The Fall of Ayutthaya and Rise of Thonburi

In April 1767, after a 14-month siege, Burmese forces captured and utterly destroyed Ayutthaya — burning the city, melting gold from Buddha statues, carrying off the royal family as captives, and destroying manuscripts, libraries, and centuries of artistic heritage. The destruction was so complete that the city was abandoned permanently. But the Thai recovery was astonishingly swift. General Taksin, a military commander of Chinese-Thai descent, rallied surviving troops, defeated rival warlords, expelled the Burmese within seven months, and established a new capital at Thonburi (across the river from present-day Bangkok). By 1770, Taksin had reunified the Thai kingdom. He was later deposed and executed in 1782, replaced by his general Chao Phraya Chakri, who founded the Chakri dynasty — the dynasty that rules Thailand to this day — and moved the capital across the river to Bangkok.