1824-1948
 Diverse – Trade, rich in resources, water access
 Konbaung Dyansty: 1752-1885
 King Alaungpaya
 Taxes, irrigation
 Repels 4 Chinese invasions, subdues Laos and Siam
 Aggressively expansionist
 Cultural dominance - Mon
 Irrawaddy valley unified
 Various capitals – moved by elephant
 Widespread literacy - ~50% in males
 Portuguese trading posts
 1785: Burma defeats Kingdom of Arakan
 Capture famed Mahamuni Buddha
statue: Made during Buddha’s lifetime
 Also conquered Manipur (1813) and Assam (1817)
 Created a long, poorly-defined border with British
India
 Burmese demanded slave labor from Arakan
 Arakanese refugees cross border into British India
 Continued attacks on border states: Manipur (ruler
neglected to attend coronation) and Cachar (valuable
base to attack Bengal)
 Cachar seeks British assistance
 Burmese raid Shapuree – an island near Chittagong
given to the East India Company – killing six guards
 Longtime British policy of appeasement abandoned
 War declared in 1824
 Burmese sack Chittagong, but fail to occupy it
 British circumvent Western front, take Rangoon
 Disease and lack of supply thin British ranks
 “Denial operations”
 Rainy season – lull allows British to take several
provinces and Tenasserim coast
 Allows resupply, hospitals, reinforcements
 Burmese try to retake Rangoon, but 5,000 British repel 30,000
Burmese
 British retake Assam, cities up the Irrawaddy
 Burmese “agree” to Peace Treaty
 Cede Assam and 3 other provinces, allow occupation of Southern
Burma until reparations paid
 Pay British East India Company 10 million rupees
 British ships remain armed in Burmese ports
 EIC administrators allowed into Burmese capital with 50-man
escort
 King refuses to sign
 British destroy remnants of Burmese army at Bagan
 Treaty of Yandabo (1826)
 Unprofitable administration by EIC – considered abandonment
 British now the agressors
 1852 – Commodore George Lambert
 Sent to resolve minor issues leftover from Treat of
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Yandabo
Burmese make concessions, remove problematic
govorner
“Gunboat diplomacy”
Blockades Rangoon, takes other ports
Decide not to annex whole country (dubious
economics and difficulties of administration)
Unilaterally annex province of Pegu
Turmoil in court: Mindon Min overthrows Pagan Min
 Half-siblings: Same father
 Mother was Hsibyumashin – ambitious queen (3rd of 4)
 Supayalat: “Self-anointed queen” – sister’s wedding
 Massacred 80-100 royal family members (denied
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knowledge – may have been her mother/ministers)
20 and 19 years old at time of ascension
Reign lasted only seven years
Derisively called “soup plate” by British soldiers
Capture very similar to account in the “The Glass Palace”
(minus Dolly and Rajkumar of course)
King Thibaw’s on a boat – don’t you ever forget
 Succession Crisis (Thibaw) provokes withdrawal of
British Resident, ending diplomatic relations
 Burmese contacts with France – attempted to
negotiate military alliance in Paris during “industrial
fact-finding mission”
 Boundary dispute – English form unilateral border
commission
 Burmese object but eventually consent
 British pressure French to withdraw offer of a
bank/railroad
 1885
 Burma imposes fine on Bombay Burmah Trading
Corporation for under-reporting teak harvest (as in book)
 British demand Burma accept British arbitration, refused
 Ultimatum: Accept new British Resident, all foreign
relations through Britain, provide British with commercial
assistance and monopolized trade access
 Upon refusal, British decide to annex Burmese kingdom
 British knew little of interior – dense jungle
 Used Irrawaddy Flotilla Company’s boats and
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knowledge of interior
Burmese surprised, British advance rapidly up
Irrawaddy
Defense Minister Kinwon Min Gyi U Kuang wanted
peace, told soldiers not to attack – only some obey
Thibaw unpopular – massacre, poor management
British deception: Intended only to depose King
 Brought a man to impersonate surviving royal (actual
royal died in exile in India)
 As British approach capital, Thibaw surrenders (unlike
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book)
War lasts from 7-29 November
Many Burmese soldiers flee with weapons, organize
guerrilla resistance (especially as British reveal
intention to permanently occupy Burma)
British sack capital, loot palace, exile Thibaw to India
In order to crush insurgency, British resorted to
collective punishment: burning entire villages to
punish insurgents and (perceived) supporters
 Huge demand abroad for teak and rice
 Environment utterly ravaged
 Feudal-style system, Burmese farmers in debt to
Indian lenders, end up foreclosing/evicted
 Rise of Anglo-Burmese intermarriage – new “caste”
 Burmese excluded from military, civil posts
 British > Indians > Burmese
 Young Men’s Buddhist Associations (ironically modeled
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after YMCA) – political organizations banned, but
religious ones okay
U Dhammaloka – Irish hobo turned monk– criticized
English, Christians. Jailed twice.
New generations of English-educated Burmese begin to
agitate for reform
1920s: Legislature with limited power, more autonomy
within British India
Buddhist and student protests over taxes and education
system escalate to national resurrection (Galon
rebellion) in 1930 – repressed by tens of of thousands of
British troops
 1930 – We Burmans Association – Called themselves
“thakin”, or master.
 1936 – More student strikes as Rangoon University
Students Union leaders are expelled for refusing to
reveal identity of author of critical article
 1937 – British separate Burma from India
administratively, new constitution with larger role for
assembly. May have been a ploy to insulate them from
reforms in India
 1938 – Oil workers strike becomes general strike. British
police kill Rangoon University student, fire into crowd of
monks, killing 17
 Japanese invade, expel British administration in 1942
 Thai allies occupy half the country, battle Chinese
 Jails and asylums emptied
 Short-lived occupation – British retake by 1945, using
Indian troops
 Considered a “sideshow” – Japan held Burma until it
was irrelevant militarily
 Economic ruin, damage to infrastructure, and
Japanese-aided growth of independent administration
spells end of colonial period
 Independence in 1948