Laos
Laos was largely unimportant to the French and was only used as a buffer state between Thailand and the areas that France was concerned with, Annam and Tonkin. Laos never accounted for more than 1% of French Indochina’s exports. It never became a place with a large French population either, with only about 600 French citizens in Laos in 1940.
However, during WWII, Laos was occupied by 5 different armies; Vichy France, Thailand, Imperial Japan, the Free French Force, and the Chinese nationalists. On March 9, 1945, a Laos nationalist group declared independence and named Luang Prabang as the capital. At the time Sisavang Vong of Luang Prabang was King and ruler of Laos, but he did not outright declare independence when the nationalist group did.
In April 1945, the Japanese invaded Laos and tried to force King Sisavang Vong to declare Laotian independence but the King refused. Instead he declared that Laos was no longer a French protectorate. The King then privately sent a prince to the Japanese and a prince to the Allies to advocate for Laos. When the Japanese surrendered, nationalists once again declared independence.
By early 1946, French troops once again occupied Laos and conferred limited autonomy. During the First Indochina War, the Pathet Lao resistance organization began fighting the French Colonial forces with the help of the Viet Minh. Laos gained semi-autonomy as an “associated state” within the French Union in 1950. The French only remained in de facto control until 1953, when Laos was granted full independence and became a constitutional monarchy.