History of Myanmar - part 1
 

Myanmar (or Burma, as it is sometimes called) has over 100 languages. Burmese is the majority language and is spoken by about 75% of the population. It is related to Tibetan, which indicates that the ethnic Burmese originall came from the Tibetan plateau or somewhere near it. Other languages of Myanmar include Shan, Mon, Karen, Kachin, and Arakanese.
Conflicts have been a problem quite often in the history of that nation. Three major dynasties have ruled it. All three were Burmese families. The first was the one founded by Anawrahta. His family usurped power from the family of Nyaung-u-Sawrahan. Sawrahan had come to power in a bizarre way.
Sawrahan was originally a farmer. One day King Theinhko plucked a cucumber from the field of Sawrahan without his permission. Sawrahan became angry and slew Theinhko with a spade. The king's attendant took Sawrahan to the palace and told the queen what had happened. Rather than punish Sawrahan for what he had done, she married him and insisted that he become king. This indicates that her marriage to Theinhko had not been harmonious. A period of preparation was undergone. It lasted for seven days. On the sixth day gongs were sounded throughout the kingdom. Nyaung-u-Sawrahan became king on the seventh day.
However, Sawrahan was eventually overthrown by a pretender named Kunhsaw Kyaungpyu. Sawrahan's two sons managed to dethrone the usurper and force him and his family to live at a Buddhist monastery. Kyaungpyu stayed there with his wife and their son Anawrahta.
One of Sawrahan's sons, whose name was Kyiso, was accidentally killed by an arrow while hunting deer in Bangyi in the Monyuso district. Meanwhile, at Popo Hill, Anawrahta raised an army. He had left the monastery and was determined to become king. Anawrahta challenged the surviving brother Sokke-te to one-on-one combat at Myinkaba. Anawrahta killed Sokke-te and became king. The beginning of this dynasty is about 1044 A.D. It consolidated its rule over both Burmese and non-Burmese. Later events would lead to severe problems, i.e. when the dynasty fell. I shall discuss that in a separate posting titled History of Myanmar - Part 2.

Neal Robbins

History of Myanmar - Part 2
 

The dynasty that Anawrahta had founded eventually came to a violent end. From 1281-1287 the Mongols ravaged much of Burma in a series of invasions. This dismembered the country into many parts. Some of the newly independent states were controlled by Burmese, while others were run by groups such as Shans or Mons. From 1291 to 1300 the Tai Shan king Rama Khamheng sent five tribute missions to the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, whose seat of power was in China. Rama Khamheng made two personal visits to the visits to the Khan. Kublai Khan gave him permission to invade and take over the Khmer (Cambodian) empire. The Khan had been angry at the Khmers because they had executed Mongol envoys. Rama Khamheng died in 1317. Although the Mongols had devastated northern Burma, they had not been so successful in the south. They had lost several battles and some cities had not fallen to them.
For the Burmese the hope in restoring their empire lay with the city state of Toungoo. The first real king of Toungoo was Minkyeeno. He had come to power in 1486 and built a wall around the city.
The communities of Ava, Pegu, and Chengmai had attempted to win his support by recognizing him as their ruler. The king of Ava gave him a princess to be his queen, along with the Kyaukse district as a dowry. This gave strength to his economic base and increased his prestige.
The Maw Shans took over Ava. When this happened, Thohanbwa, the Shan leader, massecred the Burmese in the city. Minkyeeno vowed to take revenge on the Shans and made plans for an attack. However, he died before he could carry it out. His 14 year old son Tabinshwehti came to power. Tabinshwehti had been born in 1516, in the dark hours before the dawn. It had been said that the swords and spears shone in the royal armory as a sign that he would become a great king.
Tabinshwehti took 500 soldiers (mostly cavalry) with him and went to the Buddhist shrine called Shwemawdaw at Pegu. It was about 120 miles from his capital. The Mons were in charge of the city. They feared he would attack them and closed the gates. Tabinshwehti took his troops inside the temple and underwent the ear piercing ceremony that was required for him to officially become king. The Mons decided to come out of the city. They surrounded the shrine, but Tabinshwehit led his troops outside and they boldly rode throught the ranks of the Mons. The Mons were in awe and stepped aside to let Tabinshwehti and his soldiers pass.
Tabinshwehti led a series of military campaigns that won him a great deal of territory. It included the port city of Bassein. That gave him an outlet to international commerce. It also put him in a position to attack Pegu and Martaban from the rear.
The first three sieges of Pegu in 1534, 1535, and 1536 were unsuccessful. But in 1538 Tabinshwehti was able to take Pegu with little effort. The Mon king had fled with his army to his brother-in-law in the city of Prome.
The Mon king had executed his two faithful officials because he thought they were plotting against him. He had seen a message from Tabinshwehti (The messenger had allowed himself to be caught.) offering to reward the two men for the cooperation that they had promised. In fact, they had made no such promise. As a result, the Mon king was faced with a revolt; the men that he had executed had been quite popular. Tabinshwehti advanced up the river with a flotilla of war boats to Prome. His general Bayinnaung led another army by land. By the time Tabinshwehti arrived, Bayinnaung's troops had won the day. He had defeated the combined armies of Prome and Pegu.
Tabinshwehti decided not to take Prome immediately. He returned to Pegu to consolidate his power. The Shans of the north and east combined with the Shan Sawbwas. They marched to Prome, but their king was killed in a hunting accident. Hence they called off their plans to fight against Tabinshwehti. The Mons of lower Burma accepted Tabinshwehti as their king.
In 1541, Tabinshwehti made an assault on Martaban and captured it. Some Portuguese ships had come to aid the garrison at Martaban. At this point in time the Portuguese were making considerable inroads in terms of trading in Burma.
Fire rafts destroyed both Mon and Portuguese ships. Some Burmese troops fired shots with muskets from rafts. The men were inside bamboo towers on the rafts.
Tabinshwehti thus found the second major Burmese dynasty. I will discuss more history of the country in a posting called History of Myanmar - Part 3.

Neal Robbins

History of Myanmar - Part 3
 

The dynasty that Tabinshwehti had founded had its ups and downs. At times things went well. The kings of that dynasty did not have absolute authority. A council of ministers called the Hluttaw had considerable power. An example of how much power they yielded can be seen with regard to the reign of a king named Pindale. In 1661 the Hluttaw dethroned Pindale and put his younger brother Pye Min in power.
Certain factors led to the ultimate downfall of the dynasty. Wars with Siam (Thailand) sapped the economy. Trade with the Portuguese, Dutch, and British declined. In 1662 the governor of the Chinese province of Yunan led an army into Burma. He demanded that Yung-li, the deposed Chinese Ming emperor be turned over to him. The Burmese had given Yung-li asylum. Burma was in no shape to take on China in a war, so Yung-li was handed over to the governor of Yunan. Yung-li was taken to China and executed.
In 1752 a coalition of factions overthrew the ruling Burmese dynasty. They included Mons and a rebel Burmese prince. Some French troops sent from the French colonial enclave in Pondicherry, India aided the revolt. A man named Binya Dala captured the royal family at Ava and took them to Pegu. He and a man named Dalaban had overthrown the dynasty.
But a Burmese man named Maung Aung Zeya was waiting in the wings. He was the headman of a village called Moksobo. Although the position of headman was not hereditary, members of Maung Aung Zeya's family had been headmen of the village for several generations.
Maung Aung Zeya built a wall around Moksobo and turned it into a veritable fortress. He burned vegetation around it in a half mile radius, thus creating an artificial desert. This gave the residents of Moksobo two advantages over invaders. They could easily spot attackers in the distance. In addition, any enemy forces would not have cover against gunfire from the defenders of Moksobo. A moat was also dug around Moksobo.
A detachment of Mons approached Moksobo. They intended to administer the oath of allegiance. Maung Aung Zeya's scouts spotted them. After conferring with his advisory council, Maung Aung Zeya decided that his troops should greet the Mons with musket fire. And that is exactly what they did. The Mons retreated and went to Dalaban.
Dalaban sent two forces against Maung Aung Zeya. But Maung Aung Zeya's troops ambushed them and wiped them out before they could even reach the artificial desert.
At this point Dalaban and Binya Dala were quite angry. Dalaban marched to Moksobo with a large army and tried to lay siege to it. But Maung Aung Zeya's troops had plenty of muskets and an enormous supply of ammunition. Dalaban's army suffered a high casualty rate and had to withdraw.
Many people flocked to Maung Aung Zeya's cause. They included farmers, writers, artisans, soldiers, and some former officials of the dynasty that Dalaban and Binya Dala had overthrown.
In a series of battles Maung Aung Zeya took control of Burma. He was able to capture Ava in a bloodless takeover, since the Mons had evacuated the city.
By 1753 Maung Aung Zeya had control of Burma and made himself king. He renamed himself Alaungpaya, which means "Blessed One Who Shall Become a Buddha Someday". The dynasty that he founded was the last royal line to rule Burma.
That country is officially called Mynamar. However, not all people in that nation approve of the name.

Neal Robbins