A History of Burma

 Here is a brief history of Burma to help explain the difficulties Burma has had throughout the centuries. (taken from a history research paper I wrote)

Before the three Anglo-Burmese wars in the 19th century, Burma was an independent kingdom. The Anglo-Burmese wars were fought due to Burmese resistance to British takeover. In 1885 the British won the third Anglo-Burmese war and Burma was added to the British Empire and became a province of India.

From the late 19^th century to the mid-20^th century, Burma was under the control of the Crown and a part of the British Raj. Burma’s population and economy grew rapidly thanks to the British colonization, but educated Burmese began to protest the British rule and advocated a separate and independent Burma. During the colonial rule, rich landlords were able to get away with just about any crime they wished to perpetrate. In the early 1930’s Saya San, a former Buddhist monk, led peasants in an unsuccessful rebellion against the British authorities. Around the same time, students at Rangoon University formed the All-Burma Student’s Union which held protests for independence from the British. The students within the Student’s Union addressed each other as Thakin (meaning national leader or master [of our own land]), a term that was generally only used to address the British. The leaders of the Thakin movement were Thakin Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and Thakin Nu. In 1937 Burma was separated from India and given a partial self-government, but the Burmese were not satisfied and wanted independence.

During World War II, the British began to arrest many Thakins for allegedly having ties with the Japanese. The arrests caused many members to flee the country. In August 1940, Aung San and 29 other Thakins took refuge in China and were offered aid from the Japanese in liberating Burma. The Aung San and the other 29 Thakins recruited Burmese soldiers with money from the Japanese to form the Burmese Independence Army (BIA). The group underwent Japanese military training and became known as the Thirty Comrades or the Thakin Thirty. The combined Japanese and Burmese forces drove out the British by March 1942.

The Japanese proceeded to declare Burma an independent nation, but they created a puppet government with the Thakin nationalists in control of the country. Aung San and the Thakins soon realized that Japanese rule was no better than British rule and resentment began to grow towards the Japanese. Aung San began to negotiate with the British and a Burmese uprising against the Japanese was planned to coincide with the Allied invasion of Burma. The Allied forces invaded Burma and with the help of the Burmese people, regained control of the country.

After the war was over and the British had been placed back in power, the Burmese and the British argued whether Burma should be an independent nation or a colony. After negotiations, the British agreed to give Burma its independence. Aung San was planned to be the leader of the new country by both the British and the Burmese but he and most of his cabinet were assassinated on July 19, 1947, just under a year before Burma became fully independent. The blame for the assassination was placed on a rival politician and former prime-minister named U Saw. U Saw was tried and found guilty of the event and executed. As Burma regained its independence, Thakin Nu (U Nu) became prime minister and took control of the country. A final regime change came about in 1962 with a coup d’etat led by General Ne Win. His seizure of power instituted a military dictatorship that remains today.