By 1870, Thailand evidently realized that ….if the national sovereignty was to be successfully maintained and the national unity was to be hopefully achieved, backwardness had, by every means, to be wiped out and modernization in all respects had to be immediately launched..”
(Ministry of Education, 1976, p.6)
National Sovereignty – independence
National unity is referred to as something that could be ‘hopefully achieved’ – suggesting that Thailand was not unified at this time?