Dictatorship
Main article: Siamese revolution of 1932
The story represented by these sculptures was a considerable distortion of the truth. In fact the 1932 coup was planned and executed almost without bloodshed by a small group of officers and some civilian collaborators, while the king was on holiday at the seaside (see History of Thailand (1768-1932)). The coup was followed by the promulgation of Thailand's first constitution, but this was far from fully democratic. In the mid 1930s there was an attempt to progress to full democracy, but this broke down amid a split between the military and civilian elements of the government, and by 1939, when the Democracy Monument was built, Thailand was in effect a military dictatorship.