Of the three countries that were once part of French Indochina, Laos is perhaps the least talked about — and historically, the least centralized. Before colonial rule, there wasn’t a unified Laotian state as we know it today. The region was a patchwork of small kingdoms. Over time, these kingdoms fractured, and much of the territory fell under the control of Siam (modern-day Thailand), serving as a vassal state for over a century.

That changed in 1893, when tensions between France and Siam escalated into open conflict. After a brief but decisive military confrontation, France forced Siam to sign the Franco–Siamese Treaty, compelling it to cede all territory east of the Mekong River — including present-day Laos — to French control. From that point on, Laos was folded into French Indochina. Unlike Vietnam or Cambodia, Laos was treated more as a buffer state than a colonial prize, and the French invested little in its development.

With the end of French colonialism in the mid-20th century, there was a brief window when the future of Laos was uncertain. Some in France — and even in Thailand — floated the idea of returning the Lao territories to Siamese control, especially given their historical ties. But geopolitics had shifted. France had no interest in strengthening Thailand, which had aligned itself with Japan during World War II. More importantly, France wanted to preserve some semblance of influence in the region, even as its empire was unraveling.

Rather than risk empowering a regional rival, France backed the creation of an independent Laos. It began as a constitutional monarchy under royal rule, but as political tensions grew, the country became a battleground between communist and Western-backed forces during the Cold War. And that’s how we ended up with modern-day Laos: not a return to Thai rule, but a newly drawn nation-state shaped as much by colonial strategy as by its own cultural roots.