chao Phraya, would be a weak construct though. Lan Na was administratively separate from Thailand until the 1910s, so if it's absorbed into the colonial empires separately it could develop a real independent streak. East Thailand would have the same problems but with Isan. Basically, dividing Thailand would lead inevitably to the conclusion that central, Ayutthayan Thai occupy a far smaller area than they claim, and territory they claim can be assigned to other countries/colonies without any objections from the receiving party.

 

[Sabes Tnarfopa]

Alright but after the British and French Partitioned Thailand how will it effect World War 2 when Japan invades Southeast Asia?