History of Myanmar

In the second half of the 18th century, the Konbaung dynasty (1752–1885) restored the kingdom, and continued the Taungoo reforms that increased central rule in peripheral regions and produced one of the most literate states in Asia.

[14][17] By the early 12th century, Pagan had emerged as a major power alongside the Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia, recognised by Song China and the Chola dynasty of India.

[19] Pagan's economy was primarily based on the Kyaukse agricultural basin northeast of the capital, and Minbu, south of Bagan, where the Bamars had built a large number of new weirs and diversionary canals.

The kingdom went into decline in the 13th century as the continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth—by the 1280s, two-thirds of Upper Burma's cultivable land had been alienated to the religion—affected the crown's ability to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen.

[21] Minor states included Kalay, Bhamo (Wanmaw or Manmaw), Hkamti Long (Kantigyi), Hopong (Hopon), Hsahtung (Thaton), Hsamönghkam (Thamaingkan), Hsawnghsup (Thaungdut), Hsihkip (Thigyit), Hsumhsai (Hsum Hsai), Kehsi Mangam (Kyithi Bansan), Kengcheng (Kyaingchaing), Kenghkam (Kyaingkan), Kenglön (Kyainglon), Kengtawng, Kengtung (Kyaington), Kokang (Kho Kan), Kyawkku Hsiwan (Kyaukku), Kyong (Kyon), Laihka (Legya), Lawksawk (Yatsauk), Loi-ai (Lwe-e), Loilong (Lwelong), Loimaw (Lwemaw), Nyaung Shwe and many more.

One of Bayinnaung's sons, Nyaungyan Min, immediately began the reunification effort, successfully restoring central authority over Upper Burma and nearer Shan states by 1606.

By 1759, King Alaungpaya's Konbaung forces had reunited all of Burma (and Manipur), extinguished the Mon-led Hanthawaddy dynasty once and for all, and driven out the European powers who provided arms to Hanthawaddy—the French from Thanlyin and the English from Cape Negrais.

[29] The Ayutthaya Kingdom used the Konbaung preoccupation with the Qing to recover their lost territories by 1770, and in addition, went on to capture much of Lan Na by 1775, ending over two centuries of Burmese suzerainty over the region.

Nonetheless, the British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indochina, annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885,[36][dubious – discuss] and sent the last Burmese king Thibaw Min and his family to exile in India.

Konbaung kings extended administrative reforms first begun in the Restored Taungoo dynasty period (1599–1752), and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion.

Prominent among the political activists were Buddhist monks (pongyi), 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.

Aung San briefly returned to Burma to enlist twenty-nine young men who went to Japan with him to receive military training on Hainan Island, China, and they came to be known as the "Thirty Comrades".

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.

[43] 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-Attlee Agreement on 27 January 1947.

[43] On 19 July 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, while meeting in the Secretariat.

[43] After the Communist victory in China in 1949, remote areas of Northern Burma were for many years controlled by an army of Kuomintang (KMT) forces under the command of General Li Mi.

[43] Ne Win's caretaker government successfully improved the security situation and paved the way for new general elections in 1960 that returned U Nu's Union Party with a large majority.

On 2 March 1962, Ne Win, with sixteen other senior military officers, staged a coup d'état, arrested U Nu, Sao Shwe Thaik and several others, and declared a socialist state to be run by their Union Revolutionary Council.

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 (Us Burma) Organization, who sent the Thirty Comrades abroad for military training, which became the origin of modern Myanmar Army, and after independence devoted his life to internal peace and national reconciliation until he died at the age of 88 in 1964.

[43] 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 was not enough, however, to stop growing turmoil in the country, compounded by periodic "demonetisation" 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.

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.

[43] 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.

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.

"[63] Yet in the critical days following this disaster, Burma's isolationist regime complicated recovery efforts by delaying the entry of United Nations planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies.

Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, participated in by-elections held on 1 April 2012 after the government abolished laws that led to the NLD's boycott of the 2010 general election.

The resounding victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in 2015 general elections raised hope for a successful transition of Myanmar from a closely held military rule to a free democratic system.

Mr. Ko Ni's murder deprived Aung San Suu Kyi of his perspective as an adviser, particularly on reforming Myanmar's military-drafted Constitution and ushering the country to democracy.

These people were residents of Maha Aung Myay Township guarding government shipyard workers involved in the civil disobedience movement from the police who were forcing them back to work.