Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia.
History
The first Myanmar state was the Kingdom of Pagan which ruled over the area surrounding the Irrawaddy River Delta from circa 900 to 1200 CE. Afterwards, Mongol invasions and a succession of weak leaders caused the Pagan kingdom to split into two successor states, one with its capital based at Ava and another centered on Pegu. Both of these states were eventually overthrown and conquered by the warlike Toungoo dynasty and incorporated into their own empire, which had a record of military success and expansion before succumbing to internal rebellion by opportunistic vassals. The Myanmar state was held together by the Restored Toungoo dynasty, which presided over a period of peace and calm until its overthrow by a Mon pretender named Binnya Dala. Binnya Dala was deposed by U Aung Zeya, a Burmese village chief who traced his lineage to the rulers of Pagan to justify his own rule. U Aung Zeya, under the regnal name of Alaungpaya, founded the Konbaung dynasty, which lasted into the mid-19th century, when it was conquered piecemeal in a succession of wars started by the United Kingdom. From the last few decades of the 19th century to the beginning of World War II, Myanmar was incorporated into the British Raj as the semi-autonomous British Burma province. Over the next few generations, Burmese lobbied for an increased role in the domestic aspect of their own colonial government, with mixed results. The inadequacy of more peaceful and conciliatory methods, as well as resentments about the influx of cheap Indian and Chinese labor, led to a rise in nationalistic tendencies among Burmese youth, which rallied around a revolutionary political party called the Dobama Asiayon. This tendency culminated when the Empire of Japan invaded Burma during the Second World War, during which many of the Dobama Asiayon members formed an collaborationist paramilitary called the Burma Independence Army and assisted the Imperial Japanese Army to take control of the country. However, when the Japanese attempted to reformat the BIA into a smaller and less independent faction, the group, led by General Aung San and rebranded the Burma National Army, assisted the Allies in pushing the Japanese out. Shortly after the conclusion of the war, the new British administration led by Prime Minister Clement Atlee gave Burma its independence as a sovereign nation-state. The post-war Union of Myanmar was held together by a set of promises made by Aung San to the various interest groups that fought in the Burma National Army, but this coalition became imminently unstable upon Aung San's death. The ruling party, called the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, was opposed by Communists and Karen separatists and was plagued by instability throughout the late 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, the civilian government was overthrown in a military coup led by General Ne Win, who formed a totalitarian dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party that lasted decades. A domino effect of political unrest that began with a conflict between student groups resulted in the dissolution of the BSPP by the military government and transition to a period of immediate martial law that lasted 20 years. In 2011, the regime liberalized and adopted a new constitution, largely due to pro-democracy advocacy by Aung San's daughter Aung San Suu Kyi. However, allegations persist that the military still retains near-total power over Myanmar politics from behind the scenes. A premiership headed by Aung San Suu Kyi herself incurred international condemnation and disgrace due to silent complicity with a military initiative aiming at ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya group. Recently, the civilian government headed by Suu Kyi was overthrown by another military coup.
Black Adam announced the "Freedom of Powers Treaty", a mutual-defense pact of his own nation of Kahndaq with Myanmar and North Korea and China.[1]
See Also
- Appearances of Myanmar
- Location Gallery: Myanmar
- Catalogued images related to Myanmar