Period Two

Ayuthaya Kingdom

Liberation of Ayuthaya

The raise of Khun Pirentoratep to King maha Thammaracha brought as well a new dynasty with the Sukhothai to power in Ayuthaya. The strategy of the new king to strengthen the kingdom also after it had become a vassal state of Burma proved itself quickly as successful. Between 1575 and 1578 AD, the Kingdom of Cambodia tried a couple of times to invade but did never succeed.

As King Bhueng Noreng of Burma had been succeed in 1581 AD by his son Nanda Bhueng, Prince Naresuan declared independence of Ayuthaya again after only three years of waiting in 1584 AD.

The Burmese king was of course not happy with seeing that happening and so it took him only half a year that he assembled his troops and marched into Siam with troops of 300,000 men But the Burmese failed mainly because Prince naresuan applied the strategy of scorched earth, burning everything that was on the way of the Burmese so that the attackers ran out of resources.

In 1586 AD, Prince Naresuan annoyed the Burmese even more as he seized Chiang mai which had been under Burmese control as vassal state. So, King Nanda Bhueng gathered again his forces to attack Siam. but this time the losses were even bigger than the first time and after only three months the Burmese were forced to retreat.

In that bottleneck situation as his army had been weakened by the war against Burma, the Cambodian decided to take advantage of the situation. But the superb strategies of Prince Naresuan saved the country from any territorial losses.