Third Anglo-Burmese War
In the Third British-Burmese War in 1885, Burma was completely subjugated by Great Britain and became part of British India on January 1, 1886 .
Cause and course
In 1853 the Second British-Burmese War ended, in which the British had already annexed Lower Burma . In 1854 the Burmese capital was relocated to Mandalay . The last king of Burma, Thibaw Min , tried to bring his country closer to France in the early 1880s . Finally, in 1885, there was a crisis known as the "Great Shoe Question": the palace decreed that not only Burmese subjects had to take off their shoes before entering the rooms, but that Europeans were also expected to do so. The British officials refused and were consequently banned from the capital Mandalay. Finally, Thibaw Min issued a proclamation which made it compulsory for all Burmese to liberate the South from the British. This was the welcome occasion for the British colonial administration in India to portray the king as a tyrant and contract breaker and to complete the final occupation of Burma.
The British General Harry Prendergast received the order to conquer Upper Burma with 11,000 men, light boats and elephants. Also due to disagreements within the Burmese troops, Prendergast's troops reached the capital Mandalay on November 26th with little resistance and forced the king to abdicate. He was sent into exile with his wife Supayalat and some members of the royal court, first to Ceylon and finally to Ratnagiri (near Bombay ), India, where he died in 1916. Burma became part of British India on January 1, 1886 .
literature
- Byron Farwell: Queen Victoria's Little Wars. Wordsworth, Ware 1999, ISBN 1-84022-215-8 .
- Donald Featherstone: Colonial Small Wars 1837-1901. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1973, ISBN 0-7153-5711-5
- Daniel George Edward Hall: Burma (= Hutchinson's University Library. British Empire History ). 2nd edition. Hutchinson's University Library, London 1956.