Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule and he opposed the participation of Great Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II.

By March 1942, within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon and the British administration had collapsed.

Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a series of offensives that led to the end of Japanese rule in July 1945.

[citation needed] Following World War II, General Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state.

[4] On 4 January 1948 at 4:20 am, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma in which the time was chosen for its auspiciousness by an astrologer, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister.