Chronography of Myanmar
Page last modified 3/10/2022
See also India Region
Box Index
3.0 Release of Aung San Kyi 1989-95
2.0 General Ne Win Government 1962-88
0.0 Japanese occupation of Burma 1942-45
-1.0 Britain finally establishes colonial
control over Burma, 1886-1942
1/2/2021, A military coup in
Myanmar; in ongoing popular protests against the coup, over 260 people had been
killed by the end of March.
25/8/2017, Militant Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar attacked 30 police posts and a military base, in response to Burmese
persecution of the minority Muslim group. Subsequently, many Rohingya fled
across the border into Bangladesh.
13/11/2010,
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house
arrest which she had been under for 15 of the previous 21 years. She was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, a year after winning elections
which were nullified by the ruling junta.
19/10/2004, Khin Nyunt, reformist Prime
Minister in Myanmar, was forced out of office by the military junta. Meanwhile Aung San Suu
Kyi had now been under house arrest for over 16 months, her 3rd such
period of detention since 1990.
5/12/2002. General Ne
Win of Burma (Myanmar) died. His real name was Shu Maung (apple of my eye) but
he changed it to Ne Win (brilliant as the sun) on taking power. Ne Win
had been close to Communist China, which he had visited in 1960. Ne Win
disliked the democratic government left
to Burma by the British after independence in
1948. He preferred the strong military rule of China.
In 1962 Ne
Win launched a military coup and took control of Burma. All land,
commerce and industry were nationalised, dance halls and gambling were
forbidden, foreigners were expelled and tourism abolished. No high rise
building was allowed, and no neon signs, even for Coca Cola. The rest of the
world was not too bothered as Burma was not strategically important as Vietnam
and Korea were. Under Ne Win�s rule ethnic divisions within Burma
intensified and opium chiefs expanded their fiefs, bribing the soldiers sent to
close them down. Burma�s rice exports ceased and income per person per year
fell from US$670 a year in 1960 to US$200 in 1989. Despite its resources of
teak, oil, and good farmland, Burma became one of the world�s poorest
countries. In 1988 Ne Win announced his retirement. A group of
generals took over and renamed Burma by its traditional name, Myanmar. A
surprisingly free election was won by Miss Suu Kyi�s democrats in 1990 but the
result was not honoured. Ne Win died peacefully in his villa on the
shores of Lake Inya, not far from Miss Suu Kyi�s house.
3.0 Release of Aung San Kyi 1989-95
10/7/1995. Burmese Nobel Peace prize
winner, Aung
San Kyi, was released, from six years house arrest. Amnesty International
reported that the Human Rights situation in Burma remained �desperate�.
12/1/1993. The Burmese military junta said it would
hold opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi indefinitely.
14/10/1991 The Nobel
Peace Prize was awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi
of Burma/Myanmar.
7/7/1962,
The Burmese Army attacked a student demonstration at Rangoon University,
killing 130 � see 2/3/1962.
20/7/1989. The
Burmese opposition leader, Aung Suu Kyi, was
placed under house arrest, after public campaigning. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 whilst still
in captivity.
19/6/1945, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar human rights activist,
was born.
29/5/1989. Burma
changed its name to Myanmar.
27/9/1988, The National
League for Democracy was formed this day in Burma, led by Aung San� Suu Kyi.
16/9/1988, A military
junta seized power in Burma.
19/8/1988, Maung Maung became President of Burma
as proetsts continued.
8/8/1988. A popular uprising in Myanmar against the military
rule there. The uprising was timed for this day as 8888 was deemed an
auspicious date. However the people did not succeed, but the revolt was
brutally suppressed by the army, with some 3,000 people killed.
2.0 General Ne Win Government 1962-88
23/7/1988, General Ne Win resigned as Burmese Head of
State, in the face of large pro-democracy protests. A more moderate President, Maung Maung,
took office, promising multiparty elections within 3 months
21/6/1988, The
Myanmar regime imposed martial law in the face of student protests.
5/9/1987, Without
prior notice, the Myanmar Government declared the 25, 35 and 75 Kyat banknotes
were demonetised and worthless, not exchangeable for any other currency.
The move was aimed at black marketeers operating along the Myanmar-Thailand
border, and in fact this trade was halted within days. However it also meant
that ordinary Burmese citizens lost 80% of their wealth, and tourists were left
with worthless currency. The move led to serious popular unrest in Myanmar in
1988, culminating in the �8888� uprising of 8 August 1988.
1978, U Ne Win was re-elected President of Burma.
1976, Social unrest and ethnic
conflict; ethnic liberation groups controlled 40% of the country.
1974, U Ne Win was elected President of Burma.
1964, The Socialist
Programme Party was declared the sole legal party in Burma.
2/3/1962, General Ne Win staged a military coup (see
1960). Ne Win now suppressed all
democracy, and renamed the country Myanmar in 1989. On 7/7/1962 the Army
intervened to halt a student protest at Rangoon University; they dynamited
the Student Union building, killing 130 students. All universities across
the country were then closed until September 1964. Ne Win established �The
Burmese Way to Socialism� Under his regime, mining and other industries
were nationalised, as the country�s New Order policy of Buddhist Socialism
isolated the nation politically. Free trade was suppressed. Hundreds of
political opponents were imprisoned without trial, and Myanmar went from being
one of the most prosperous regions of south east Asia in 1960 to one of the 10
poorest nations on Earth by the time Ne Win
retired in 1988.
1961, Kachin rebellion began.
1960, General Ne Win, as Supreme Commander of the
Burmese Army, temporarily took political power from Prime
Minister U Nu, in order to restore law and order in the country. Burma
was then facing numerous ethnic-based uprisings from minority peoples within
its borders. He later returned power to U Nu,
but 2 years later seized power again, in a military coup, see 2/3/1962.
1958, Shan liberation struggle
began.
5/11/1954, Burma and Japan signed a peace treaty.
6/1/1953, The Asian Socialist Conference convened in
Rangoon (Yangon), Myanmar. Israel sent its Foreign Minister, Moshe Sharett,
as delegate. Israel provided training to Burmese farmers, and Israel provided
officers and equipment for the Burmese Army.
1950, Chinese Nationalist troops
fleeing the 1948 Communist victory in China occupied northeastern Burma, until
1953 when under UN supervision they agreed to evacuate to Taiwan
1949, An independent Karen
republoic was proclaimed at Toungoo, following ethnic unrest and independence
movements amongst also the Kachins and Shan peoples mfrom 1948. In 1950
Biurmese Govermment forces overran the city of Toungoo.
4/1/1948. Burma
became independent from Britain, and joined the Commonwealth.� The new
Republic was troubled by civil war; General Ne Win was in charge of military
action against the Karen and their Communist
guerrilla allies. U Nu (see 19/7/1947), a devout Buddhist, was
Burmese leader until 1962 when Ne Win took over in an army coup.
19/7/1947, The Burmese leader Aung San was assassinated by
gunmen in the pay of a political rival, shortly before Burma was to gain
independence from Britain, see 4/1/1948.�
U Nu
became leader of
0.0 Japanese occupation of Burma 1942-45
1945, The Anti-Fascist People�s
Freedom League (AFPFL), led by Aung San, helped the Allies liberate Burma
from Japanese
occupation.
1942, Japan invaded Burma. See Japan for more events of World War Two
in the Pacific
-1.0 Britain finally establishes colonial
control over Burma, 1886-1942
1937, Burma was separated from
India as a British
Crown colony.
1930, Economic depression in
Burma led to popular unrest.
24/7/1886, After
a third Anglo-Burmese War, China recognised Burma sa a British Protectorate.
1/1/1886, The
British seized Upper Burma. Burma became a province of British India.
1885, King Thebaw (1858-1916), last
King of Burma from 1878, was deposed by the British. He was sent into exile.
28/11/1885, The British entered Mandalay.
1878, Death of Mindon, Burmese ruler
of the Konbaung Dynasty, King of Burma from February 1853 (born 1814). He
gained the throne after a revolt against his half-brother, King Pagan Min, in the
final stages of the Second Anglo-Burmese War. He quickly concluded that war,
securing Burmese territorial integrity by establishing friendly commercial
relations with the British. In 1857 he established a new capital at Mandalay.
Burma was stable under his rule but when he died, fundamental divisions within
his country resurfaced, leading to instabilities and the Third Anglo-Burmese
War.
14/4/1852, British and Indian forces captured Rangoon.
11/4/1852, The British began bombarding Rangoon, starting the
Second
Burmese War.
24/2/1826, The Treaty of Yandabu ended the First Burmese
War. Britain gained control of Assam and Arakan.
10/6/1824, The British
under Sir Archibald
Campbell defeated Burmese troops at the Battle of Kemendine, First Burma
War.
11/5/1824. The British, with a force of 11,000
troops, invaded Burma and captured Rangoon in retaliation for the King of
Burma�s invasion of Shahpuri, in British India, in February 1824. This was the first time steamboats had been used
in warfare.
24/2/1824, The
Burmese War began, between Britain and Burma, when Burma invaded the
Indian island of Shahpuri. Lord Amherst, British Governor-General of
India, declared war on Burma.
15/5/1760, Aloung P�Houra Alompra ruler of Burma, died.
1757, Aloung P�Houra Alompra invaded
Pegu.
1755, The city of Yangon (Rangoon) was
founded by Aloung
P�Houra Alompra.
1752, Pegu invaded Burma. Aloung P�Houra
Alompra organised the Burmese resistance and ousted the Peguans.
11/1/1551, Ketumati, Burma, was conquered by Bayinnaung.
1711, Aloung P�Houra Alompra, founder
of the last Burmese dynasty, was born in Motshobo, a small village 50 miles NE
of Ava.
1287, Mongol forces overran Burma.
4/4/1287, Wareru created the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in modern-day Lower Burma.
1077, King Anawrahta died,
1044, Start of the reign of King Anawrahta,
at Pagan.