What is Anouvong?

Anouvong Chao Anou
King
Reign	Vientiane: 1805 - 1828
Full name	Saya-Sethathirath III
Born	1767
Died	1835
Buried

Anouvong or Chao Anou or Saya-Sethathirath III (1767-1835)^[1] was the last king of Wieng Chang (Vientiane), ruling from 1805 to 1828 after ascending to the throne upon his brother's death. He had long been an ally of the Thais in their wars against the Burmese. However, during the period between 1826 and 1828 he rebelled against Siam in an attempt to regain complete independence. He successfully captured Nakhon Ratchasima and came within a day's march of Bangkok, but then his army was forced to retreat. It was defeated near Vientiane in three days of fighting. In retaliation the Thai King Rama III ordered his troops to sack Vientiane. Anouvong escaped and returned with Vietnamese help, but was defeated again and this time captured. The angry Thai monarch ordered Vientiane destroyed and Anouvong died a prisoner in Bangkok, where he was kept in an iron cage.

Modern Lao nationalist movements have turned Anouvong into a hero, even though his strategic and tactical mistakes and his hot temper led to the destruction of Vientiane and a permanent division of the Lao nation.

It was Anouvong who ordered the building of Wat Sisakhet in Vientiane. His elephant howdah is displayed in the Laotian National Museum.

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