The military is one form of influence (that is, power not recognised by law or custom), but this does not mean the military has no power (that is, power recognised by law and custom). The military does have power, but under any system of government other than military dictatorship, it is only a little power. The military always has only a small portion of power because whatever it does depends on decisions taken by others, whether a king, prime minister, or dictator.
Thailand has only had a standing army since the Fifth Reign (today’s army likes to celebrate military victories before this time, but really these are victories by a totally different army – victories by the Thai king leading the peasants out to fight). Not long after there was a standing army, it started to become unhappy with the little power it had. In the Sixth Reign, the army was unhappy that the king spared only a small part of the budget for the army. Some parts of the army even tried to overthrow the absolute monarchy, but without success. 23 Relations between the military and King Rama VI were not good throughout the reign.
The military began to expand its power through influence both in the lower ranks and at the Cabinet level. It’s notable also that newspaper articles at that time tended to cheer the military. Newspapers published by the military such as Senasuksa commanded an audience wider than the military circle. This amounted to increasing the influence of the military in Thai society in general.
But it is not at all surprising that people (at least in Bangkok) cheered the influence of the military. In the view of the Thai, influence is necessary to constrain power. What is more, the military has influence unlike other types of influence because it is not limited within a specific boundary. The military has a position within the bureaucracy, so it is both power and a tool of power. But the military itself does not have that much power. Thus it finds it difficult to be a danger to anybody. The military only has influence on which people in general can depend, or with which they can build an individual relationship more easily than with power. Hence there was no influence better than the military to limit the rapidly expanding power of the rulers in the new bureaucracy and the absolute monarchy.
Thus on 24 June 1932, the military was the main factor in the overthrow of the absolute monarchy. With the world situation offering no obstruction, the military became the biggest influence in Thailand, even though under the law and custom of democratic government, the military still had only a little power, as before.