(Redirected from Burmese Kingdom)
The 'History of
Myanmar' (formerly Burma) is long and complex. Several races of people have lived in the region, the oldest of which are probably the
Mon or the
Pyu. In the
9th century the
Bamar (Burman) people migrated from the then
China-
Tibet border region into the valley of the
Ayeyarwady, and now form the governing majority.
The history of the region comprises complexities not only within the country but also with its neighbouring countries,
China,
India,
Bangladesh,
Viet Nam,
Laos and
Thailand.
Early History of Myanmar
Humans lived in the region that is now Myanmar as early as 11,000 years ago, but the first identifiable civilisation is that of the
Pyu although both Burman and
Mon tradition claim that the fabled
Suvarnabhumi mentioned in ancient
Pali and
Sanskrit texts was a Mon kingdom centred on
Thaton in present day
Mon state.
Artifacts from the excavated site of
Nyaunggan help to reconstruct
Bronze Age life in Myanmar and the more recent archaeological evidence at
Samon Valley south of Mandalay suggests rice growing settlements between about 500 BC and 200 AD which traded with Qin and Han dynasty China.
[1]
Pyu
Main articles: Pyu city-states
The
Pyu arrived in Myanmar in the 1st century BC and established city kingdoms at
Binnaka,
Mongamo,
Sri Ksetra,
Peikthanomyo, and
Halingyi. During this period, Myanmar was part of an overland trade route from China to India. Chinese sources state that the Pyu controlled 18 kingdoms and describe them as a humane and peaceful people. War was virtually unknown amongst the Pyu, and disputes were often solved through duels by champions or building competitions. They even wore silk cotton instead of actual silk so they would not have to kill silk worms. Crime was punished by whippings and jails were unknown, though serious crimes could result in the death penalty. The Pyu practiced
Theravada Buddhism, and all children were educated as novices in the temples from the age of seven until the age of 20.
The Pyu city-states never unified into a Pyu kingdom, but the more powerful cities often dominated and called for tribute from the lesser cities. The most powerful city by far was Sri Ksetra, which archaeological evidence indicates was the largest city that has ever been built in Burma. The exact date of its founding is not known, though likely to be prior to a dynastic change in A.D. 94 that Pyu chronicles speak of. Sri Ksetra was apparently abandoned around A.D. 656 in favour of a more northerly capital, though the exact site is not known. Some historians believe it was Halingyi. Wherever the new capital was located, it was sacked by the kingdom of
Nanzhao in the mid-9th century, ending the Pyu's period of dominance.
Mon
Main articles: Mon kingdoms
The 6th century
Mon kingdom of
Dvaravati in the lower
Chao Phraya valley in present day
Thailand extended its frontiers to the
Tenasserim Yoma ( mountains ). With subjugation by the
Khmer Empire from
Angkor in the 11th century the
Mon shifted further west deeper into present day
Myanmar. Oral tradition suggests that they had contact with
Buddhism via seafaring as early as the 3rd century BC and had received an envoy of monks from
Ashoka in the 2nd century BC.
The Mons adopted Indian culture together with
Theravada Buddhism and are thought to have founded kingdoms in
Lower Burma including
Thaton in the 6th or 7th century and
Bago (
Pegu) in 825 with the kingdom of Raman'n'adesa ( or Ramanna which is believed to be Thaton ) referenced by Arab geographers in 844-848.
[1] The lack of archaeological evidence for this may in part be due to the focus of excavation work predominantly being in
Upper Burma.
Pagan Kingdom
Main articles: Pagan Kingdom
To the north another group of people, the
Bamar ( Mranma / Myanma ) , also began to settle in the area. By
849, they had founded a powerful kingdom centred on the city of
Pagan (spelled Bagan today) filling the void left by the Pyu.
Bamar tradition maintains that the
Bamar ( Mranma / Myanma ) were originally of three tribes : the Pyu ; the Thet ; and the Kanyan. Indeed , Pyu as a language and as a people simply disappeared soon after the
Myazedi Inscription of 1113. The word
Mranma ,in both Mon and Myanmar inscriptions , came into being only at about the same time , lending support to this claim that the Pyu were an earlier vanguard of southward
Tibeto-Burman migration who were entirely absorbed into a newly formed identity by later waves of similar people .
The
Pagan Kingdom grew in relative isolation until the reign of
Anawrahta (1044-77) who successfully unified all of Myanmar by defeating the Mon city of
Thaton in 1057. Consolidation was accomplished under his successors
Kyanzittha (1084–1112) and
Alaungsithu (1112-67), so that by the mid-12th century, most of continental
Southeast Asia was under the control of either the Pagan Kingdom or the
Khmer Empire. The Pagan kingdom went into decline as more land and resources fell into the hands of the powerful
Sangha (monkhood) and the
Mongols threatened from the north. The last true ruler of Pagan,
Narathihapate (1254-87) felt confident in his ability to resist the Mongols and advanced into
Yunnan in 1277 to make war upon them. He was thoroughly crushed at the
Battle of Ngasaunggyan, and Pagan resistance virtually collapsed. The king was assassinated by his own son in 1287, precipitating a Mongol invasion in the
Battle of Pagan; the Mongols successfully captured most of the empire, including its capital, and ended the dynasty in 1289 when they installed a puppet ruler in Myanmar.
Ava and Pegu (c. 1364-1555)
:''Main articles:
Ava and
Bago, Myanmar''
After the collapse of Pagan authority, Myanmar was divided. A Burman
Ava Dynasty (1364-1527) was eventually established at the city of
Ava by 1364. Pagan culture was revived and a great age of Burmese literature ensued. The kingdom lacked easily defendable borders, however, and was overrun by the
Shan in 1527.
To the south in
Lower Burma, a
Mon dynasty established itself first at
Martaban and then at
Pegu. During the reign of king
Rajadhirat (1383–1421) Ava and Pegu were involved in continuous warfare. The peaceful reign of
Queen Baña Thau (Burmese: Shin Saw Bu;1453-72) came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk
Dhammazedi (1472-92) to succeed her. Under
Dhammazedi Pegu became a centre of commerce and
Theravada Buddhism.
The Kingdom of Ava was involved in continuous warfare with
Tai (Shan) princelings to the north on the frontier with
Yunnan. There were repeated Tai raids on the capital of Ava and Ava sent military northwards to attack Tai fiefdoms such as
Mong Mao. The
Ming dynasty that ruled China from the late fourteenth century often tried unsuccessfully to put an end to this warfare through traditional Chinese diplomacy. Ava occasionally became involved in the warfare between the Ming and Tai in Yunnan such as in the
Luchuan-Pingmian Campaigns (1436-49).
Toungoo Dynasties
Main articles: Toungoo Dynasty
King
Mingyinyo founded the
First Toungoo Dynasty (1486–1599) at
Toungoo, south of Ava, towards the end of the Ava dynasty. After the conquest of Ava by the Shan invaders in 1527 many Burmans migrated to
Toungoo which became a new center for Burmese rule.
Mingyinyo's son king
Tabinshwehti (1531-50) unified most of Myanmar. By this time, the geopolitical situation in Southeast Asia had changed dramatically. The Shan gained power in a new kingdom in the North,
Ayutthaya (
Siam), while the
Portuguese had arrived in the south and conquered
Malacca. With the coming of
European traders, Myanmar was once again an important trading centre, and Tabinshwehti moved his capital to
Pegu due to its strategic position for commerce. Tabinshwehti was able to gain control of Lower Burma up to Prome, but the campaigns he led to the
Arakan,
Ayutthaya, and Ava in Upper Burma were unsuccessful.
When
Bayinnaung (1551-81), Tabinshwehti's brother-in-law, succeeded to the throne he launched a campaign of conquest invading several states, including
Manipur (1560) and
Ayutthaya (1569). His wars stretched Myanmar to the limits of its resources, however, and both Manipur and Ayutthaya were soon independent once again.
Faced with rebellion by several cities and renewed Portuguese incursions, the Toungoo rulers withdrew from southern Myanmar and founded a second dynasty at Ava, the
Restored Toungoo Dynasty (1597–1752). Bayinnaung's grandson,
Anaukpetlun, once again reunited Myanmar in 1613 and decisively defeated Portuguese attempts to take over Myanmar. His successor
Thalun reestablished the principles of the old Pagan kingdom, but concentrated his efforts on religious merit and paid little attention to the southern part of his kingdom. Encouraged by the
French in
India, Pegu finally rebelled against Ava, further weakening the state, which fell in 1752.
Konbaung Dynasty
Main articles: Konbaung dynasty
It did not take long for a new dynasty, the
Konbaung Dynasty, to arise and bring Myanmar to its greatest power yet. A popular Burmese leader named
Alaungpaya drove the Pegu forces out of northern Myanmar by 1753, and by 1759 he had once again conquered Pegu, resulting in total subjugation of the Mon people, and southern Myanmar, while also regaining control of Manipur. He established his capital briefly at Dagon, renaming it
Yangon (End of Strife). In 1760, he briefly conquered
Tenasserim. He also marched on
Ayutthaya, but became seriously ill and was forced to withdraw, ending the invasion, and he died on the journey back. His second son
Hsinbyushin (1763-76) returned to
Ayutthaya (
Siam) in 1766 and had conquered it before the end of the next year. Even
China began to fear expansion of Burmese power in the East and sent armies to Myanmar, but Hsinbyushin successfully repulsed four Chinese invasions between 1766 and 1769 stretching its limits within Chinese borders. Another of Alaungpaya's sons,
Bodawpaya (1781–1819), lost control of Ayutthaya, but added
Arakan (1784) and Tenasserim (1793) to the kingdom. In January 1824, during the reign of King
Bagyidaw (1819-37), a Burmese general
Maha Bandula succeeded in conquering
Assam, bringing Myanmar face to face with
British interests in India.
War with Britain and the fall of Myanmar
Main articles: Anglo-Burmese Wars
The expansion of Myanmar had consequences along its frontiers. As those frontiers moved ever closer to British India, there were problems both with refugees and military operations spilling over ill-defined borders. In response to the continued expansion and even direct attacks by Myanmar, the British and the Siamese joined forces against it in 1824. The
First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26) ended in a British victory, and by the
Treaty of Yandabo, Myanmar lost territory previously conquered in Assam, Manipur and Arakan. The British also took possession of Tenasserim with the intention to use it as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with either Myanmar or Siam. As the century wore on, the British in India began to covet the resources and main port of Myanmar during an era of great territorial expansion. In 1852, Commodore Lambert was despatched to Burma by
Lord Dalhousie over a number of minor issues related to the previous treaty. The Burmese immediately made concessions including the removal of a governor whom the British had made their
casus belli. Lambert eventually provoked a naval confrontation in extremely questionable circumstances and thus started the
Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, which ended in the British annexation of Pegu province, renamed
Lower Burma. The war resulted in a palace revolution in Myanmar, with King
Pagan Min (1846–52) being replaced by his half brother,
Mindon Min (1853-78). King Mindon tried to modernise the Burmese state and economy to resist British encroachments, and he established a new capital at
Mandalay, which he proceeded to fortify. This was not enough to stop the British, however, who claimed that Mindon's son
Thibaw Min (ruled 1878–85) was a tyrant intending to side with the French, that he had lost control of the country, thus allowing for disorder at the frontiers, and that he was reneging on a treaty signed by his father. The British declared war once again in 1885, conquering the remainder of the country in the
Third Anglo-Burmese War resulting in total annexation of Myanmar.
British rule
Main articles: British rule in Burma
"Burmese Pagodas", stereoptic view, c. 1890s
Britain made Myanmar a province of India in 1886 with the capital at Rangoon. Traditional Myanmar society was drastically altered by the demise of the monarchy and the separation of religion and state. Though war officially ended after only a couple of weeks, resistance continued in northern Myanmar until 1890, with the British finally resorting to a systematic destruction of villages and appointment of new officials to finally halt all guerrilla activity. The economic nature of society also changed dramatically. After the opening of the
Suez Canal, the demand for Burmese rice grew and vast tracts of land were opened up for cultivation. However, in order to prepare the new land for cultivation, farmers were forced to borrow money from Indian moneylenders called
chettiars at high interest rates and were often foreclosed on and evicted losing land and livestock. Most of the jobs also went to indentured Indian labourers, and whole villages became outlawed as they resorted to 'dacoity' (armed robbery). While the Burmese economy grew, all the power and wealth remained in the hands of several British firms and migrants from India. The civil service was largely staffed by Indians, and Burmese were excluded almost entirely from military service. Though the country prospered, the Burmese people failed to reap the rewards. (See George Orwell's novel ''
Burmese Days'' for a fictional account of the British in Burma.)
By the turn of the century, a nationalist movement began to take shape in the form of Young Men's Buddhist Associations (
YMBA), modelled on the
YMCA, as religious associations were allowed by the colonial authorities. They were later superseded by the General Council of Burmese Associations (GCBA) which was linked with ''Wunthanu athin'' or National Associations that sprang up in villages throughout Burma Proper.
[2] A new generation of Burmese leaders arose in the early twentieth century from amongst the educated classes that were permitted to go to
London to study law. They came away from this experience with the belief that the Burmese situation could be improved through reform. Progressive constitutional reform in the early 1920s led to a legislature with limited powers, a university and more autonomy for Burma within the administration of India. Efforts were also undertaken to increase the representation of Burmese in the civil service. Some people began to feel that the rate of change was not fast enough and the reforms not expansive enough.
In 1920 the first university students strike in history broke out in protest against the new University Act which the students believed would only benefit the elite and perpetuate colonial rule. 'National Schools' sprang up across the country in protest against the colonial education system, and the strike came to be commemorated as '
National Day'.
There were further strikes and anti-tax protests in the later 1920s led by the ''Wunthanu athin''s. Prominent among the political activists were Buddhist monks (''hpongyi''), such as U Ottama and U Seinda in the
Arakan who subsequently led an armed rebellion against the British and later the nationalist government after independence, and U Wisara, the first martyr of the movement to die after a protracted hunger strike in prison.
(One of the main thoroughfares in
Yangon is named after U Wisara.) In December 1930, a local tax protest by
Saya San in Tharrawaddy quickly grew into first a regional and then a national insurrection against the government. Lasting for two years, the ''Galon'' rebellion, named after the mythical bird
Garuda - enemy of the
Nagas i.e. the British - emblazoned on the pennants the rebels carried, required thousands of British troops to suppress along with promises of further political reform. The eventual trial of Saya San, who was executed, allowed several future national leaders, including Dr
Ba Maw and
U Saw, who participated in his defence, to rise to prominence.
May 1930 saw the founding of the ''
Dobama Asiayone'' (We Burmans Association) whose members called themselves ''Thakin'' (an ironic name as ''thakin'' means "master" in the Burmese language—rather like the Indian 'sahib'— proclaiming that they were the true masters of the country entitled to the term usurped by the colonial masters).
The second university students strike in 1936 was triggered by the expulsion of
Aung San and
Ko Nu, leaders of the
Rangoon University Students Union (RUSU), for refusing to reveal the name of the author who had written an article in their university magazine, making a scathing attack on one of the senior university officials. It spread to
Mandalay leading to the formation of the All Burma Students Union (ABSU). Aung San and Nu subsequently joined the Thakin movement progressing from student to national politics.
The British separated Burma from India in 1937 and granted the colony a new constitution calling for a fully elected assembly, but this proved to be a divisive issue as some Burmese felt that this was a ploy to exclude them from any further Indian reforms whereas other Burmese saw any action that removed Burma from the control of India to be a positive step.
Ba Maw served as the first prime minister of Burma, but he was forced out by
U Saw in 1939, who served as prime minister from 1940 until he was arrested on
January 19,
1942 by the British for communicating with the Japanese.
A wave of strikes and protests that started from the oilfields of central Burma in 1938 became a general strike with far-reaching consequences. In
Rangoon student protesters, after successfully picketing the Secretariat, the seat of the colonial government, were charged by the
British mounted police wielding batons and killing a
Rangoon University student called Aung Kyaw. In
Mandalay, the police shot into a crowd of protesters led by Buddhist monks killing 17 people. The movement became known as ''Htaung thoun ya byei ayeidawbon'' (the '1300 Revolution' named after the Burmese calendar year)
, and
December 20, the day the first martyr Aung Kyaw fell, commemorated by students as '
Bo Aung Kyaw Day'.
[3]
World War II and Japan
:''Main articles:
Japanese occupation of Burma and
Burma Campaign''
Some Burmese nationalists saw the outbreak of
World War II as an opportunity to extort concessions from the British in exchange for support in the war effort. Other Burmese such as the Thakin movement, opposed Burma's participation in the war under any circumstances. Aung San with other Thakins founded the
Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in August 1939.
literature as well as tracts from the
Sinn Fein movement in
Ireland had been widely circulated and read among political activists. Aung San also co-founded the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), renamed the
Socialist Party after the
Second World War. He was also instrumental in founding the ''Bama htwet yat gaing'' (Freedom Bloc) by forging an alliance of the Dobama, ABSU, politically active monks and Ba Maw's ''Sinyètha'' (Poor Man's) Party.
After the Dobama organization called for a national uprising, an arrest warrant was issued for many of the organization's leaders including
Aung San, who escaped to China. Aung San's intention was to make contact with the
Chinese Communists but he was detected by the
Japanese authorities who offered him support by forming a secret intelligence unit called the ''Minami Kikan'' headed by Colonel Suzuki with the objective of closing the
Burma Road and supporting a national uprising. Aung San briefly returned to Burma to enlist twenty-nine young men who went to Japan with him in order to receive military training on
Hainan Island,
China, and they came to be known as the "
Thirty Comrades". When the Japanese occupied
Bangkok in December 1941, Aung San announced the formation of the
Burma Independence Army (BIA) in anticipation of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942.
The BIA formed a provisional government in some areas of the country in the spring of 1942, but there were differences within the Japanese leadership over the future of Burma. While Colonel Suzuki encouraged the Thirty Comrades to form a provisional government, the Japanese Military leadership had never formally accepted such a plan. Eventually the Japanese Army turned to Ba Maw to form a government. During the war in 1942, the BIA had grown in an uncontrolled manner, and in many districts officials and even criminals appointed themselves to the BIA. It was reorganised as the Burma Defence Army (BDA) under the Japanese but still headed by Aung San. While the BIA had been an irregular force, the BDA was recruited by selection and trained as a conventional army by Japanese instructors. Ba Maw was afterwards declared head of state, and his cabinet included both Aung San as War Minister and the Communist leader
Thakin Than Tun as Minister of Land and Agriculture as well as the Socialist leaders Thakins Nu and Mya. When the Japanese declared Burma, in theory, independent in 1943, the Burma Defence Army (BDA) was renamed the
Burma National Army (BNA).
It soon became apparent that Japanese promises of independence were merely a sham and that Ba Maw was just a puppet. As the war turned against the Japanese, they declared Burma a fully sovereign state on
August 1 1943, but this was just another facade. Disillusioned, Aung San began negotiations with Communist leaders
Thakin Than Tun and
Thakin Soe, and Socialist leaders
Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein which led to the formation of the
Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) in August 1944 at a secret meeting of the CPB,the PRP and the BNA in
Pegu. The AFO was later renamed the
Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League(AFPFL).
Thakins Than Tun and Soe, while in Insein prison in July 1941, had co-authored the ''Insein Manifesto'' which, against the prevailing opinion in the Dobama movement, identified world
fascism as the main enemy in the coming war and called for temporary cooperation with the British in a broad allied coalition which should include the
Soviet Union. Soe had already gone underground to organise resistance against the Japanese occupation, and Than Tun was able to pass on Japanese intelligence to Soe, while other Communist leaders Thakins Thein Pe and Tin Shwe made contact with the exiled colonial government in
Simla,
India.
There were informal contacts between the AFO and the
Allies in 1944 and 1945 through the British organisation
Force 136. On
March 27 1945, the Burma National Army rose up in a countrywide rebellion against the Japanese.
March 27 had been celebrated as 'Resistance Day' until the military renamed it '
Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) Day'. Aung San and others subsequently began negotiations with
Lord Mountbatten and officially joined the
Allies as the Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF). At the first meeting, the AFO represented itself to the British as the provisional government of Burma with Thakin Soe as Chairman and Aung San as a member of its ruling committee. The Japanese were routed from most of Burma by May 1945. Negotiations then began with the British over the disarming of the AFO and the participation of its troops in a post-war Burma Army. Some veterans had been formed into a paramilitary force under Aung San, called the ''Pyithu yèbaw tat'' or People's Volunteer Organisation (PVO), and were openly drilling in uniform.
The absorption of the PBF was concluded successfully at the
Kandy conference in
Ceylon in September 1945.
From the Japanese surrender to Aung San's assassination
The surrender of the Japanese brought a military administration to Burma and demands to try Aung San for his involvement in a murder during military operations in 1942. Lord Mountbatten realized that this was an impossibility considering Aung San's popular appeal.
After the war ended, the British Governor, Sir
Reginald Dorman-Smith returned. The restored government established a political program that focused on physical reconstruction of the country and delayed discussion of independence. The AFPFL opposed the government leading to political instability in the country. A rift had also developed in the AFPFL between the Communists and Aung San together with the Socialists over strategy, which led to Than Tun being forced to resign as general secretary in July 1946 and the expulsion of the CPB from the AFPFL the following October.
Dorman-Smith was replaced by Sir
Hubert Rance as the new governor, and almost immediately after his appointment the Rangoon Police went on strike. The strike, starting in September 1946, then spread from the police to government employees and came close to becoming a general strike. Rance calmed the situation by meeting with Aung San and convincing him to join the Governor's Executive Council along with other members of the AFPFL.
The new executive council, which now had increased credibility in the country, began negotiations for Burmese independence, which were concluded successfully in
London as the
Aung San-
Atlee Agreement on
January 27 1947.
The agreement left parts of the communist and conservative branches of the AFPFL dissatisfied, however, sending the Red Flag Communists led by
Thakin Soe underground and the conservatives into opposition. Aung San also succeeded in concluding an agreement with ethnic minorities for a unified Burma at the
Panglong Conference on
February 12, celebrated since as 'Union Day'.
[4] Shortly after, rebellion broke out in the Arakan led by the veteran monk U Seinda, and it began to spread to other districts.
The popularity of the AFPFL, now dominated by Aung San and the Socialists, was eventually confirmed when it won an overwhelming victory in the April 1947 constituent assembly elections.
Then a momentous event stunned the nation on
July 19 1947.
U Saw, a conservative pre-war Prime Minister of Burma, engineered the assassination of Aung San and several members of his cabinet including his eldest brother Ba Win, the father of today's
National League for Democracy exile-government leader Dr Sein Win, while meeting in the Secretariat.
[5] July 19 has been commemorated since as
Martyrs' Day.
Thakin Nu, the Socialist leader, was now asked to form a new cabinet, and he presided over Burmese independence on
January 4,
1948. The popular sentiment to part with the British was so strong at the time that Burma opted not to join the
British Commonwealth, unlike India or Pakistan.
Independent Burma
Main articles: Post-Independence Burma, 1947-1962
The first years of Burmese independence were marked by successive insurgencies by the Red Flag Communists led by Thakin Soe, the White Flag Communists led by Thakin Than Tun, the ''Yèbaw Hpyu'' (White-band PVO) led by Bo La Yaung, a member of the
Thirty Comrades, army rebels calling themselves the Revolutionary Burma Army (RBA) led by Communist officers Bo Zeya, Bo Yan Aung and Bo Yè Htut - all three of them members of the Thirty Comrades, Arakanese Muslims or the
Mujahid, and the
Karen National Union (KNU).
Remote areas of Northern Burma were for many years controlled by an army of
Kuomintang (KMT) forces after the Communist victory in
China in 1949.
Burma accepted foreign assistance in rebuilding the country in these early years, but continued
American support for the Chinese Nationalist military presence in Burma finally resulted in the country rejecting most foreign aid,refusing to join the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (
SEATO) and supporting the
Bandung Conference of 1955.
Burma generally strove to be impartial in world affairs and was one of the first countries in the world to recognize
Israel and the
People's Republic of China.
By 1958, the country was largely beginning to recover economically, but was beginning to fall apart politically due to a split in the AFPFL into two factions, one led by Thakins Nu and Tin, the other by
Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein.
And this despite the unexpected success of U Nu's 'Arms for Democracy' offer taken up by U Seinda in the Arakan, the
Pa-O, some Mon and Shan groups, but more significantly by the PVO surrendering their arms.
The situation however became very unstable in parliament, with U Nu surviving a no-confidence vote only with the support of the opposition National United Front (NUF), believed to have 'crypto-communists' amongst them.
Army hardliners now saw the 'threat' of the CPB coming to an agreement with U Nu through the NUF, and in the end U Nu 'invited' Army Chief of Staff General
Ne Win to take over the country.
Over 400 'communist sympathisers' were arrested, of which 153 were deported to the Coco Island in the
Andaman Sea. Among them was the NUF leader Aung Than, older brother of Aung San. The ''Botahtaung'', ''Kyemon'' and ''Rangoon Daily'' were also closed down.
Ne Win's
caretaker government successfully stabilised the situation and paved the way for new general elections in 1960 that returned U Nu's Union Party with a large majority.
The situation did not remain stable for long, when the
Shan Federal Movement, started by
Nyaung Shwe Sawbwa
Sao Shwe Thaik ( the first President of independent Burma 1948-52) and aspiring to a 'loose'
federation, was seen as a separatist movement insisting on the government honouring the right to secession in 10 years provided for by the 1947 Constitution. Ne Win had already succeeded in stripping the Shan
Sawbwas of their feudal powers in exchange for comfortable pensions for life in 1959. He staged a
coup d'etat on
March 2 1962, arrested U Nu, Sao Shwe Thaik and several others, and declared a 'socialist state' run by a 'Revolutionary Council' of senior military officers. Sao Shwe Thaik's son, Sao Mye Thaik, was shot dead in what was generally described as a 'bloodless' coup.
Thibaw Sawbwa Sao Kya Seng also disappeared mysteriously after being stopped at a checkpoint near
Taunggyi.
Military era
Main articles: Burmese Way to Socialism
Soon after seizing power, a peaceful student protest on Rangoon University campus was suppressed by the military killing over 100 students on
July 7 1962. The next day, the army blew up the Students Union building.
Peace talks were convened between the RC and various armed insurgent groups in 1963, but without any breakthrough, and during the talks as well as in the aftermath of its failure, hundreds were arrested in Rangoon and elsewhere from both the right and the left of the political spectrum. All opposition parties were banned on
March 28 1964.
The
Kachin insurgency by the
Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) had begun earlier in 1961 triggered by U Nu's declaration of Buddhism as the state religion, and the
Shan State Army (SSA), led by Sao Shwe Thaik's wife Mahadevi and son Chao Tzang Yaunghwe, launched a rebellion in 1964 as a direct consequence of the 1962 military coup.
Ne Win quickly took steps to transform Burma into his vision of a 'socialist state' and to isolate the country from contact with the rest of the world. A
one-party system was established with his newly formed
Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) in complete control.
Commerce and industry were nationalized across the board, but the economy did not grow at first as the government put too much emphasis on industrial development at the expense of agriculture. In April 1972, General Ne Win and the rest of the Revolutionary Council retired from the military, but now as U Ne Win, he continued to run the country through the BSPP. A new constitution was promulgated in January 1974 that resulted in the creation of a People's Assembly (''Pyithu Hluttaw'') that held supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority, and local People's Councils. Ne Win became the president of the new government.
Beginning in May 1974, a wave of strikes hit Rangoon and elsewhere in the country against a backdrop of corruption, inflation and food shortages especially rice. In Rangoon workers were arrested at the Insein railway yard, and troops opened fire on workers at the Thamaing textile mill and Simmalaik dockyard.
In December 1974, the biggest anti-government demonstrations to date broke out over the funeral of former
UN Secretary-General U Thant.
U Thant had been former prime minister
U Nu's closest advisor in the
1950s and was seen as a symbol of opposition to the military regime. The Burmese people felt that U Thant was denied a state funeral that he deserved as a statesman of international stature because of his association with U Nu.
On March 23 1976, over 100 students were arrested for holding a peaceful ceremony (''Hmaing yabyei'') to mark the centenary of the birth of
Thakin Kodaw Hmaing who was the greatest Burmese poet and writer and nationalist leader of the 20th. century history of Myanmar. He had inspired a whole generation of Burmese nationalists and writers by his work mainly written in verse, fostering immense pride in their history, language and culture, and urging them to take direct action such as strikes by students and workers. It was Hmaing as leader of the mainstream Dobama who sent the Thirty Comrades abroad for military training, and after independence devoted his life to internal peace and national reconciliation until he died at the age of 88 in 1964. Hmaing lies buried in a mausoleum at the foot of the Shwedagon Pagoda.
[6]
In 1978, a
military operation was conducted against the
Rohingya Muslims in
Arakan, called the
King Dragon operation, causing 250,000
refugees to flee to neighboring
Bangladesh.
U Nu, after his release from prison in October 1966, had left Burma in April 1969, and formed the Parliamentary Democracy Party (PDP) the following August in
Bangkok,
Thailand with the former Thirty Comrades, Bo Let Ya, co-founder of the CPB and former Minister of Defence and deputy prime minister, Bo Yan Naing, and U Thwin, ex-BIA and former Minister of Trade. Another member of the Thirty Comrades, Bohmu Aung, former Minister of Defence, joined later. The fourth, Bo Setkya, who had gone underground after the 1962 coup, died in Bangkok shortly before U Nu arrived.
The PDP launched an armed rebellion across the Thai border from 1972 till 1978 when Bo Let Ya was killed in an attack by the Karen National Union (KNU). U Nu, Bohmu Aung and Bo Yan Naing returned to Rangoon after the 1980 amnesty.
Ne Win also secretly held peace talks later in 1980 with the KIO and the CPB, again ending in a deadlock as before.
Crisis and 1988 Uprising
Main articles: 8888 Uprising
In the 1980s, the economy began to grow as the government relaxed restrictions on foreign aid, but by the late 1980s falling commodity prices and rising debt led to an economic crisis. This led to economic reforms in 1987-88 that relaxed socialist controls and encouraged foreign investment. This was not enough, however, to stop growing turmoil in the country, compounded by periodic 'demonetization' of certain bank notes in the currency, the last of which was decreed in September 1987 wiping out the savings of the vast majority of people.
Burma's admittance to
Least Developed Country status by the
UN the following December highlighted its economic bankruptcy.
Ne Win retired as president in 1981, but remained in power as Chairman of the BSPP until his sudden unexpected announcement to step down on
July 23 1988.
Triggered by brutal police repression of student-led protests causing the death of over a hundred students and civilians in March and June 1988, widespread protests and demonstrations broke out on
August 8 throughout the country. The military responded by firing into the crowds, alleging Communist infiltration. Violence, chaos and anarchy reigned. Civil administration had ceased to exist, and by September of that year, the country was on the verge of a revolution. The armed forces, under the nominal command of General
Saw Maung staged a coup on
September 18 to restore order. During the
8888 Uprising, as it became known, the military killed thousands. The military swept aside the Constitution of 1974 in favor of
martial law under the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) with Saw Maung as chairman and prime minister.
At a special six-hour press conference on
August 5 1989, Brig. Gen.
Khin Nyunt, the SLORC Secretary 1 and chief of Military Intelligence Service (MIS), claimed that the uprising had been orchestrated by the
Communist Party of Burma through its underground organisation.
[7] Although there had inevitably been some underground CPB presence as well as that of ethnic insurgent groups, there was no evidence of their being in charge to any extent.
In fact, in March 1989, the CPB leadership was overthrown by a rebellion by the
Kokang and
Wa troops that it had come to depend on after losing its former strongholds in central Burma and re-establishing bases in the northeast in the late
1960s; the Communist leaders were soon forced into exile across the Chinese border.
Military era II
Main articles: State Peace and Development Council
The military government changed the name of the country in
English from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. It also continued the economic reforms started by the old regime and called for a Constituent Assembly to revise the 1974 Constitution. This led to multiparty elections in May 1990 in which the
National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory over the
National Unity Party (NUP, the successor to the BSPP) and about a dozen smaller parties.
The military, however, would not let the assembly convene, and continued to hold the two leaders of the NLD,
U Tin U and
Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, under house arrest imposed on them the previous year. Burma came under increasing international pressure to convene the elected assembly, particularly after Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and also faced
economic sanctions. In April 1992 the military replaced
Saw Maung with General
Than Shwe.
Than Shwe released U Nu from prison and relaxed some of the restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, finally releasing her in 1995, although she was forbidden to leave Rangoon. Than Shwe also finally allowed a
National Convention to meet in January 1993, but insisted that the assembly preserve a major role for the military in any future government, and suspended the convention from time to time. The NLD, fed up with the interference, walked out in late 1995, and the assembly was finally dismissed in March 1996 without producing a constitution.
During the 1990s, the military regime had also had to deal with several insurgencies by tribal minorities along its borders. General
Khin Nyunt was able to negotiate cease-fire agreements that ended the fighting with the
Kokang, hill tribes such as the
Wa, and the
Kachin, but the
Karen would not negotiate. The military finally captured the main Karen base at
Manerplaw in spring 1995, but there has still been no final peace settlement.
Khun Sa, a major opium warlord who nominally controlled parts of
Shan state, made a deal with the government in December 1995 after U.S. pressure.
After the failure of the
National Convention to create a new constitution, tensions between the government and the NLD mounted, resulting in two major crackdowns on the NLD in 1996 and 1997. The SLORC was abolished in November 1997 and replaced by the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), but it was merely a cosmetic change. Continuing reports of human rights violations in Myanmar led the
United States to intensify sanctions in 1997, and the
European Union followed suit in 2000. The military placed
Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest again in September 2000 until May 2002, when her travel restrictions outside of Rangoon were also lifted. Reconciliation talks were held with the government, but these came to a stalemate and Suu Kyi was once again taken into custody in May 2003 after an ambush on her motorcade reportedly by a pro-military mob. She remains under house arrest today. The government also carried out another large-scale crackdown on the NLD, arresting many of its leaders and closing down most of its offices. The situation in Myanmar remains tense to this day.
In August 2003, Kyin Nyunt announced a seven-step "roadmap to democracy", which the government claims it is in the process of implementing. There is no timetable associated with the government’s plan, or any conditionality or independent mechanism for verifying that it is moving forward. For these reasons, most Western governments and Myanmar's neighbors have been skeptical and critical of the roadmap.
On
February 17 2005, the government reconvened the
National Convention, for the first time since 1993, in an attempt to rewrite the Constitution. However, major pro-democracy organisations and parties, including the
National League for Democracy, were barred from participating, the military allowing only selected smaller parties. It was adjourned once again in January 2006.
In November 2005, the military junta started moving the government away from
Yangon to an unnamed location near Kyatpyay just outside
Pyinmana, to a newly designated capital city. This public action follows a long term unofficial policy of moving critical military and government infrastructure away from Yangon to avoid a repetition of the events of
1988. On Armed Forces Day (
March 27 2006), the capital was officially named
Naypyidaw Myodaw (lit. Royal City of the Seat of Kings).
See also
★
History of Asia
★
History of present-day nations and states
★
Zogam
★
British Raj
★
Ecclesiastical history of Burma
References
1. A Pyu Homeland in the Samon Valley
2. Burma - Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity, , Martin, Smith, Zed Books, 1991,
3. The Statement on the Commemoration of Bo Aung Kyaw
4. The Panglong Agreement, 1947
5. Who Killed Aung San? - an interview with Gen. Kyaw Zaw
6. Thakin Kodaw Hmaing (1876 - 1964)
7. Burma Communist Party's Conspiracy to take over State Power
External links
★
Biography of King Bayinnaung (r. 1551-1581) U Thaw Kaung
★
University of Washington Library papers by Burmese historians Than Tun, Yi Yi, U Pe Maung Tin, Ba Shin
★
SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research articles on Burma's history
★
The Origins of Pagan Bob Hudson
★
The Changing Nature of Conflict Between Burma and Siam as seen from the Growth and Development of Burmese States from the 16th to the 19th Centuries Pamaree Surakiat, Asia Research Institute, Singapore, March 2006
★
Arakan historical documents Stephan van Galen
★
Online Burma/Myanmar Library a veritable mine of information
★
Burma - Yunnan - Bay of Bengal (c. 1350-1600) Jon Fernquest
★
The Royal Ark: Burma Christopher Buyers
★
WorldStatesmen
★
The Bloodstrewn Path:Burma's Early Journey to Independence BBC Burmese, September 30 2005, Retrieved 2006-10-28
★
The Nu-Atlee Treaty and Let Ya-Freeman Agreement, 1947 Online Burma/Myanmar Library
★
Federalism in Burma Online Burma/Myanmar Library
★
Burma Communist Party's Conspiracy to take over State Power and related information Online Burma/Myanmar Library
★
Understanding Burma's SPDC Generals ''Mizzima'', Retrieved 2006-10-31
★
Strangers in a Changed Land Thalia Isaak, ''The Irrawaddy'', March-April 2001, Retrieved 2006-10-29
★
Behold a New Empire Aung Zaw,''The Irrawaddy'', October 2006, Retrieved 2006-10-19
★
Daewoo - A Serial Suitor of the Burmese Regime Clive Parker, ''The Irrawaddy'', December 7 2006, Retrieved on 2006-12-08
★
Heroes and Villains ''The Irrawaddy'', March 2007
★
Lion City Lament Kyaw Zwa Moe, ''The Irrawaddy'', March 2007
★
Pyu Homeland in Samon Valley Bob Hudson 2005
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