Far East Kingdoms

Third Burmese Empire
AD 1752 - 1885

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The 'Third Burmese Empire' succeeded the Toungoo empire.)

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(Information by Peter Kessler and John De Cleene, with additional information from the John De Cleene Archive, from Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830, Volume 1, Victor B Lieberman (2003), from Early civilizations of Southeast Asia, Dougald J W O'Reilly (2007), from The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, Myint-U Thant (Faber and Faber, 2008), and from External Links: Myanmar's Royal Legacy (The Diplomat), and Myanmar (World Statesmen).)

1752 - ?

Reunited Burma.

1750s/1760s

During his reign, the Ahom King Surempha sends an army to aid the ruler of Manipur, who has been deposed by the Burmese.

1765 - 1767

The Burmese again invade the city of Ayutthya and, this time, they succeed in taking it. However, after two years the Burmese find they cannot hold onto the kingdom in the face of attacks by Phaya Taksin and they withdraw, leaving Siam in a power vacuum.

1769

General Phaya Taksin of Ayutthya flees to Krung Thonburi where he promotes himself as king.

? - 1771

Also ruled Thai kingdom of Lan Na.

1763

The Burmese conquer the Thai Lan Na capital of Chiang Mai.

1768 - ?

Also ruled Thai kingdom of Lan Na.

1809

The reign of Phra Phutthaloetla Naphalai of Siam, who accedes as King Loetlanaphalai, is recognised as a glorious one for art and literature. However, soon after he succeeds his father, King Bodawpaya marches an army into Chumporn and conquers Thalang (Phuket), taking it in the same year. Loetlanaphalai sends his brother, Maha Senanurak, to recapture Thalang, which had been razed to the ground. This 'Thalang Campaign' is the last invasion by the Burmese into Siamese territory.

1819 - 1824

The Ahom King Purandar Singha defeats the Burmese during their invasion of Assam, but the capital at Jorhat falls to them. Soon afterwards, the Bagyidaw Burmese, led by Milingmaha Tilwa, force the next Ahom king to flee his capital. The Ahoms are ruled by the Burmese until 1824, when the start of the First Anglo-Burmese War forces them to concentrate on their own lands.

1824 - 1826

The First Anglo-Burmese War ends with the Treaty of Yandabo, according to which Burma cedes the Arakan coastal strip, between Chittagong and Cape Negrais, to the British East India Company. The British victory gives the subjugated King Anouvong of Vientiane (Laos) ideas of independence from his other oppressor, Siam. He advances to Korat, the main border city between Laos and Siam, but the non-Laos citizens there rebel against him and the Siamese army catches up with him at Vientiane. After three days of fighting Anouvong is defeated but remains free to recapture his own capital from Siamese troops. The Siamese have to defeat him again, and the captured monarch is placed in a cage for the remaining year of his life.

1852 - 1853

Britain annexes lower Burma, including Rangoon, following the Second Anglo-Burmese War.

1853 - 1878

1878 - 1886

Son. Dethroned and exiled. 'Last king of Upper Burma'.

1885 - 1886

During the reign of Thibaw there is much violence in the country. Britain captures Mandalay after a brief battle, and the native empire becomes a province of British India in the form of 'Colonial Burma'.

Thibaw is immediately sent into exile with his heavily pregnant wife, his junior queen, and two small daughters. At the age of twenty-six, the king has another thirty-one years of life to live in Ratnagiri in India, little more than a prisoner of the British administration (following his death, his family return to Burma to live obscurely amongst the population).