- The information in this article is part of an upcoming rework, and may not be reflected in other articles.
| Lore | Paths |
The Republic of Burma, or simply Burma, is a country in southeast Asia. It borders Tibet to the north, China's Yunnan clique to the northeast, Siam to the east, and Free India to the west.
Important notice: This page contains lore relevant to the upcoming South East Asia rework, and it may not reflect the current in-game setup that well. The ultimate goal, to eventually fully transpose the changes made to the lore in-game, still stands. This lore also may not be final, and some minor changes may occur.
History[]
Britain in Burma (1824 - 1914)[]
Throughout the 19th century, the British Empire encroached upon the Third Burmese Empire, commonly known as the Kingdom of Burma, supplanting the local Konbaung Dynasty as the new hegemons east of India. In 1824, war broke out between the Burmese and the British over territorial disputes in Burmese controlled regions of India, presently known as Assam. Two years later, the First Anglo-Burmese War ended in a crushing defeat for Burma; their territories in Assam were ceded, along with the Burmese coastal region of Arakan. After 25 years of peace fighting would resume in the Second Anglo-Burmese War, this time driven by a British desire to seize the whole of the Burmese coast, alongside the valuable resources of Lower Burma and the strategic ports of Rangoon and Moulmein. After less than a year, Britain would be victorious once more, taking all of Lower Burma, marking the true beginning of the colonial era within the Burmese heartlands. Despite attempts by the Konbaung Dynasty to modernize and seek rapprochement with the British, the Europeans seemed determined to dominate the nation. Finally in 1885, the Third Anglo-Burmese War erupted and would end in not just a British victory but the complete dismantling of the Burmese monarchy and incorporation of its lands into British India. Burma had finally met its end as an independent country, but the flame of Burmese resistance had not died, as sporadic unrest would continue until 1890. During this time, Indians and Anglo-Burmese began to dominate civil society and administrative positions as Burma was made into a Province of the British Raj, administered by a Lieutenant-Governor who answered to the Viceroy in Calcutta.
Throughout the Colonial Period, a sense of modern Burmese identity and nationalism would grow among the middle and upper classes, often due to the abject refusal of the British to respect Burmese cultural values such as removing their shoes when entering Buddhist temples. At the same time, large parts of Burma were also becoming anglicized, even if many of the same Anglo-Burmese civil servants who had been brought up under Christendom and European schooling soon became active in the nationalist movement as well. Monks became the cultural vanguards of Burma and surprisingly enough the first prominent one among them would be U Dhammaloka, a Western convert commonly known as the Irish Buddhist. An early agitator for Burmese independence, he would go onto inspire many young Burmese Buddhists and also garner support from European sympathisers. In 1906, the Young Men’s Buddhist Association or YMBA, was founded . While ostensibly focused on protecting Burmese culture, it became heavily political and would serve as the main organ of Burmese nationalist movement for the coming decade.
Burma and the Weltkrieg (1914 - 1919)[]
While Burma itself was not on the frontlines of the Weltkrieg, the waves of conflict still reached the colony. Colonial revenues slumped as export priorities were given to strategic resources over commodities such as rice or luxuries like jade and teak wood. Domestic prices eventually collapsed, farmers went bankrupt, crops died, and rice mills on the coast faltered, leading to mass unemployment and poverty. While Britain proved able to suppress socio-economic unrest in most of the Burmese heartland, rebellions would frequently break out among the tribal groups in the hinterlands of the Chin and Kachin Hills, only to be swiftly crushed by Colonial troops. In terms of the war proper, Burmese territories were largely spared. Completely uninvolved initially, fighting would only reach the country in 1919 with Siam siding with the Central Powers though little combat took place as the front quickly stalemated with neither side able to commit troops or supplies, followed by the Peace With Honour establishing a ceasefire.
The later years of the Weltkrieg would prove tumultuous as in 1919 the Government of India Act would be defeated in the British parliament. The subcontinent would light up with popular unrest and protests in India were met with solidarity by most Burmese nationalists, even if a distinct divide existed between those in the YMBA who sought inspiration in the Indian Nationalist Movement and those who feared that Indian political groups would come to dominate the Burmese Nationalist Movement. Later in the year, the Amritsar Massacre would culminate in the great Indian Revolt. Strikes, protests and minor peasant uprisings would continue to erupt across Burma and as a part of the Raj, all emergency measures, including martial law, would be extended to Burma. The Lieutenant-Governor of Burma, Reginald Craddock, managed to make himself despised after publishing an open memo calling for the suspension of all civil liberties and implementation of indefinite martial law, to prevent the “Threatened Extinction of the European Services in India”. This act was commonly attributed as severing any goodwill between the British and Burmese, even among the most cooperative elements of the YMBA. In 1920 a great Student Strike occurred as a result of an attempt by the British to pass a University Bill that would make higher education more focused on European studies, as well as both more exclusive to get into and harder to afford. The members of the YMBA who endorse the strike formed the General Council of Burmese Associations, the GCBA, under the leadership of Chit Hlaing, Tharrawaddy U Pu and U Kyaw Dun. The British were eventually forced to form a Committee of National Education, reaching out to the Burmese political activists to help draft a series of amendments that would make the new bill more tolerable, but the aftermath of the Student Strike had given rise to a new generation of zealous political activists.
The Burmese Revolution (1921 - 1925)[]
Declaration of the Burmese Republic in the Government House of Rangoon, 1925
Some time after the end of the Weltkrieg, the radical monk U Ottama was arrested by British forces, after giving a speech condemning the actions of Lieutenant Governor Reginald Craddock. Although he was released shortly afterwards, the fact that a monk had been subject to arrest outraged much of the Burmese population. Later in the year as the INC organized a Pan-Indian coalition to aid the revolt, the GCBA would endorse this action, sowing the seeds for later dissent. With Indian forces taking control of Bengal and the revolutionary terror becoming bloodier, outrage exploded in Burma. Large parts of the Bengali nationalist movement had spent their lives exiled to Burma, or simply working underground within the neighboring Province, leading to a large network of revolutionary activists and gunrunners who began to support their Burmese comrades. Prominent nationalists such as the writer Kodaw Hmaing and the GCBA member U Ba Pe began to rally against the "savagery" of the Indian revolutionaries, as well as accusing the then President of the GCBA, Chit Hlaing, of being far too subservient to Indian political and business interests. U Ba Pe led a schism in the GCBA, joined by many other notables such as the very anti-Indian Tharrawaddy U Pu, who together would form the Nationalist Party. His party called for an end to Indian immigration to Burma and Indian landlords to be banned from owning land in the country. Some Nationalist Party members proposed forming a truce with the British, in return for greater autonomy and political liberty for Burma, but the tyrannical actions of Lieutenant-Governor Craddock swiftly ended any discussion about such an alliance.
As the Indian revolution went into full swing during the 1920s, clandestine cells of Indian nationalists set up in Rangoon and Mandalay, building on the already vast network of Bengali nationalists began smuggling in more arms and providing military training to Burmese nationalists. Later on, the GCBA began to break down over personal grudges and political disagreements, with many more members joining U Ba Pe’s Nationalist Party or establishing entirely new political parties. In August, 1924, the popular and political monk U Ottama, the so-called Gandhi of Burma, was assassinated in what is believed to have been British reaction to his role as a unifier between the Burmese and the Indian nationalist movements. Riots erupted across the country in response, this forming the first spark of the Burmese Revolt, with U Ottama as its very first martyr. Later in the year, armed and violent uprisings occurred across the country. In the spring of 1925, rebels stormed the Rangoon Arsenal, taking advantage of recent labour disputes at the only ordinance installation in Burma, and caused the demoralized British troops to rout, gaining a major advantage in the coming battles. Soon after Rangoon fell to the rebels and after lengthy fighting, order broke down in the territory. By October, with the Indian Revolution stalemated in its advance southwards, Burma came to emerge as de-facto independent from the British Empire. The GCBA declares the founding and the independence of the Burmese Republic inside Rangoon’s Minister’s Building, reaching out to the Nationalist Party and the new political groups to put together an emergency government dubbed the “Amyotha Nyuntpaung Ap-phwe” or “National Coalition Group”. Whilst intended to serve as a provisional leadership for Burma, until proper elections can be arranged once the British imperialists have been driven out of the country, the provisional government would go on to consolidate its rule over the country and would effectively serve out a whole term in power. Conflict immediately erupted between the GCBA and Nationalist Party over their many vastly incompatible political policies, especially in regards to Burma’s relations to India. In a compromise between the GCBA, the YMBA and the Nationalist Party, the very popular "Uncrowned King of Burma", U Chit Hlaing is made President or “Naingngandaw Thamada”, with his fellow GCBA member U Tun Aung Kyaw serving as his Prime Minister, or “Wungyichoke” and the father of the YMBA, U May Oung as his Vice President, or “Naingngandaw Thamada Aangaalsone”. U Ba Pe would serve a prominent role within the provisional cabinet, but actively distanced himself from Chit Hlaing's government. A constitution begins to be drafted, taking much inspiration from Free India’s own provisional constitution.
Burmese rebels raise the flag of 'Free Burma' bearing the colours of Green, Yellow and Red along with the long time symbol of Burma, the peacock.
Independence but no Peace (1925 - 1930)[]
For the early years, Burma would be plagued by instability and a quasi-civil war between the new Burmese government and its many minorities over the lack of any real autonomy or protections. With much conflict sweeping the nation, the promised elections were delayed until 1930 and tensions grew. All the while the nascent republic gained international recognition from many of its Asian brethren, and foreign investment poured in from 1927 after most British businesses were purged from the country. Even if most Western nations such as the German Empire toed the Entente's line of refusing the recognize Burma, trade deals began to be negotiated under the table and several new "Consuls" were dispatched to Rangoon, serving as ambassadors in all but name. The Burmese government began making attempts to appease the different ethnic minorities, organizing the "Pegu Conferance" that laid out the future of the Republic's domestic policies in regards to the so called "National Races". Various political autonomies and guaranteed representation in the legislature were granted to the ethnic groups, but Burma would remain a Unitary Republic, refusing to implement a federal system that could grant the minorities even further political representation and civil rights. As a consequence several militant ethnic groups continued their revolts.
Troops in the Burmese “Tatmadaw”, or Armed Forces, during the 36th Siamese-Burmese war.
The next year, the quasi civil war would reach a head in the south-eastern region of Tenasserim, as the Siamese within Burma would be caught in the middle and the Kingdom of Siam would formally declare war on the fledgling republic starting the 36th Siamese-Burmese War. The war would all but shatter the Indian and Burmese "anti Imperialist coalition", as Free India ruled out a direct intervention into the war and left Burma to its fate. After a year of brutal fighting that devastated the Burmese economy, a peace negotiated by Japan and Germany in the city of Moulmein would come in the form the Treaty of Moulmein ceding the so called "Unified Former Thai Territories" in the Shan States, and much of Tenasserim to Siam. After the humiliating peace Japan and Germany would step up operations in the country to nominally repair its scarred economy while reaping immense profits. Domestically, the GCBA would begin to fracture and the many “Home Guard” paramilitaries that had risen during the civil war would be left to operate unfettered by the central government.
The U Ba Pe Presidency (1930 - 1936)[]
The next year, just before the election, U Ba Pe broadened his political coalition, reforming his once close knit Nationalist Party into a new group dubbed the People’s Party. Dropping some of his more reactionary policies, U Ba Pe reached out to the intellectual movements of the 1920 Student Strike as well as the veterans of the 1924 and 1929 wars to build a new political movement. The GCBA, humiliated by the loss in the war and numerous domestic crises lost to U Ba Pe. The love that the Burmese peasantry once had for their "Uncrowned King" Chit Hlaing seemed to be fading, as the GCBA's provisional government had struggled with reforming Thatthameda land laws, and the recent war with Siam had devastated the rural countryside. In addition, much critique had been levelled at Chit Hlaing, who was accused of financial improprieties by GCBA member U So Thein. U So Thein subsequently led a new schism within the GCBA, organizing a "U So Thein GCBA" that endorsed U Ba Pe. After winning the presidency by popular vote, U Ba Pe's People's Party also gained control of the legislature after forming a coalition with the U So Thein GCBA, despite the two men's vast political disagreements. The intellectual led Free Burma Party of U Maung Gyee served as a mediator and third party in this coalition, cementing a right wing dominance in the legislature and ensuring that U Ba Pe formed a mixed cabinet with U So Thein as his prime minister and U Maung Gyee as his Minister for Home Affairs. Domestically U Ba Pe would adopt a radically xenophobic rhetoric and blame the loss in the Siamese war and Burma's political humiliations on India, greatly straining the already loose alliance with Free India. Despite U Ba Pe's desires to expel all Indian advisors, he was talked down by U So Thein and U Maung Gyee, and Indian influence over the republic was instead progressively removed as native Burmese politicians, economists and organizers took on greater roles in government. Military cadets began to be sent to Yunnan's Kunming Academy and to Japan, with the intention of education a new generation of Burmese officers. Despite confiscations of Chettiar property and small land reforms, no major progress was made on fixing the Thatthameda system. While the urban centres experienced a major economic and population boom from foreign investment, the decaying rural areas continued to suffer.
In 1934, prominent war veteran U Saw formed the ultranationalist and pro-Japanese Patriots’ Party. At the same time, Dr. Ba Maw formed the Poor Man’s Party and both hoped to capitalize on the urban boom. A year later the second Burmese elections went ahead with U Ba Pe on the defensive. Amid allegations of voter fraud, rigging and Ye Tat militias at polling stations, U Ba Pe won another victory which triggered major unrest. To fight back against this, he would formed the Five-Flowers Alliance, a very loose coalition of parties supporting U Ba Pe’s government in the Legilsature. It consisted of the People’s Party, Patriot’s Party, U Soe Thein GCBA, Yadanabon Association of Mandalay (a right-wing student party), as well as the Free Burma Party (under the leadership of U Maung Gyee). U Maung Gyee was then nominated as Prime Minister, as he was much more deferential to U Ba Pe than U So Thein had been. U So Thein was demoted to the financial office.
Politics and Parties[]
- Main article: Republic of Burma/Parties
- Main article: Republic of Burma/Politics
Head of State: U Ba Pe
Head of Government: U Maung Gyee
Foreign Minister: Kodaw Hmaing
Economic Minister: U Soe Thein
Minister of the Interior: U Saw
The Republic of Burma is a Unitary Republic governed by a constitution, with three branches of government. It is Semi-Presidential, the President sharing power with a Prime Minister. The Burman system of government is most closely modelled after its western neighbor and former revolutionary ally, the Free India government, but has also taken much inspiration from the current Qing government of China and the United States of America.
Whilst Burma prides itself on being a "revolutionary democracy", much of its governance has begun to stagnate under an intricate system of political patronage, corruption and violence. Elections are to be held every five years but the Election of 1930 which saw Chit Hlaing's government unseated by current U Ba Pe president U Ba Pe was regarded as disorderly and marred with political violence. The Election of 1935 continued this trend, with the U Ba Pe government being accused of vote rigging and intimidation, a trend likely to continue into the future. U Ba Pe’s People’s Party is noted for its fiery anti-minority rhetoric and Buddhist zeal. Despite the latter, U Ba Pe follows something of a warped secularism, steadfast in the belief Buddhist monks have no place in political decision making and that the "Wunthanu" style politics of populism steeped in Buddhist myth and rhetoric is an affront to the religion. Behind closed doors, rumours swirl that the president has ambitions to consolidate his rule and establish a one-party, dictatorship. For now these remain unconfirmed and Burma labours under his already oppressive rule with forced disappearances and rigged local elections not an uncommon occurrence.
Elsewhere on the political scene opposition lingers and hides in the dark corners of the country. The old National Coalition Group has expanded into a so called "Democratic Opposition", spearheaded by Chit Hlaing and supported by both Ba Maw’s Poor Man’s Party and U Razak's United Nationalities League. Although the opposition has been unable to wrest control of the legislature, it has enforced a stalemate, leaving Joseph Augustus Maung Gyi's Independent Party, which adheres to neither the Democratic Opposition nor the Five Flowers alliance, as a kingmaker. Within the People’s Party, Kodaw Hmaing broadly agitates for a more egalitarian form of politics, and personally champions the cause of a monarchist restoration of the Konbaung Dynasty, though much of this currently falls on deaf ears. In the countryside, an all new threat forms in the form of the obscure mystic Saya San who claims himself to be a prophesized ideal monarch, who will bring a prophetic revolution that shall sweep away the corruption and tyranny of Chit Hlaing and U Ba Pe's governments. Despite continued suppression by various anti-socialist policies, radical leftists continue to function and sow the seeds of dissent though for now their numbers are small and their unity fractured, largely limited to the radical student movements and the new generation entering the Burmese workforce.
Economy[]
The Burmese economy in its early days was dominated by Indian advisors though foreign trade that began in 1927 saw a noticeable uptick in the country’s riches. Though scarred by the Siamese invasion with the loss of the rich port city of Moulmein, Japanese and German investment quickly allowed the economy to bounce back, at least in urban areas which experienced a major economic boom.
By the end of 1935, Burma is one of the stronger economies in South East Asia and courts a healthy export economy with products such as rice, teak wood, oil and gems all destined for foreign markets. Despite all this, little land reform or overhaul of Burma’s ancient tax system has been conducted and so the rural areas perish. Should an economic tumult shake the world, Burma would struggle to pull itself out of this rut due to its dependence on foreign markets.
Military[]
- Main article: Republic of Burma/Paramilitaries
Army[]
The Burmese armed forces, officially known as the Tatmadaw, consists of a somewhat well organised standing army (Tatmadaw Kyee) and a large swathe of militia groups active within the country. Most of these groups are aligned with the Tatmadaw (These are known as Ka Kwe Ye, or Homeguards) and serve as local defence militias and a sort of quasi-reservist army. Many also just act independently as political paramilitaries (Known as Pocket Armies) or regional militias for ethnic groups protecting minority interests. Policing in the frontier regions is officially done by the Tatmadaw though it is often handed off to pro-government Homeguards and in more isolated regions, the minority pocket armies are de facto police forces. While plans have been drawn up to establish both a dedicated frontier police force and a reserve force to replace the Homeguard partisans, this has faced opposition both within the military hierarchy and among the minority groups.
[]
The Burmese Navy, or Tatmadaw Yay, is incredibly primitive and is in many respects a glorified coast guard, often used to clamp down on the rampant piracy that operates in the Andaman Sea. The navy itself mostly consists of obsolete ships ‘donated’ by Japan and Germany after 1929 to protect Burma (and its foreign trade) from future blockades. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution various ships were seized from P Henderson & Company, the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and the Burmah Steamship Corporation, later repurposed into convoys and destroyers though many of these were destroyed in the 36th Siamese-Burmese war. Little development has gone into the navy though U Ba Pe has sent some naval cadets to Japan to study modern maritime warfare. Of note is the disgraced Japanese naval officer Shozo Kokubu, who fled to Burma in the 1920s and was recruited by the Chit Hlaing government to help organize the navy. He has been kept on by the U Ba Pe government, and despite accusations of ties to Japanese Intelligence, his role in building the Tatmadaw Yay cannot be denied.
Air Force[]
The Burmese Air Force, or Tatmadaw Lei, is still in its infancy and consists of a few fighters loaned by Free India to the GCBA government and some captured Siamese aircraft. Unlike the navy, Burma lacks any form of domestic means to produce planes, much less train pilots in using them. As such even less regard has been given to it, though as part of his rearmament campaign U Ba Pe has began to look into purchasing foreign aircraft and has sent promising air cadets abroad to Japan and retained some Free India aeronautical advisors. Currently the Tatmadaw Lei barely exists as its own branch and only really exists as an experimental supporting department of the army.
Foreign Relations[]
By 1936 Burma finds itself something of an isolated nation with few friends. While it maintains positive relations with Japan and Germany, this often equates more to a one-sided working relationship with both barely concealing their ulterior motives for the nascent republic. Likewise, while Burma maintains cordial relations with many of its Western trading partners such as the Netherlands and America who had an economic presence within the country already, this in all cases amounts to a pragmatic and economic driven relationship. Both the Netherlands and the United States maintain control over their oil investments, and their respective alignments with the Reichspakt and political neutrality has kept them indifferent to the Entente's attempts to boycott Burmese oil.
In terms of its direct neighbours, the Republic maintains cordial relations with Tang Jiyao's Yunnan Clique with U Ba Pe noticeably sending cadets to the Kunming Academy as a gesture of goodwill. To the West, the alliance with Free India has since broken down and equates to little more than loose promises of mutual aid and support that only continues out of pragmatism and a mutual Anglophobia. To the East, Homeguards and units of the Tatmadaw watch their Siamese counterparts across the border, guns drawn but seldom discharged. Relations with the Kingdom are still bitter and while Burma recognizes the conquest of the United Thai Territories, they still claim Lower Burma and not endorsing a reversal of the Treaty of Moulmein amounts to political suicide. Tensions flair on the horizon and it seems that a 37th Siamese-Burmese War is inevitable...