Burma wars (1824, 1852, 1885-7). In the 18th century Burma was the scene of internal struggles, and her rulers fought against the Siamese and Chinese. In the 19th its proximity to British India produced minor clashes and border disputes to its north and north-west, in Assam and around Chittagong. Burmese attacks on Shahpuri island and the small British-protected state of Cachar led to the outbreak, in March 1824, of the first Burma war. Burmese forces were numerous but poorly equipped, with spearmen and swordsmen as well as musketeers, and British-Indian forces enjoyed a consistent advantage in weaponry, discipline, and cohesion. The British planned to defend against attacks from northern Burma and mount an expedition to Rangoon. However, a large Burmese force under Maha Bandula overran a sepoy detachment on the Chittagong front, persuading the British to send an expedition under Brig Gen J. W. Morrison along the coast. Morrison, keeping pace with a naval flotilla, made steady progress, taking Myohaung on 31 March 1825, and pushing on into the Arakan.
The main British force, meanwhile, had assembled in the Andaman islands under Brig Gen Sir Archibald Campbell, and in May 1824 it landed almost unopposed at Rangoon. Maha Bandula was ordered south to meet it and in early December British positions were heavily attacked. On 15 December Campbell counter-attacked, beating and scattering the Burmese force. He went on to kill Bandula at Danubyu, where a Burmese elephant-mounted force was routed by cavalry who rode in among the elephants and shot the men mounted on them. Campbell took Prome on 25 April 1825, checked an attack there that November, and then riposted, defeating the Burmese and killing their commander, Maha Nemyo. He then proceeded to follow the Burmese up the Irrawaddy to Malun. A treaty was negotiated, but, suspecting that the Burmese were preparing to resume fighting, Campbell captured Malun on 19 January 1826. He defeated the Burmese again at Pagan and was approaching Ava, then the capital, when peace was concluded. Burma ceded the Arakan to Britain and gave up her frontier claims.
Hostilities broke out again in 1852 after the Burmese king, Pagan, encouraged violations of the peace treaty and attacks on British shipping. Lord Dalhousie, governor-general of India, remonstrated, and then sent Lt Gen Henry Goodwin with an expedition which captured Rangoon in mid-April and Pegu in early June. The lower Irrawaddy valley was formally annexed in January 1853, later becoming ‘British Burma’ and subsequently ‘Lower Burma’. Pagan was deposed by Mindon shortly afterwards, and a British Resident was accepted at court.
The third Burma war broke out in November 1885 when Thibaw, who succeeded Mindon, interfered with trade and rejected an ultimatum from Lord Dufferin demanding protection of British interests. Maj Gen Harry Prendergast swiftly invaded from Lower Burma, taking three brigades with naval support up the Irrawaddy, dispersing a Burmese force at Miha on the 17th. Thibaw surrendered on the 26th, and Mandalay was occupied two days later. Upper Burma was annexed in January 1886. Upper and Lower Burma were then administered as provinces of India. Victory did not end the fighting. Thibaw's army, disbanded with its weapons, took to dacoitry on a large scale, and pacification operations in difficult country went on until 1892. In addition there were separate expeditions against the Chins and Lushais on the borders of Burma and Bengal in 1889-90; the Chins in 1892-3; and the Kachins in Upper Burma in 1892-3 and 1895.
Bibliography
- Bruce, G., The Burma Wars 1824-1886 (London, 1973).
- Stewart, A. T. Q., The Pagoda War: Lord Dufferin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Ava (London, 1972)
— Richard Holmes
