First Anglo-Burmese War
| First Anglo-Burmese War ပထမအင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာစစ် | |||||||||
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| Part of the Anglo-Burmese Wars | |||||||||
The British launched an amphibious assault on Rangoon on 11 May 1824. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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British Empire East India Company Co-belligerent: Siam |
Burmese Empire Shan States Allied Kachin Tribes | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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William Amherst Edward Paget Archibald Campbell Joseph Morrison # Charles Grant # Frederick Marryat Co-belligerent: Rama III Chaophraya Mahayotha Phraya Surasena Phraya Chumphon |
King Bagyidaw Prince Tharrawaddy Min Maha Bandula † Maha Ne Myo † Myawaddy U Sa Duwa Daihpa Gam Minkyaw Thura | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
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Presidency armies Royal Regiments Presidency Navies Royal Navy Co-belligerent: Royal Siamese Army |
Royal Burmese Army Allied Kachin and Shan Regiments Allied Assamese and Manipuri levies | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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British Indian Army: 40,000 Siamese Army: 20,000 |
Burmese Army: 30,000 Allies: 10,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Total: ~23,000 3,000 killed 12,000 died from disease 8,000 wounded | Unknown | ||||||||
The First Anglo-Burmese War (Burmese: ပထမအင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာစစ်; [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: ပထမအင်္ဂလိပ်ကျူးကျော်စစ်) 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 costly but decisive British victory, giving the British total control of Assam, Cachar, Manipur 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.
The war was one of the most expensive in British Indian history. 15,000 British 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 (£400 million – £1.07 billion as of 2023) contributed to a severe economic crisis in British India which cost the East India Company its remaining privileges.
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. They would be economically burdened for years to come by the cost of the indemnity. 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.