Siamese-Burmese War 1785–1792

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Siamese-Burmese War
The old pagoda of Moulmein
The old pagoda of Moulmein
date 1785 to 1792
place Siam and Burma , especially Tavoy and Tenasserim
Casus Belli Burmese expansion attempts
output The Burmese could no longer endanger Siam, but got Tavoy back
Parties to the conflict

Flag of Thailand (1782) .svgKingdom of Rattanakosin ( Siam )

Flag of Burma (Alaungpaya Dynasty) .svg Konbaung Dynasty ( Burma )

Commander

King Rama I.

King Bodawpaya


The Siamese-Burmese War 1785–1792 ( Thai สงคราม เก้า ทัพ "War of the Nine Armies") was a military conflict between Siam (present-day Thailand ) and Burma .

prehistory

Representation of King Bodawpaya (1795)

After the complete destruction of the old Siamese capital Ayutthaya by the Burmese and the subsequent recovery of the Siamese territory under King Taksin (r. 1769–1782), the Burmese did not give up their claim to a supremacy in Southeast Asia . However, the internal conflicts in Burma weakened the country's economic and military strength. King Bodawpaya (r. 1782 to 1819) initially turned his attention to the west to Arakan , whose coastal area he was able to annex in 1784. In doing so, he made 21,000 prisoners of war who had to go into slavery .

course

Encouraged after his success against the weak Arakan, Bodawpaya planned to crush its old rival in the east, Siam. Its recently crowned King Rama I (r. 1782 to 1809) was able to build on the restless preparatory work of King Taksin, who had left behind a powerful army whose leader was the king's brother, Maha Sura Singhanat . The Burmese were repulsed and hastily retreated to the east. Despite his heavy defeat, Bodawpaya refused to accept its situation and began a bitter war of attrition. This caused the Siamese to focus on rebuilding the empire and loosening access to Tavoy and Tenasserim .

consequences

This was the last Siam-Burma military conflict worthy of the name war. Burma was besieged by England in the first half of the 19th century, while Siam was concentrated in the north ( Lan Xang , Kingdom of Luang Phrabang and the Kingdom of Vientiane ) and the east ( Cambodia and the Kingdom of Champasak ).

literature

  • Charles Phillips, Alan Axelrod: Encyclopedia of Wars . 3 volumes. Facts on File, New York 2004, ISBN 978-0-8160-2851-1 .
  • WAR Wood : A History of Siam: from the earliest times to the year Ad 1781, with a supplement dealing with more recent events . AMS, New York 1974.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philips and Axelrod (2004), p. 1037