Failure of Diplomacy and the Anglo-Burmese Wars

Abstract

Bodawpaya died in 1819, and was succeeded by his grandson Bagyidaw (1819–1837). Bagyidaw was by no means a strong and aggressive king; he had no personal dream of empire, but circumstances forced him first to expand the Burmese empire and then cause its downfall. The Burmese before Bagyidaw had never annexed kingdoms consisting of other races, and therefore their empires were always composed of the kingdom of Burma and kingdoms paying tribute to it. The Burmese, of course, included Pegu and Arakan in their kingdom, as they considered the Mons and the Arakanese as belonging to the same racial group as themselves, but they allowed the Shan states to remain under their own chieftains, who were given the status of kings of the sunset, that is, kings of the second class. On those occasions when the Burmese held Siam, they held it merely as a tributary state. The same was true of Manipur and also of the Ahom kingdom of Assam. In fact, both Siam and Assam were considered to be Shan kingdoms, because the Shans, the Siamese and the Assamese were racially Tais and the Burmese knew them all as Shans. Under Bodawpaya, Manipur was part of the Burmese empire, but merely as a tributary state. Towards the end of Bodawpaya’s reign, chaotic conditions prevailed in the kingdom of Assam as a result of rebellions and struggles for the throne, and one of the contending parties approached the East India Company for support, but the British decided not to interfere. Bodawpaya watched the situation very carefully, and in 1817 he became anxious lest the British should take over the kingdom.

Crab: “So early in the morning Why have you come, O monstrous crow?”

Crow: “I have come to take you, O Dweller in a Hole, My Mistress Gold.”

Crab bangs the door shut: “Cling, clang.”

Burmese Nursery Rhyme