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Asmodean,
No need to lecture me on Thai history, I wrote a 10-page article on it a while ago
What doesn't really become clear from your post is that the Thai and the Burmese have more or less constantly been at war or at foot of war with each other from the 16th century onwards, and Ayuttaya was captured by the Burmese several times (most notably between ~1560 and ~1580 and again in the 1760s, until it was sacked and burnt for good in 1767, as you indeed mention). Even today there are still tensions in the Thailand-Myanmar border region (as I discovered when I was there last year), not in the last place because Myanmar isn't a very stable country these days.
Since I only visited the west and south of Thailand, I don't have much firsthand experience regarding the Thai-Cambodian/Khmer relationship, so I'll take atawa's word for it if he says it's apparently just as bad as the Thai-Burmese relationship.
But yes, ethnically and culturally, Thailand is a mess
From my experiences it would seem though that the Chakkri dynasty did a fairly good job in creating a single Thai national identity (with sometimes scaringly strong patriotic/nationalist tendencies, as atawa hints at), so I'd say it suffices to say your wife is Thai 
What was the original topic of this thread again?
No need to lecture me on Thai history, I wrote a 10-page article on it a while ago
What doesn't really become clear from your post is that the Thai and the Burmese have more or less constantly been at war or at foot of war with each other from the 16th century onwards, and Ayuttaya was captured by the Burmese several times (most notably between ~1560 and ~1580 and again in the 1760s, until it was sacked and burnt for good in 1767, as you indeed mention). Even today there are still tensions in the Thailand-Myanmar border region (as I discovered when I was there last year), not in the last place because Myanmar isn't a very stable country these days.
Since I only visited the west and south of Thailand, I don't have much firsthand experience regarding the Thai-Cambodian/Khmer relationship, so I'll take atawa's word for it if he says it's apparently just as bad as the Thai-Burmese relationship.
But yes, ethnically and culturally, Thailand is a mess
From my experiences it would seem though that the Chakkri dynasty did a fairly good job in creating a single Thai national identity (with sometimes scaringly strong patriotic/nationalist tendencies, as atawa hints at), so I'd say it suffices to say your wife is Thai What was the original topic of this thread again?
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