The Wild Tiger Corps

The Wild Tiger Corps was a paramilitary militia formed by King Rama VI in 1911, modeled on the British Volunteer Force, which the king had observed during his time in England, where he was educated at Oxford and Sandhurst. The name was a homage to a scout corps founded by the Ayutthaya King Nareusan around 1600.

The Wild Tigers were drawn from all levels of society, including commoners, and espoused the principles of meritocracy, discipline and mass education. While the king was keen to emphasize that the Wild Tigers were meant to augment, not replace, the regular armed forces, his devotion to the corps and his socialization with them lead to resentment in both the regular army and the aristocracy. This resentment lead to Thailand's first ever attempted military coup. Although the coup failed, it did inspire the successful revolution ending the absolute monarchy in 1932.

After the attempted coup, the Wild Tigers were quietly disbanded.

The king also established a junior wing of the Wild Tigers, based on the Boy Scout movement and called the Tiger Cubs. Although the Tiger Cubs got off to a rocky start, they eventually survived the disbanding of the Wild Tigers and became an established scouting organization.