evidence: The background to the conflict dates back to the period of the great Angkorian Empire, when the territory of Cambodia stretched across most of South East Asia, preceding the emergence of Siam as a nation-state now known as Thailand. The 11th century temple of Preah Vihear preceded the completion of legendary Angkor Wat and Bayon temples, also renowned World Heritage sites. [...] Ultra-nationalists in Thailand hark back to the days of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat’s military dictatorship which had occupied the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear in the late 1950s. Many in right-wing nationalist circles in Thailand never fully accepted either the World Court verdict or Cambodian sovereignty over the temple. Thongchai Winichakul, Thai Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin in the US, commented that the temple furore demonstrated that "the dark side of nationalism is dangerous as ever". The author of Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo Body of a Nation, he wrote in his book: "The Preah Vihear World Heritage case has gone beyond technicalities. It is abused to arouse the delusion that the temple belongs to Thailand, and a desire to revive the claim".