Prince Anou recognized the suzerainty of the Siamese and assisted the Thai armies in their campaigns against the Burmese. In 1819, he suppressed a revolt by a "mad monk" in Champasak. Champasak's aged ruler had died while taking refuge in Bangkok. With the support of Krommeunchetsadabodin (later King Rama III), Anouvong persuaded King Rama II to appoint Anouvong's son, Prince Ratxabout, to the vacant throne in Champasak.[2]
The decisive British victory in the first Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) placed Tenasserim, the main Burmese invasion route, under British control. Moreover, the 1826 Burney Treaty made Siam appear to Anouvong to be weak. Increased Siamese incursion into Vientiane territory and politics, such as replacing all significant governing post made by Vientiane with those only loyal to Bangkok, taking of Lao slaves, He decided to rebel and gain complete independence from Thailand. He intended to retake all territory lost to Siam, reinstate control over Korat which as been increasingly become under the control of Bangkok and move all of the captured Lao families back to Lao region.[3]
King Anouvong's army advanced into the fortified city of Korat which has long been the main border city between Lao Korat and Siamese central Thailand. However, his plan to reinstate Lao control over Korat and to relocate many other Korat residents to Vientiane, misfired with a mutiny among the non-Lao members of the captives. According to local tradition, the mutiny was led by Lady Mo, wife of the deputy governor. Advancing as far as Saraburi, Saraburi being a town entirely created by captured Lao families since the first sacking of Vientiane, Anouvong learned the Siamese now were ready for him and ordered his army to fall back. The Thai army pursued and overtook him near Vientiane. Anouvong was finally defeated after three days of fighting by General Sing Singhaseni (สิงห์ สิงหเสนี, at the time styled Phraya Rajsuphawadi.) In retaliation for Anouvong's disloyalty, King Rama III ordered Anouvong's capital to be sacked. Anouvong gained Vietnamese assistance and soon recovered Vientiane, killing its small Thai garrison. However, the Thai army returned, defeating his Lao and Vietnamese troops and capturing Anouvong himself. The furious Thai monarch ordered the Anouvong's capital of Vientiane completely destroyed; only the important Buddhist temple Wat Si Saket was spared.[4] Anouvong was brought to Bangkok to face the man he had rebelled against. King Rama III ordered him to be kept in an iron cage, where he remained until his death the following year at age 61.