| First Anglo-Burmese War ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် | |||||||||
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| Part of Anglo-Burmese Wars | |||||||||
 British forces launch an amphibious assault on Rangoon in May 1824. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Co-belligerent: Rattanakosin Kingdom (Siam)[1][2] |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
.svg){kind=small} Lord Amherst Sir Edward Paget Sir Archibald Campbell Joseph Wanton Morrison (Died from disease) Charles Grant (Died from disease)Co-belligerent: Rama III Chaophraya Mahayotha Phraya Surasena Phraya Chumphon |
 King Bagyidaw Maha Bandula † Maha Ne Myo † Maha Thiha Thura Minkyaw Zeya Thura | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
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Presidency armies Royal Regiments Co-belligerent: Royal Siamese Army |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| British Army: 40,000 Siamese Army: 20,000 | Burmese Army: 30,000 Allies: 10,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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72 percent of European casualties died from disease (25 percent killed in action)[4] Total: 15,000 dead[5] | Unknown but significantly higher than the British; Comandante Archibald Campbell declares an opposition casualty estimation of at the very least 20,000[citation needed] | ||||||||
The First Anglo-Burmese War (Burmese: ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; [pətʰəma̰ ɪ́ɰ̃ɡəleiʔ-mjəmà sɪʔ]; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War in English language accounts and First English Invasion War (Burmese: ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ် ကျူးကျော် စစ်) in Burmese language accounts, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese empires in the 19th century. The war, which began primarily over the control of what is now Northeastern India, ended in a decisive British victory, giving the British total control of Assam, Manipur, Cachar and Jaintia as well as Arakan Province and Tenasserim. The Burmese submitted to a British demand to pay an indemnity of one million pounds sterling, and signed a commercial treaty.[6][7]
The war was one of the most expensive in British Indian history. Fifteen thousand European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese military and civilian casualties. The high cost of the campaign to the British, 5–13 million pounds sterling (£500 million – £1.38 billion as of 2023)[8][9] contributed to a severe economic crisis in British India which cost the East India Company its remaining privileges.[10]
Although once strong enough to threaten the interests of the British East India Company (especially with respect to the eastern border regions of Assam, Manipur, and Arakan), the Burmese Empire now suffered "the beginning of the end" of its status as an independent nation.[9] They would be economically burdened for years to come by the cost of the indemnity.[7] The British, eventually waging the Second and Third Anglo-Burmese Wars against a much-weakened Burma, would assume control of the entire country by 1885.
- ^ Wood, W.A.R. (1924). A History of Siam. London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. pp. 276–277. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ Van Roy, Edward (2010). "Safe Haven: Mon Refugees at the Capitals of Siam from the 1500s to the 1800s" (PDF). Journal of the Siam Society. 98: 172–173. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ Sophonpanich, Ithi (14 May 2021). "The Anxieties of Empire: British Debate on the Failure of John Crawfurd's Mission to Siam, c. 1820–1830". Journal of the Siam Society. 109 (1): 135. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
- ^ Robertson, Thomas Campbell (1853). Political incidents of the First Burmese War. Harvard University: Richard Bentley. p. 252.
- ^ Chopra, P.N. (2003). A Comprehensive History of India, Volume 3. India: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 79. ISBN 8120725069.
- ^ Phayre, Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1967). History of Burma (2nd ed.). London: Sunil Gupta. pp. 236–237.
- ^ a b Maung Htin Aung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 212, 214–215.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b Thant Myint-U (2006). The River of Lost Footsteps – Histories of Burma. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 113, 125–127. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6.
- ^ Webster, Anthony (1998). Gentlemen Capitalists: British Imperialism in South East Asia, 1770–1890. I.B. Tauris. pp. 142–145. ISBN 978-1-86064-171-8.